Why English pronunciation is so irregular? Why no reform?

Guest   Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:18 pm GMT
>>It would be better if everyone spoke Germanic languages. Damn I wish the Germans won WWI.<<

Check out alternatehistory.com, especially the 'After 1900' section. Full of crunchy what-ifs, including Central Powers Victorious scenarios. Unfortunately, not too much on the linguistic side of things, but plenty of ideas to work with.
Travis   Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:27 pm GMT
>>>>It would be better if everyone spoke Germanic languages. Damn I wish the Germans won WWI.<<

Check out alternatehistory.com, especially the 'After 1900' section. Full of crunchy what-ifs, including Central Powers Victorious scenarios. Unfortunately, not too much on the linguistic side of things, but plenty of ideas to work with.<<

This actually has some relevance here, as WW1 really was the beginning of the end for German here in Wisconsin due to the widespread suppression of just about anything German but in particular the German language in the US after the US's entry into WW1. (And note that this does not say anything about which of the Entente or the Central Powers would have won, just whether the US would have entered the war.)
Travis   Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:27 am GMT
>>The same sort of thing happened here too. Berlin, Ontario was renamed Kitchener after the war.<<

Actually, speaking of towns named "Berlin", there is also a New Berlin, Wisconsin whose name got modified during WW1; the spelling did not change, but the pronunciation of the "Berlin" part was changed so that the stress was moved from the second syllable to the first syllable, so it no longer matched the English pronunciation of the name of the city of Berlin in Germany.