英語のブログ

インクル英会話のネイティブ先生のブログから英語を勉強しましょう。

The following poem shows the sometimes absurd inconsistencies in English spelling and phonetics in a comical way.

Phoney Phonetics
Attributed to Vivian Buchan

One reason why I cannot spell,
Although I learned the rules quite well
Is that some words like coup and through
Sound just like threw and flue and Who;
When oo is never spelled the same,
The duice becomes a guessing game;
And then I ponder over though,
Is it spelled so, or throw, or beau,
And bough is never bow, it's bow,
I mean the bow that sounds like plow,
And not the bow that sounds like row -
The row that is pronounced like roe.
I wonder, too, why rough and tough,
That sound the same as gruff and muff,
Are spelled like bough and though, for they
Are both pronounced a different way.
And why can't I spell trough and cough
The same as I do scoff and golf?
Why isn't drought spelled just like route,
or doubt or pout or sauerkraut?
When words all sound so much the same
To change the spelling seems a shame.
There is no sense - see sound like cents -
in making such a difference
Between the sight and sound of words;
Each spelling rule that undergirds
The way a word should look will fail
And often prove to no avail
Because exceptions will negate
The truth of what the rule may state;
So though I try, I still despair
And moan and mutter "It's not fair
That I'm held up to ridicule
And made to look like such a fool
When it's the spelling that's at fault.
Let's call this nonsense to a halt."

English can be particularly difficult for foreign/second language learners due to inconsistencies including:
• A letter not always representing the same sound.
• A sound not always representing the same letter.
• Some letters not being pronounced at all (silent letters).
• Sounds are pronounced sometimes where there is no letter.
• Plural and past tense morpheme changing pronunciation.

単語
-absurd　不条理
-inconsistency　矛盾
-spelling　つづり
-phonetics　音声学
-comical　コミカル
-phoney (phony)　フォニー
-particularly　特に
-represent　代表する
-morpheme　形態素
-phoneme　音素