Inside the Scripps National Spelling Bee,

斯克裡普斯全國拼寫大賽內幕、

contestants between 8- and 15-years-old wrestled words

8 歲至 15 歲的參賽選手角逐詞語

like brachydactylous and leguleian.

如 brachydactylous 和 leguleian。

Outside, a crowd protested the complexity of English spelling conventions.

外面，一群人抗議英語拼寫習慣的複雜性。

Indeed, spelling reformers have been around for centuries,

事實上，拼寫改革者已經存在了幾個世紀、

advocating for overarching changes to make English spelling more intuitive.

倡導全面改革，使英語拼寫更加直觀。

The English language is chock-full of irregularities.

英語中充斥著大量不規範的語言。

One commonly used example of this: take the “g-h” sound from “enough,”

一個常用的例子是：把 "彀 "中的 "g-h "音

the “o” sound from “women,” and the “t-i” sound from “action,”

婦女 "的 "o "音和 "行動 "的 "t-i "音，以及

and you could argue that “g-h-o-t-i” spells “fish.”

你可以說 "g-h-o-t-i "拼成 "fish"。

So, how did English get like this?

那麼，英語是怎麼變成這樣的呢？

English arose from old Germanic tribes that invaded the British Isles

英語起源於入侵不列顛群島的古老日耳曼部落

more than 1,500 years ago.

超過 1500 年前。

Their languages coalesced and evolved into Old English.

他們的語言凝聚在一起，演變成了古英語。

When Roman missionaries arrived around 600 CE,

公元 600 年左右，羅馬傳教士來到這裡、

they devised ways to write it down using the Latin alphabet,

他們想出了用拉丁字母書寫的方法、

supplementing it with some Germanic runes for sounds they didn't have letters for.

他們還用一些日耳曼符文來補充他們沒有字母的音。

Then came the Norman invasion of 1066 when French speakers conquered England.

隨後，1066 年諾曼人入侵，講法語的人征服了英格蘭。

French became the language of authority and high society.

法語成為權威和上流社會的語言。

But English remained the dominant spoken language.

但英語仍然是最主要的口語。

Over time, those descended from French speakers also became English speakers,

隨著時間的推移，那些講法語的人的後代也變成了講英語的人、

but some French words snuck into the language.

但也有一些法語單詞悄悄出現在語言中。

Some English speakers were also familiar with Latin through the church

一些講英語的人也通過教會熟悉拉丁語

and formal education.

和正規教育。

By the mid-1400s, people were writing in English again—

到了 14 世紀中期，人們又開始用英語寫作了。

but it was unstandardized.

但沒有標準化。

They used a mix of influences to determine word choice and spelling,

他們利用各種影響因素來決定選詞和拼寫、

including the French they knew, the Latin they studied,

包括他們知道的法語和學習的拉丁語、

and the English they spoke.

以及他們說的英語。

So, things were already pretty messy.

所以，事情本來就很混亂。

Then, in 1476, the printing press arrived in England.

1476 年，印刷術傳入英國。

Some of the people working the presses may have mainly spoken Flemish—

一些印刷工人可能主要講弗拉芒語--"弗拉芒"。

not English.

不是英語。

And they were given manuscripts that varied widely in their spelling.

而他們得到的手稿在拼寫上也有很大差異。

Without standardization, different writers went with various spellings

由於沒有統一的標準，不同的作家使用了不同的拼法

based in part on what they happened to encounter while reading.

部分依據是他們在閱讀時偶然遇到的內容。

Many words had a multitude of spellings.

許多單詞有多種拼法。

The word “dough,” for instance,

比如 "麵糰 "這個詞、

used to be spelled in all these ways and was originally pronounced “dach.”

曾有過上述拼法，最初讀作 "dach"。

The guttural Germanic sound it ended with was one the Latin alphabet didn't cover.

它結尾的日耳曼語發音是拉丁字母所不包括的。

It eventually came to be represented with “g-h.”

最終用 "g-h "來表示。

But, for some “g-h” words,

但是，對於一些 "g-h "單詞、

English speakers eventually dropped the guttural sound altogether;

講英語的人最終完全放棄了咕嚕聲；

for others, they ended up pronouncing it as “f” instead,

對其他人來說，他們最終把它讀成了 "f"、

as exemplified in “dough” versus “tough.”

如 "麵糰 "與 "堅韌"。

Printing presses memorialized the spelling

印刷機紀念拼寫

even though the pronunciation eventually changed.

儘管發音最終發生了變化。

And this wasn't just the case with “g-h.”

這不僅僅是 "g-h "的情況。

Some letters in other words also fell silent:

其他單詞中的一些字母也陷入了沉默：

words like knife, gnat, and wrong

刀子、螻蟻、錯誤

all contain the vestiges of past pronunciations.

都含有過去發音的殘餘。

But while the printing press was solidifying spellings,

但是，在印刷機鞏固拼寫的同時、

the English language was also undergoing what scholars call the Great Vowel Shift.

英語也在經歷學者們所說的元音大轉換。

Between the 14th and 18th centuries,

14 至 18 世紀之間、

the way English speakers pronounced many vowels changed significantly.

許多元音的發音方式發生了重大變化。

For instance, “bawt” became “boat.”

例如，"bawt "變成了 "boat"。

This displaced the word for “boot,”

它取代了 "引導 "一詞

which had up until then been pronounced “boat,”

在此之前，它一直被讀作 "boat"（船）。

and pushed it into the high “u” vowel position it maintains today.

並將其推到了今天的高 "u "元音位置。

Words that already had this high “u” often became diphthongs,

已經有這種高 "u "的詞往往變成了雙元音、

with two vowels in a single syllable.

在一個音節中包含兩個元音。

So, “hus” became “house.”

於是，"hus "變成了 "house"。

As with so many linguistic matters, there's no clear reason why this happened.

與許多語言問題一樣，這種情況的發生也沒有明確的原因。

But it did.

但它確實做到了。

And how the vowel shift affected a word depended on various things,

元音偏移對單詞的影響取決於各種因素、

including the other sounds in the word.

包括單詞中的其他發音。

The word “tough” was once “tōh,” among other variations.

堅韌 "一詞曾是 "tōh"，還有其他變體。

“Through” was once “thruch” and “dough” “dah.”

"Through "曾是 "thruch"，"dough "曾是 "dah"。

These words all started with different vowel sounds

這些單詞都以不同的元音開頭

that were then affected differently by the vowel shift.

然後，元音變位會對它們產生不同的影響。

The “o-u” spelling they all adopted was a haphazardly applied French influence.

他們都採用的 "o-u "拼法是受法國人的影響胡亂拼成的。

So, eventually they wound up with still distinct vowel sounds,

是以，最終他們的元音還是很明顯的、

but similar spellings that don't really make much sense.

但拼法相似，並無多大意義。

All this means English can be a difficult language

所有這些都說明英語是一門難學的語言

for non-native speakers to learn.

讓非母語者學習。

And it reveals the many ways history, in all its messiness,

它揭示了紛繁複雜的歷史、

acted upon English, making it especially tough.

對英語的影響，使其變得尤為艱難。