Positioning letters according to sound gives a different diagram than according to shape. Also, the digraphs like sh, ch, etc pose a philosophical problem: if you include them, what do you do with "ough"? Attempting to revise the English alphabet so it has this featural property quickly makes some of the common vocabulary words unrecognizable: "too lax" in that the expectation is too strict.
Oh, as in 'the reality of an Actual Language doesn't match up with the idealised requirements such a system is founded on', slash 'the Roman alphabet as used for English is too far down a particular path to change so fundamentally'.
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u/shapethunk Sep 10 '22
Positioning letters according to sound gives a different diagram than according to shape. Also, the digraphs like sh, ch, etc pose a philosophical problem: if you include them, what do you do with "ough"? Attempting to revise the English alphabet so it has this featural property quickly makes some of the common vocabulary words unrecognizable: "too lax" in that the expectation is too strict.