The neutrality or factuality of this article or section may be compromised by weasel words. You can help Wikipedia by improving weasel-worded statements.

Ghoti is a constructed example word used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is pronounced /fɪʃ/, just like fish: The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ...

• gh, /f/ as in laugh, /læf, læːf, laːf/;
• o, /ɪ/ as in women, /ˈwɪmɪn, ˈwɪmən/; and
• ti, /ʃ/ as in nation, /ˈneɪʃən/.

Ghoti is often cited to support English spelling reform, and is often attributed to George Bernard Shaw,^[1] who supported this cause, but it is unlikely to have originated with him.^[2] Spelling reform generally attempts to introduce a logical structure connecting the spelling and pronunciation of words. ... George Bernard Shaw (George) Bernard Shaw[1] (born Dublin, 26 July 1856 – died 2 November 1950 in Hertfordshire) was an Irish playwright based in England. ...

Others argue that this ignores etymology and the normal rules of English spelling. The grapheme "gh" never represents the phoneme /f/ at the beginning of a word and "ti" never represents /ʃ/ at the end of a word. The pronunciation of the word women is the only word in English where o represents the sound /ɪ/ and this is partly due to the Great Vowel Shift. Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ... In typography, a grapheme is the atomic unit in written language. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language, generally accomplished in the 15th century, although evidence suggests it began as early as the 14th century. ...

Another interpretation of the pronunciation of ghoti which has been put forward is "..." (that is, no sound; silence): gh as in night; o as in people; t as in ballet; i as in business.^[3]

Additional Examples of Irregularities

The example of ghoti is only one of many possible illustrations of irregularity in English spelling. More are illustrated below:

"Potato"

If gh is pronounced /p/ in Hiccough...

If ough is pronounced /o/ in Dough...

If phth is pronounced /t/ in Phthisis...

If eigh is pronounced /eɪ/ in Neighbour...

If tte is pronounced /t/ in Gazette...

If eau is pronounced /o/ in Plateau...

...then it should be possible to spell potato as ghoughphtheightteeau.

Note, however, that not all people use hiccough (it is more commonly spelled hiccup)^{[citation needed]} or pronounce the "cough" like /kʌp/. In addition, most people pronounce the <phth> in phthisis as /fθ/. Tuberculous lungs show up on an X-ray image Tuberculosis is an infection with the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system (meningitis), lymphatic system, circulatory system (miliary TB), genitourinary system, bones and joints. ... Binomial name Solanum tuberosum L. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, commonly grown for its starchy tuber. ...

"Ship"

If ti is pronounced /ʃ/ in Nation...

If o is pronounced /ɪ/ in Women...

If gh is pronounced /p/ in Hiccough...

...then it should be possible to spell ship as tiogh.

Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft. ...

Purpose of Irregularities

It has been argued^{[citation needed]} that these examples in fact illustrate a lack of irregularity in English spelling—ghoughphtheightteeau would be a ridiculous way to spell potato, and in English, potato isn't spelled even close to that way. Because of this, it is claimed that the rules of English spelling, which prohibit the formation of words like ghoti, are in fact relatively sensible.

It has also been noted^{[citation needed]} that many of the irregularities that do exist in English spelling serve to preserve the word's history and etymology. For example, the word "electrician", in which the ci is pronounced /ʃ/ due to palatalization, retains a linkage to its root "electricity" which would be lost if the different forms of the word were spelled "electrishun", "electrisity", and "electrik". Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ... An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings and related equipment. ... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ...

The /ʃ/ sound itself is a good example of spelling irregularity. In Imagery and text: A dual coding theory of reading and writing (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001), Mark Sadoski lists eleven ways of spelling /ʃ/: shirt, sugar, chute, action, issue, ocean, conscious, mansion, schwa, anxious, and special. Business shirt A shirt is a piece of clothing for the trunk of the body. ... Magnification of typical sugar showing monoclinic hemihedral crystalline structure. ... Chute may refer to: Chute, a facility that allows the movement of items from one level to another by gravity Chute, a parish and group of villages in the county of Wiltshire, England. ... In physics, the action is an integral quantity that is used to determine the evolution of a physical system between two defined states using the calculus of variations. ... Look up Issue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Oceans (from Okeanos in Greek) are saline waters that cover almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... Anxiety is an unpleasant complex combination of emotions that includes fear, apprehension and worry, and is often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain and/or shortness of breath. ... Look up special in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• Linguistics
• Phonology
• Ghoti Hook, a band deriving its name from the concept in this article

Linguistics is the scientific study of language. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... Ghoti Hook was a Christian pop-punk band from Washington, D.C. The band was formed in 1991, with band bembers Joel Bell, Conrad Tolosa, Jamie Tolosa, Christian Ergueta, and Adam Neubauer. ...

Trivia

In the fictional Klingon language, ghotI' is the word for fish.^[4] An artistic language (artlang) is a constructed language designed for aesthetic pleasure. ... The Klingon language or Klingonese (tlhIngan Hol in Klingon) is the constructed language spoken by Klingons in the fictional Star Trek universe. ...

References

1. ^ Holroyd, Michael, Bernard Shaw: Volume 3: 1918-1950: The Lure of Fantasy, Random House, 1994, ISBN 0-517-13035-1
2. ^ See Jim Scobbie's article at alt-usage-english.org. [1]
3. ^ For similar interpretations, see the alphabet of American linguist John Higgins. [2]
4. ^ Klingon Language Institute [3]

External links

• How to pronounce "ghoti" [4]
• An essay on spelling-to-sound rules that discusses "ghoti": Hau tu pranownse Inglish [5]
• "What is ghoti?" by Jim Scobbie [6]
• Information on the phonetic Shaw Alphabet [7]