WHY WE HAVE SILENT LETTERS IN WORDS #silentletters #english #language #facts

WHY DO WE WRITE LETTERS WE DON’T SAY? 📝🤐

Honest. Knight. Psychology. Silent letters everywhere.

THE HISTORICAL REASON:

1. THEY WERE PRONOUNCED ANCIENTLY

12th-14th century: All letters were spoken.

“Knight” = “k-nee-kht” (with K and GH sounds)
“Honest” = “ho-nest” (H was spoken)
“Psalm” = “p-salm” (P was pronounced)

2. PRONUNCIATION CHANGED, SPELLING DIDN’T

Great Vowel Shift (1400-1700):
English pronunciation evolved drastically.

But PRINTING PRESS (1440) froze spelling.

Printed books standardized old spelling.

We kept writing like medieval, speaking like modern.

3. BORROWED WORDS

FRENCH: ballet, debut, gourmet
(French doesn’t pronounce final consonants)

GREEK: psychology, pneumonia, pterodactyl
(We kept original PH, PS, PT)

LATIN: debt, doubt, subtle
(Silent B added to show Latin origin – debt = debitum)

4. VISUAL ETYMOLOGY

Silent letters show:
– Word origin
– Connection to ancient languages
– Linguistic history

“Sign” has silent G, but “signature” pronounces G.
Shows they’re related.

SPELLING REFORM?

Some tried to simplify (Webster in US).

But change is difficult with millions of books already printed.

Tradition won over logic.

You’re writing medieval history every time you write.

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