Children of the Code: Update

Children of the Code:
'The Code and the Challenge of Learning to Read It'
A Social Education Project & Documentary Series

February 10, 2008 - Update: Chapter 5b

Ye First Millennium Bug: The Roots of Confusion

~ it's easy to forget that the system we have learned is a system that is based on a series of accidents that result in layers of complexity" - Dr. Thomas Cable, Co-author: A History of the English Language

YE FIRST MILLENNIUM BUG

Latin Roots
~ The clergy begins to write English using the letters/sounds of Latin
French Rules
~ French displaces English as the official language of England
The King’s English
~ Henry V resurrects English writing
The Chancery Scribes
~ The King's scribes forge the roots of modern English
The First Millennium Bug
~ The fall of phoneticism, the rise of complexity, and the roots of confusion
The Great Vowel Shift
~ Massive shifts in pronunciation add further confusion
Casting Spells
~ The printing press standardizes the unstable writing system

“Ye First Millennium Bug” picks up where “A Brief History of the Code: Part 1” left off. This chapter sketches the story of the emergence and standardization of written English.

The history of the English code is an amazing story of historical accidents, negligence, elitism, and, in the words of Dr. Thomas Cable, “No one minding the store”.

..."the accident of the printing press, which in England served to freeze spelling in the fifteenth century so you have these bizarre spellings." - Dr. Malcolm Richardson, Chair, Department of English, LSU

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