Silent-letter omission and insertion errors together comprise 55 per cent of real spelling errors¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1911 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Errors from omitting silent letters (465 words, e.g. begining, necesary) and inserting silent letters (388, e.g. Amoung, occassion) together comprise 853, or 55 per cent, of total real errors. → Foster 1911

Evidence¶

Foster 1911¶

Foster, W. T. (1911). The Spelling of College Students. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0070538

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Error-classification analysis of the 10,000 Bowdoin themes. Omission errors move toward phonetic spelling; insertion errors arise from analogies with approved spellings the author calls "precisely as irrational and wasteful."

"These two classes of errors—those due to the omission of silent letters in the direction of an ideal system, and those due to the insertion of silent letters thru analogies with correct forms—comprise 853, or 55 per cent., of the total real errors in spelling."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Carelessness accounts for 23 per cent of spelling errors in college students' written themes — related
• 76 per cent of spelling errors are attributed to the chaotic condition of English spelling's failure to represent speech — related
• Children use letter-name knowledge as a shortcut when inventing phonologically based spellings — related