The letter Þ (minuscule: þ), which is also known as thorn or þorn is a letter in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic alphabets. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with th. The letter originated from the rune ᚦ, called "thorn" in Anglo-Saxon and thurs (giant) in Scandinavia. It has the sound of either a voiceless interdental fricative, like 'th' as in the English word "thick", or a voiced dental fricative, like 'th' as in the English word "the". In Icelandic the usage however is restricted to the former; the voic ...

Including:

• Thorn letter - Usage in English
• Thorn letter - Trivia

Read more here: » Thorn letter: Encyclopedia - Thorn letter

The English spelling system is one of the most irregular spelling systems in current use. Although French presents a similar degree of difficulty when encoding (writing), English is more difficult when decoding (reading). English has never had any formal regulating authority, like the Spanish Real Academia Española, Italian Accademia della Crusca or the French Académie française, so attempts to regularize ...

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English spelling, English spelling - History of the English spelling system, English spelling - Irregularities in the English spelling system, English spelling - The state of English spelling

Read more here: » English spelling: Encyclopedia II - English spelling - Irregularities in the English spelling system

This refers to a common phenomenon among Swedes who may not speak English too often. The result can be very amusing for native English speakers because of how it sounds. Unlike English, Swedish has monophthong vowels. This difference is sometimes forgotten by Swedish speakers, resulting in mispronunciation. Swedish also lacks some common English phonemes, such as [θ] (voiceless interdental fricative), [ð] (voiced interdental f ...

See also:

Swenglish, Swenglish - English with a Swedish accent, Swenglish - Swedish with English words

Read more here: » Swenglish: Encyclopedia II - Swenglish - English with a Swedish accent

This is a group of two letters, both of which are different. Examples from languages include: Basque tx, corresponds to [tʃ] (voiceless postalveolar affricate) Czech ch, corresponds to [x] (voiceless velar fricative) Dutch ch, corresponds to [x] (voice ...

See also:

Digraph orthography, Digraph orthography - Sequences, Digraph orthography - Reversals, Digraph orthography - Doubled letters

Read more here: » Digraph orthography: Encyclopedia II - Digraph orthography - Sequences

The letter was used in writing Middle English before the invention of the printing press. William Caxton, the first printer in England, brought with him type made in Continental Europe, which lacked thorn, yogh, and eth. He substituted the letter Y in place of thorn. This was not an arbitrary choice on his part: in some manuscripts of the earlier 1400s, such as The Boke of Margery Kempe, the letters Y and thorn were identical. In fact Y in place of thorn is still seen on gravestones and in the stock prefix "Ye olde...". The latter is ...

See also:

Thorn letter, Thorn letter - Usage in English, Thorn letter - Trivia

Read more here: » Thorn letter: Encyclopedia II - Thorn letter - Usage in English

English as a lingua franca for Europe - Cultural difficulties. Although many native English speakers would rarely consider common speech to be offensive, at times, it would not be suited for an international lingua franca, which should be as culturally neutral as possible. One of the goals of ELFE would be to remove phrases with inappropriate or culture-specific associations (for example, sports terminology). While this is derided by some as political correctness, proponents of ELFE argue that this is nece ...

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English as a lingua franca for Europe, English as a lingua franca for Europe - The motivation for ELFE, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Current problems with English, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Cultural difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Pronunciation difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Intonation difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Punctuation differences, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Vocabulary difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Spelling difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - External link

Read more here: » English as a lingua franca for Europe: Encyclopedia II - English as a lingua franca for Europe - Current problems with English

The regular spelling system of Old English was swept away by the Norman Conquest, and English itself was eclipsed by French for three centuries, eventually emerging with its spelling much influenced by French. English had also borrowed large numbers of words from French, which for reasons of prestige and familiarity kept their French spellings. The spelling of Middle English, such as in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, is very irregular and inconsistent, with th ...

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English spelling, English spelling - History of the English spelling system, English spelling - Irregularities in the English spelling system, English spelling - The state of English spelling

Read more here: » English spelling: Encyclopedia II - English spelling - History of the English spelling system

The member states of the European Union use a wide variety of languages, and although the EU attempts to respect all of them by providing translation services, this generally consumes large amounts of time and money, and the benefits of a lingua franca: a common language that can be used by everyone to communicate with everyone else, are obvious. Despite controversy, English has already assumed the position of a European lingua franca to some extent. According to a Eurobarometer survey in 2001, 47% of EU citizens spoke English ...

See also:

English as a lingua franca for Europe, English as a lingua franca for Europe - The motivation for ELFE, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Current problems with English, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Cultural difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Pronunciation difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Intonation difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Punctuation differences, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Vocabulary difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - Spelling difficulties, English as a lingua franca for Europe - External link

Read more here: » English as a lingua franca for Europe: Encyclopedia II - English as a lingua franca for Europe - The motivation for ELFE