Good question.

What are silent letters for? Seeing as a letter is "a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech", the term "silent letter" is oxymoronic. Is a silent letter just the vestige of a former pronunciation, a kind of orthographical appendix?

Edit: This Wiki article sheds some light on your question.

Last edited by Hydra; 06/05/2007 12:46 PM.