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#88619 12/04/02 02:26 PM
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The phenomenon I'm thinking of is the habit of using two different spelling conventions for the same name, even though both languages use the same alphabet. The examples that were put before me are Irish, and were mentioned by a music cataloger here at the library where I work. He was cataloging one of those Alan Lomax folk music compilations of folk music and noticed that the cataloging information included two spellings of some Irish names: Maire O'Sullivan and Máire Ní Shúillebháin. (I hope everyone's software can accomodate my character set) "Sullivan" and "Shúillebháin" are pronounced the same, the former spelling being the one digested to suit English sensibilities. My colleague's question, and he seemed to think I might know someone who knows, was what do you call that? It's not transliteration, since both Irish Gaelic and English use (mostly) the same alphabet. So what izzit? I suggested "Oppressor-compatible Orthography", given the particular situation of English landowner needing to keep records of Irish peasants in a form they, the English, could handle. But is there a term for it really?


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It works both ways so I don't think Oppressor-compatible Orthography is a good general term. And it goes beyond names. The example that comes immediately to mind is béisbol.

I can see why you'd balk at transliteration. Maybe tsuwm can come up with something.


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transorthographication?


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you're right; it's not transliteration but rather a special form of transcription. let's see if we can find a special term for it..


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Let's see if we can find a special term for it..

"And what's wrong with my coinage?", he petulantly whines.


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"And what's wrong with my coinage?", he petulantly whines.

Well...you're invisible.


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"And what's wrong with my coinage?", he perpetually whines.

I believe I suggested that we try to "find" the special term..


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An interesting query and one that confronts us almost everyday in ordinary usage too. There is in written english now, a clear distinction between American English spelling versus English (the Queen's version, from the hallowed island) English! The S's are almost always converted into Z's by the Yankies - realised/ realized; the U's are done away with again by the Americans - favour/ favor. the American style obviously follows the way the word is actually pronounced, but the spelling distinctions are documented ably by the Oxford(Brit) and Webster(US)dictionaries. Oh! and whats the word for it? Am sure I dont know! :-)


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S's are almost always converted into Z's

The suffix in question is from the Greek. They used a zeta.


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the U's are done away with again by the Americans - favour/ favor. the American style obviously follows the way the word is actually pronounced

I've often wondered, since the American style leaves in only one of the vowels, why doesn't it leave in the 'u'? In my mind/eye/ear, 'ur' represents the sound in words like colo[u]r more accurately than 'or'.


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