Speech as sport: Speaking, reading and writing have to be trained

Not only Freudian slips of the tongue can have far-reaching consequences. Writing too, can cause difficulties, especially when relying on pronunciation. In German, Schpaghetti would be consistent but not nice.

Learners of German know the rule: Before t and p pronounce s as sh in Schnee.

Unfortunately Spagetti also cannot delight language lovers, although it is not incorrect according to spelling dictionaries. It does make a concession to German pronunciation, but in Italian *spagetti ends up being mispronounced with [dʒ] instead of [g]. Lingustic knowledge is sacrificed for the sake of simplification.

Those who know the rule valid for romance languages like Italian and French:

Before e and i say [dʒe] and [dʒi] or [ʒe] and [ʒi],

are also aware of the non-culinary connection between spaghetti, funghi porcini (mushrooms) and cinghiale (boar). In Italian the h blocks the voiced pronunciation of the preceding g.

Would it not make things simpler for German writers to dispense with the h ? Maybe, but the information thus saved might come in handy for language acquisition and further linguistic studies.

It might be of some interest to know e.g. , that the german word Ghetto – pronounced [geto] in the Venetian dialect – comes from getto (cast). In 16th century Venice the quarter where cannons were cast was occupied primarily by Jews. Background stories like these contribute not only to language awareness, they also expand the historical horizon.

The brain needs its training and it is commonplace knowledge, not only among neuroscientists, that more links lead to improved memory performance.

Conclusion: in this case less is not more.

@ bine