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C's and S's etc

TheCatWoman

I get confused, when do you use an S instead of a C, why do we get both of them together in the same word?

The same with S and Z.

Ph and F

and as for I before E except after C, there are so many exceptions to make this rule almost meaningless.

Parents

  • I think that the basic problem was shoehorning Old English into an alphabet developed for the Latin language. In Latin all Cs are hard, but not so in Old English where CH sounds were also shown by C. Compounds of C were also used that had unique sounds CG, made a DGE sound, so Old English ecg sounded like the modern edge (and meant the same thing). Three sounds that do not occur in Latin, voiced and unvoiced TH and W had their own letters garnered from the runic alphabet. When the Normans took over these letters were replaced by the modern conventions of double Latin letters to indicate single sounds (W was originally a double U or V).

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  • I think that the basic problem was shoehorning Old English into an alphabet developed for the Latin language. In Latin all Cs are hard, but not so in Old English where CH sounds were also shown by C. Compounds of C were also used that had unique sounds CG, made a DGE sound, so Old English ecg sounded like the modern edge (and meant the same thing). Three sounds that do not occur in Latin, voiced and unvoiced TH and W had their own letters garnered from the runic alphabet. When the Normans took over these letters were replaced by the modern conventions of double Latin letters to indicate single sounds (W was originally a double U or V).

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