"I before E, except after C " is a mnemonic rule for English spelling. If someone is not sure whether a word is spelled in the order of ei or ie , the rhyme indicates that the correct sequence is ie unless the previous letter is c , in this case is ei . As an example:
- ie in the bell ie ve , f ie rce , coll ie , d ie , fr ie nd
- ei after c in rec ei ve , c ei ling , rec ei pt , c ei lidh
The rules are well known; Edward Carney calls this "the highest, and for many solitary, spelling rules". However, the brief form quoted above has many common exceptions; as an example:
- ie after c : the ie s specification, sc ie nce , suffic ie nt
- ei is not preceded by c : s ei ze , v ei n , w ei rd , th ei r , f < b> ei sty , for ei gn
The proportion of exceptions can be reduced by limiting the application of rules based on the voice represented by the spelling. Two common limitations are:
- does not include cases where spelling represents "long a" sound (FACE lexical set and possibly SQUARE ). This is usually expressed by continuing rhyme " or when it sounds like A, like in a neighbor or weigh "
- includes only cases where spelling represents "long e" sound (lexical set FLEECE and possibly NEAR and happY ).
Some authorities have denounced the rule because it has too many exceptions to be eligible to learn.
Video I before E except after C
History
Spelling history
Central English evolved from Old English after the Norman conquest, adding many borrowed words from Norman French, whose voices and spellings changed and changed by older English habits. In French loan word, digraph & lt; ie & gt; generally represents the sound of [e:] , while & lt; ei & gt; represents [?:] . However, the Early Modern English spelling is not fixed; many words spelled with & lt; ie & gt; and & lt; ei & gt; alternately, in seventeenth-century prints and personal correspondence of educated people into the nineteenth century. In the Great Vowel Shift, it sounds [e:] and [? :] raised into [i:] and [e: ] each, with the latter then being a dippyong [e?] . Incredible, the words in -might â ⬠History of mnemonic
The mnemonic (in short form) was found as early as 1866, as a footnote in the English Spelling Manual, edited by school inspector James Stuart Laurie from the work of a Tavistock school principal named Marshall. Michael Quinion suspects the poem has been formed before this date. The 1834 Guide states a similar rule in prose; others in 1855 and 1862 used different rhymes. Many textbooks from the 1870s used the same rhymes as Laurie's book.
Limitations for "long e" sounds are explicitly made in 1855 and 1862 books, and applied to "I before E except after C" rhymes in 1871 manual. Mark Wainwright's FAQ posts on alt.usage.English newsgroups characterize this limited version as UK. Restrictions can be implicit, or can be explicitly entered as additional lines such as "when sound is" placed before or after the main part of the rhyme.
Longer shapes excluding the "long a" sound are found in Rule 37 of Ebenezer Cobham Brewer's 1880 Rules for the English Spelling , along with a list of "main exceptions":
- The following Rima contains the substance of the last three rules: -
- i before e,
- Except after c,
- Or when it sounds like "a,"
- As in neighbors and weigh .
"Dr. Brewer" is credited as a writer by the next writers who cite this form of recital, which is common in American schools.
Modern English Dictionary discusses "me before e except after c". The original edition of Henry Watson Fowler in 1926 called the rule "very useful", limiting words to "old" sounds, further stating that "words that sound unchanging, such as either , no , inveigle , do not come underneath ", and call capture " important exception ". The entry was retained in Ernest Gowers' 1965 revision. Robert Burchfield rewrote for the 1996 edition, stating 'rules can help extend' except when the word is pronounced with /e?/ "', and provides a longer list of exceptions, including words excluded from Fowler's interpretation.Packney Edition 2008 edition states," Traditional spelling rules' i before e except after c 'should be expanded to include statement' when the combination is pronounced -ee - '".
In 1932 Leonard B. Wheat examined the rules and lists of words found in various American elementary school spelling books. He calculated that, of the 3,876 words listed, 128 had ei or that is in spelling; of this, 83 corresponds to I-before-E, 6 to-after-C, and 12 sounds like -A. He found 14 words with i-e in a separate syllable, and 2 with e-i in a separate syllable. This leaves 11 words "irregular": 3 with ancient ciiiiiiiiiiii, conscience, efficiency and 8 with ei ( good , foreigners, strangers, height, spare time, no, seize, them ). Wheat concludes, "If it were not for the fact that the jingle of the rule made it easy to remember (although not easy to apply), the authors would recommend that the rule be reduced to ' I usually coming before e >, 'or it is thrown away entirely ".
Maps I before E except after C
Modern look
Sandra Wilde in 1990 claimed a version that sounded like E of the rule was one of only two proper voice correspondence rules taught in primary school. The rule is covered by five of nine software programs for spelling education studied by Barbara Mullock in 2012.
Edward Carney 1994 The English Spelling Survey describes the ["long-e" version of the rule] as "weird":
- The practical use... just decides between two correspondences for /i:/ which is another visual metathesis of each other. This is not a general graphotactic rule that applies to other phonemes. So, even if grabs and is cruel (if you say it with /i:/ than < span title = "Representation in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/e?/) is an exception, heifer , leisure with /e/? & lt; ei & gt; or control , vein with /e?/? & lt; ei & gt; not an exception; & lt; ie & gt; not spelling usual /e/ or /e?/.
Regarding the usefulness of the rules, he says:
- Such a rule is a reminder of the common pitfalls of the unwary. Nevertheless, selection among competing correspondents has never, and can never, be covered by such aids into memory.
The opposite of the "except after c" part is the spelling-to-voice rule of Carney E.16: in the order of & lt; cei & gt;, & lt; ei & gt; pronounced /i:/. In the Carney test word list, all eight words with & lt; cei & gt; according to this rule, which he calls the "marginal" rule with 100% "efficiency". More loan words not on the glossary may not be appropriate; for example the word Gaelic ceilidh is pronounced /to? li:/.
Markus FAQ Wainwright interprets rules as valid only for FLEECE vocals, not NEAR vowels; he finds it useful if "a little common sense" is used for exceptions. The FAQ includes a 1996 response to Wainwright by Americans, who included variations on their rules and exceptions, stating that even restricted versions have too many exceptions, and concluded "Instead of trying to keep the 'rules' or' guidelines', '' I 'before 'e' except after 'c' ", why do we all not only agree that it is stupid and useless, and satisfied just by laughing at it?"
Kory Stamper from Merriam-Webster says its neighbor-and-weight version is "filled with many exceptions", which lists some types. At Log in 2006, Mark Liberman suggested that the "I before e, no matter what" alternative is more reliable than the ground rules. In the same blog in 2009, Geoff Pullum wrote, 'Rules are always taught, by anyone who knows what they do, like "i before e except after c when the' ee 'sound.' '
The 2009 edition of Spelling Support , by the UK Department of Education, shows "Extension Activities" for Year Five (nine-year-olds):
- Children investigate the i rule before e except after c . Does this always apply? What sound that is make with these words?
In the Appendix, after listing the nine "useful spelling guides", there is a note:
- The i before e except after c rules are not eligible to teach. This only applies to words where i or ei represent clear sound/ ee /and unless this is known, i> enough , hijab and them look like an exception. There are a few words where the ei spelling of the ee /follows the c so it's easier to learn the specific words: accept , imagine , cheat ( receipt deceit ), perceive and the ceiling .
There have been widespread media reports about this recommendation, which resulted in some controversy.
The Oxford Dictionaries website Oxford University Press states "The rules apply only when the voice is represented as 'ee', though that does not apply to words like science or efficient , where the combination -ie - does not follow the letter c but is not pronounced 'ee'. "
David Crystal discusses the rules in his English spelling history in 2012. He first limits the vowels , then accounts for some exception classes. He states that, while fewer exceptions and less frequent words follow the rules, there is too much to be learned by the heart; the factors are "too big to be reduced to simple rules," but "basic knowledge of grammar and word history" can handle it.
Exceptions
The following sections register an exception for the basic form; many of which are not exceptions to additional forms.
Words that break the "I before E" and "except after C" parts of the rule include cheiromancies, cleidomancies, eigenfrequencies, obeisancies, oneiromancies.
cie
Some large groups of words have cie in spelling. Some common words have spellings of cei handled by rules: verbs that expire -a red and their derivatives ( feel , lies >, transceiver , receipt , etc.), and the ceiling . The BBC trivia show QI claims there are 923 spelled words cie , 21 times the number of words corresponding to rule exceptions written with cei With the "old" vowel
The vowels represented by ie in spelled words cie are rarely the "long e" vowels of FLEECE (/i:/), so some words are exceptions to the version of the rule that is restricted to that sound. Among them are specie , species .
For those with happy -tensing, final y accents in words ending in -cy have FLEECE vocals, and therefore the form inflection ends -cies or -cied ( crush , policy , etc.).
If the NEAR vowel (/? R/) is considered "long e", then words ending -cier fancier , if spoken with two rather than three syllables; or financiers , if emphasized on the last syllable or pronounced with happy -tensing accents.
With another voice
This is an exception to the basic and "long" versions of the poem, but not for the "e long" version.
Types include:
- Adding the -er suffix to root -cy , gives the two-syllable term -cier ; For example, fancier (adjectives "more luxurious", or the noun "fancied person")
- Latin words with roots ending in c (i) followed by a suffix or inflection beginning at (i) e ; as
- fac or fic "do; make" ( efficient, stupefacient , etc.)
- soc "share; relatives" ( community )
- sci "know" ( science, prescient , etc.)
- More: outdated , waitress , glaciers
ei not preceded by c
Many words have ei that are not preceded by c . In subsequent sections, most derivative forms are ignored; for example, as well as seize , there is disseize and seizure . Words are grouped by phoneme (sound) corresponding to ei or ie in spelling; each phoneme is phonetically represented as in Help: IPA/English and, if any, with keywords in the John C. Wells lexical set.
The * after-word sign shows implied pronunciation is one of the few found. Some have /i:/ variants are more common in America than the UK (eg sheikh , spare , well has /e?/, /?/, /a?/ respectively).
With the "old" vowel
The words where ei , not preceded by c , represent the vowel FLEECE (/i:/), is the only exception to the most rigorous English interpretation of the "long e" version of the rhyme. The less strict interpretation acknowledges the exception of words where eir , not preceded by c , represents the vowel of NEAR (/?? r/).
Some exclusion categories:
- Many names are correct, often because they are adopted from other languages. Fowler says the rule is "useless with the right name"; Carney says "As one might expect from any rule, there will likely be more exceptions in the name, many of which are Scottish":
- First name and surname Keith, Neil, Sheila, Stein , etc.
- placenames Leith, Keighley , Rheims , Raleigh , etc.
- Idul Fitri in the names of Muslim holidays (Idul Fitri, Idul Adha, etc.)
- others like Cassiopeia
- Chemical names ending in -ein or -eine ( caffeine, casein, codeine, phthalein, protein, etc.). Here -ein (e) was originally pronounced as two syllables /i:.? N/
- Scottish English Words ( deil, deid, weill, etc.) Mark Wainwright writes "There are many exceptions in Scottish, so speakers with a large Scottish vocabulary may also succumb to this rule. "
Other exceptions:
- /i:/ FLEECE
- good *, cruel *, inveigle *, keister, leisure *, monteith, not *, obeisance *, seize, permission, sheikh *, teiid
- /?? r/ NEAR
- madeira, weird, weird . (This sound may also be spelled ier , like translucent .)
With "long a" vocals
There are many words where ei , not preceded by c , representing the vowel FACE (/e?/). There are some where eir , not preceded by c , representing vowel SQUARE (/?? R/). This group of words is an exception only to the basic form of rhyme; they are excluded from both general limited forms.
- /e?/ FACE
- Spelling eigh : eight, sending, he-ho *, inveigh, neighing, neighbors (u) r, sled, weigh
- Other: abseil, beige, capoeira, cleidoic, deign, dreidel, feign, feint, geisha, glei, greige, greisen, heinous *, inveigle *, nonpareil *, obeisance *, peignoir *, reign , rein, seiche, seidel, seine, sheikh *, skein, surveillance, veil, veins . (While Carney says this voice is never spelled ie , the last vowel in lingerie is often a FACIAL vowel.).
- /?? r/ SQUARE
- heirs, they . (This sound is never spelled ier )
- /a?/ PRICE
- /?/ or /?/ (see weak vowel combinations)
- fake, foreign, forfeit, reveille *, sovereign, surfeit
- /?/ DRESS
- heifer, leisure *, nonpareil *, sleeping room * . (This sound is spelled ie in the word friend .)
- /ÃÆ'Ã|/ TRAP
- reveille *
- /?/ NURSE
- O'Beirne
- e and i in separate segments (and often separates syllables or morphemes)
- Prefixes de - or re - before the word begins with i ( industrialize, rekindle , etc.)
- Inflection -ing from a verb with an ending root -e that does not drop e ( becomes, sees, swingeing, etc.)
- Others: though, atheism, deign, god, here, nucleus, onomatopoeia
- Carney, Edward (1994). English spelling survey . Press Psychology. ISBNÃ, 978-0-415-09270-8 . Retrieved February 25 2011 .
- Up, Christopher; Davidson, George (2011-09-15). History of English Spelling . John Wiley & amp; Children. ISBNÃ, 9781444342970 . Retrieved March 24 2016 .
With another voice
This is an exception to the basic and "long" versions of the poem, but not for the "e long" version.
Popular culture
The poem is mentioned in several movies and TV episodes of the bee spelling, including A Boy Named Charlie Brown , the episode The Simpsons "I Spell As Quickly as I Can," and an episode of Arthur ; and also on Tom Sawyer's Musical Adventures, when Huck Finn is being taught how to read. This poem is used as a climax plot device in the 1990 episode TaleSpin "Vowel Play" when Kit corrects Baloo spelling by reading the second half ("or when it sounds like A, as in neighbors or weigh") from mnemonic.
I Before E (Except After C): The Old-School Way To Remember Stuff is a miscellany that was released in the UK for the 2007 "stocking filler" market, which sold well.
"I Before E Except After C" is a song on Yazoo's 1982 album Upstairs at Eric's . Jackson 5's 1970 hit "ABC" has the lyrics "I before E except after C". "I was before E except after C" is a 1963 episode of the East Side/West Side TV series.
I Before E is the name of a short story collection by Sam Kieth and a music album by Carissa's Wierd, in each case referring to the unusual spelling of the creator's name. Until the 1930s, Pierce City, Missouri was named "Peirce City", after Andrew Peirce. The 1982 attempt to return to the original spelling was rejected by the US Census Bureau.
Comedian Brian Regan applied the rules in a joke on her debut CD Live on the Stupid In School track.
Footnote
References
Source
Quote
Source of the article : Wikipedia