[ELI5] Why have some languages like Spanish kept the pronunciation of the written language so that it can still be read phonetically, while spoken English deviated so much from the original spelling?

Question

[ELI5] Why have some languages like Spanish kept the pronunciation of the written language so that it can still be read phonetically, while spoken English deviated so much from the original spelling?

In: Culture

Answer 1

No language has “original spelling”. Languages are oral and evolve based on usage.

Writing systems weren’t introduced until very late in the history of language.

English spelling was standardised in the 1600s in the middle of something called “The Great Vowel Shift” where certain vowels and diphthongs shifted up (yes up, physically) in the mouth.

For instance “House” used to be pronounced exactly as it is spelled “Hoos-uh”. During the great vowel shift the pronunciation changed, but the spelling never did.

English has no central authority, whereas Spanish does, and it has so many dialects now that even if it did have an “English language academy”, which one becomes the “standard” dialect? I’m sure the 67 million people in Britain would *never* accept an “American standard English” spelling reform based on American pronunciation.