[Gerard Meijssen ([Wiktionary-l] Re: [Wikipedia-l] English orthographies) writes:]
How many different orthographies / dialects are there for English.
It all depends on definition. I say there is one "orthography" for English (the A-Z "Latin" alphabet). Perhaps you are confusing "orthography" and spelling.
As for dialects, well many people who work in dialects do not regard "British English" and "American English" as distinct dialects because they are very similar (when compared with real dialects.)
I would not dare to presume that a word is truly shared between the less well known versions of English. There are also the "true" dialects like Geordie that have to be considered. Creating check boxes assumes in a way that the editors /know/ these different versions of English well enough. Technically it can be done, but the spelling of the text in a meaning, an etymology needs to be adapted anyway. You have to realise that certain meanings do not travel well. It is therefore not only the orthography but also the Meanings of a word that needs to be considered.
Yes, I suspect you have conflated "orthography" and "spelling".
Jim
Jim Breen wrote:
[Gerard Meijssen ([Wiktionary-l] Re: [Wikipedia-l] English orthographies) writes:]
How many different orthographies / dialects are there for English.
It all depends on definition. I say there is one "orthography" for English (the A-Z "Latin" alphabet). Perhaps you are confusing "orthography" and spelling.
As for dialects, well many people who work in dialects do not regard "British English" and "American English" as distinct dialects because they are very similar (when compared with real dialects.)
American and British English are different orthographies because their rules of spelling differ. When creating a spellchecker, you need to have a clear destinction in what is what. When people look up words in UW it HAS to be clear what is what.
Thanks, GerardM
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