[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
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/
Clayton School of Information Technology, Tel: +61 3 9905 9554
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