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The Simplified Spelling Board was an American organization created in 1906 to reform the spelling of the English language, making it simpler and easier to learn, and eliminating many of what were considered to be its inconsistencies. The board operated until 1920, the year after the death of its founding benefactor, who had come to criticize the progress and approach of the organization. ==Founding== The Simplified Spelling Board was announced on March 11, 1906, with Andrew Carnegie funding the organization, to be headquartered in New York City. ''The New York Times'' noted that Carnegie was convinced that "English might be made the world language of the future" and an influence leading to universal peace, but that this role was obstructed by its "contradictory and difficult spelling".〔 Carnegie committed $15,000 (1906 dollars – over $350,000 in 2010 dollars〔("The Inflation Calculator" )〕) per year for five years to get the organization off the ground.〔("NEW YORK MAY NOT FOLLOW.; Mr. Draper Doesn't Believe in Telling People How to Spell" ), ''The New York Times'', August 25, 1906. Retrieved August 28, 2008.〕 The initial 30 members of the Board consisted of authors, professors and dictionary editors, among them Supreme Court Justice David Josiah Brewer, President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University, Dr. Melvil Dewey (inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification), Dr. Isaac K. Funk (editor of ''The Standard Dictionary''), former United States Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage, United States Commissioner of Education William Torrey Harris (and editor-in-chief of the 1909 ''Webster's New International Dictionary''), publishing magnate Henry Holt, professor Calvin Thomas, and author Mark Twain.〔("CARNEGIE ASSAULTS THE SPELLING BOOK; To Pay the Cost of Reforming English Orthography. CAMPAIGN ABOUT TO BEGIN Board Named, with Headquarters Here – Local Societies Throughout the Country." ), ''The New York Times'', March 12, 1906. Retrieved August 28, 2008.〕 Offices were obtained at the Metropolitan Life Building at 1 Madison Avenue, and Brander Matthews was selected as the board's chairman.〔 Charles E. Sprague of the Union Dime Savings Institution, the board's first treasurer, noted that the group was careful to keep the word "reform" out of its name and gave the word "believe" as an example of a word that would benefit from elimination of its unneeded "i", stating that "If believe were spelled 'beleve', I think it would be a good change."〔("SIMPLE SPELLERS START WITH 300 PRUNED WORDS; They Want to Avoid Scaring People at First. NOT REFORMERS, THEY INSIST Col. Sprague Thinks Many Persons Object to the Term – Some Publishers and Editors Enlisted." ), ''The New York Times'', March 13, 1906. Retrieved August 28, 2008.〕 On March 13, 1906, ''The New York Times'' editorialized in support of the Simplified Spelling Board's efforts, noting that 90% of English words are "fairly well spelled", but that "a vast improvement could be effected by reducing to some sort of regularity the much-used tenth that makes most of the trouble".〔("TOPICS OF THE TIMES" ), ''The New York Times'', March 13, 1906. Retrieved August 28, 2008.〕 An editorial in the following day's edition noted that opponents of the board's efforts had suggested that the language be kept as is, only taught better, but that the members of the board would respect the language's history in its improvement efforts without hiding or distorting it.〔("TOPICS OF THE TIMES" ), ''The New York Times'', March 14, 1906. Retrieved August 28, 2008.〕 Brander Matthews, the board's chairman, emphasized that the board's primary mission in simplifying the language was to eliminate unneeded letters, noting that "()implification by omission – this is its platform; this is its motto".〔("TOPICS OF THE TIMES" ), ''The New York Times'', March 22, 1906. Retrieved August 28, 2008.〕 Isaac Funk wrote to ''The Times'' on March 20, 1906, emphasizing that the board's first aim was "a conservatively progressive evolution, aiming chiefly at the dropping of silent letters", accelerating a process that had been going on for centuries. This would be followed by the use of a phonetic alphabet developed by the American Philological Association and including the 40 basic sounds used in English. Phonetics would be taught to children in nursery school or kindergarten.〔Funk, I.K. ("Letter to the Editor – SIMPLIFIED SPELLING.; Two Lines of Work, Requiring Patience and Discrimination." ), ''The New York Times'', March 25, 1906.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Simplified Spelling Board」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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