Ghoti (pronounced / f / ) is a fictional spelling of the word English ( fish ), invented in order to highlight the mismatch between spelling and pronunciation of English. Indeed,

• digraph gh is pronounced as in enough ( / 'nf / ), that is to say, as the Fisher F;
• the letter o is pronounced as in women ( / wmn / ), that is to say i like the fish;
• Following letters ti is pronounced as in words ( / 'menn / ), that is to say, as the sh of fish.

This word is often cited to support the idea of reforming the spelling of English.

The first known reference to this word dates from 1874, in a quotation from a letter of 1855, which assigns a certain Ghoti William Ollier. ^Reviews

It was noted that the word may in fact Ghoti not reasonably be pronounced as fish in English, because

• digraph gh is never pronounced as a word beginning with f;
• the pronunciation of o as i in Women is an exception;
• the letters ti can not pronounce like sh when it is followed by a vowel.

In this spirit, several alternative pronunciations have been proposed to Ghoti. Following the same logic as saying Ghoti is pronounced like fish, we can deduce that the word is completely silent by drawing analogies with the pronunciation of letters and digraphs contained in other words:

• the gh is silent as in night ( nat );
• o is silent as in people ( / 'pi pl / );
• the t is silent as in ballet ( / 'ble / );
• the i is silent as in business ( / 'bzns / ).

These various critics may question the appropriateness of using the word as an argument Ghoti and pronunciation attributed to him (fish) but different pronunciations can be associated can support the mismatch between spelling and pronunciation.

Cultural references

Several references were made to Ghoti, for example:

• in the book Finnegans Wake by James Joyce , we find this sentence: "Gee EACH owe tea eye smells fish.". (The words "gee tea eye EACH owe 'are pronounced in English approximately as the names of the letters g, h, o, t and i respectively, we could adapt the formula:" Jay Tea ax y smells fishy. " );
• in Klingon , a language dummy, Ghoti '( / ot / ) means "fish."

References

• Portal Language

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