Formation of writing skills

2.2 Cases of sound-letter asymmetry in modern English
One of the main problems of English speakers is that the English alphabet is not adequate, because the number of sounds in the English language is significantly greater than the number of letters in the alphabet. For example, there are no separate letters to write down the sounds [ t ∫ ], [ ∫ ], [ ŋ ] or [ ð]. In this it differs from many alphabets based on Latin that arose in a later era and, as a rule, by the efforts of enlightenment scientists for peoples experiencing the rise of national self-consciousness (you can cite the Croatian alphabet ( gajevica ), Czech, Lithuanian or Latvian as an example). In these alphabets, to denote sounds for which there are no equivalents in the ordinary Latin alphabet, letters are used, to which special diacritics are added ( Ķ, Č, Ť , etc.). Some letters (X , Z ) are used, as a rule, when transliterating Greek or Latin borrowings (xylography , zealot ) or ( K , Y ) are rarely used at the beginning of words (yacht, keen).
This asymmetry is especially noticeable when looking at English vowels. There are only 5 of them in the alphabet - a , e , i , o , u ( y , as well as w , are considered by some researchers as substitutes for vowels i and u ), but they individually or in combinations reflect 22 vowel sounds. (In this work, we are forced to abandon the detailed transcription due to the limited set of computer symbols for designating transcription marks).
In the English language over the past 400 years, the vowel system has changed a lot, which, of course, led to the emergence of a completely new sound perception of English spelling (spelling). Knowing in general terms about the phonetic changes that have taken place, it is very easy to realize the rethinking that has taken place and learn the basic rules for reading vowels in English. So, long vowels in English were diphthongized, short e kept their reading (with the exception of i and u ). The vowels in open syllables were long (the structure of the SG syllable, i.e. consonant + vowel : ma - te , ru - de , mo - an ), short - closed ( mas - ter , rumb - le ). The diphthongization of long vowels led to a rethinking of the sound meaning of letters that previously indicated long vowels. An exception is the position of the end of the word, in which the reduction of vowels occurred (which is due to the peculiarities of English prosody).
In the XVI in the pronunciation of the consonant r also changed, which became semivowel from the vibrant , which caused the development of a different pronunciation of combinations like ar , er , ur , or , ir (in these combinations, the vowels began to resemble the semivowel standing after them).
The system of English consonants has undergone fewer changes, the main difficulty in mastering which is presented by digraphs and trigraphs such as gh , th , gth , ck , etc. Here the process went in the opposite direction: in Old English runic and medieval English Gothic ( insular ) writing, there were signs to indicate special Germanic consonants - for example, ð, þ to indicate fricative front lingual; subsequently they were lost and were replaced by digraphs. Although some Old Germanic consonants, like the labiovelar hw , were indeed lost, and only digraphs remind of their existence ( white - OE hwita , where - hw æ r ).
The replacement at the end of the words i and u with y and w was caused by extralinguistic reasons (since in the Middle Ages the text was written without breaking into words, these letters served as end-of-word markers).
Since the 17th century, many attempts have been made in the United States and Great Britain to reform the alphabet, but all the proposed innovations have not been widely adopted.
In modern American English, there is a spontaneous tendency to simplify the graphics; some features of this simplification have already been legalized ( favor vm . favour , theater vm . theater are already perceived by speakers of modern English almost as the only acceptable ones), while others ( nite instead of night , u instead of you ) are perceived as colloquial or as elements of a language game (4 u - for you , 2 u - to you).