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 Later Steps

The Board believs, however, that when the public shal in time become accustomd to seeing and to using the simplified spellings of this Handbook, and shal perciev their reasonableness, it wil be redy to take another step forward by adopting several more radical but no les reasonable simplifications. Such a step might include making a definit choice of c or k for the sound unambiguously represented by k; and the substitution of s for c pronounst like s, of z for s pronounst like z, and of j for g pronounst like j. All these changes ar perfectly reasonable, ar in accord with fonetic principles, and together they would simplify and regulate the spelling of a very large number of words in frequent use.

The Long Vowels and the Difthongs

So far as the consonants ar concernd, indeed, the simplification of English spelling presents few difficulties that can not be satisfactorily overcome with the present alfabet. The notations of the long vowels and the difthongs, on the other hand, present such difficulties that the Board has, in regard to them, thus far confined its recommendations to cases that involv merely dropping silent letters or preference for the prevailing among conflicting and perplexing analogies. Their regulation must wait until scolars can come to more general agreement on the subject, and until laymen ar better prepared to accept the judgment of experts. This wil only be when the remaining irregularities become so painfully apparent, amid the regularity otherwize prevailing in English spelling, that the demand for their notation on a sientific basis wil be irresistible. It wil be the last step to a completely simplified English spelling.