Buzz
Kory Stamper:
The simple explanation? It’s because English has a tendency to overcomplicate things.
When English first emerged around 600 AD, it was entirely phonetic: each letter had a sound, and we pronounced every letter in a word. However, English—and England as a whole—was greatly impacted by the French, who invaded and ruled the island in 1066 for many years. Later, Dutch and Flemish printers, who dominated publishing in England for over two centuries, also influenced the language. Additionally, trade interactions with people from across the globe contributed to the ongoing evolution of the language. As English met new cultures and absorbed their languages, various aspects of it began to change at different speeds.
By the 1400s, English began to lose its phonetic nature: the way we pronounced vowels in words like “loud” changed gradually but profoundly, and this transformation impacted the rest of the word. This phenomenon is known as “The Great Vowel Shift,” which unfolded over several centuries. During the midst of the GVS, however, English spelling became standardized largely due to the advent of the printing press and the widespread availability of printed materials. In essence, we now have silent letters because the spelling of words ceased to evolve alongside their changing pronunciations.
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