English Spellings

English spellings are quite odd given the Germanic nature of English. For instance, in English we spell /kw/ "qu", but this cluster (or the kincluster /kv/) is mostly spelt "kw" (or "kv") in the Germanic languages of Europe (as it was in Anglo-Saxon). After the Norman Conquest in 1066, English not only borrowed a great deal of outland words, but it also became spelt so as to look like French (and other Latinborn tongues). A large deal of these switchings have made English spelling, arguably, far less logical and straightforward. Below is a list of suggestions for how English could be spelt if it were to use the analogy of the other Germanic tongues.