Benjamin Franklin's Reasons for Reforming the Alphabet

Franklin's own impulse in creating the alphabet was quite different. He was a man who looked closely and with curiosity at the world around him, seeking ways to improve it wherever he saw the opportunity. His alphabet was conceived in the same spirit as his less smoky, more fuel-efficient house-heating stove, or his more easily cleaned and repaired street lamp. The alphabet, for Franklin, was not unlike a household tool, something to repair, rewire, and update. Improving the writing system would have the twin benefits of increasing the spread of literacy among native-speakers, as well as enhancing international understanding, making it easier for foreign speakers to learn English. Franklin, youngest son of a Boston soap-maker, and with less than two years of formal education, credited much of his "rags to riches" success story to his habit of reading and was always anxious to share that opportunity with others.

As Franklin correctly noted, alphabets were developed in order to transcribe speech, but "the Changes in Pronunciation brought on by the Course of Ages" combined with the tendency of alphabets to remain static

Nicola Twilley, Six New Letters for a Reformed Alphabet (Unknown)

• phonetics