Language, Individual & Society, Volume 11, 2017

Abstract: This study examines the spelling reform in the context of society. The paper considers how the language users respond to the spelling reform. The principal reasons of the strong resistance of a society to any spelling changes are, first of all, the result of the habit and the lack of linguistic competence, lack of information about the differences in the life of language and spelling, about the laws of development of language and its writing. This paper provides evidence from different languages (German and Russian) to support this claim. English spelling which didn’t have any reform is regarded as some kind of an impasse. The thought of the necessity of linguistic education for language users is introduced.