Definition: A letter that is usually left unpronounced, such as the b in subtle, the c in scissors, the g in design, and the

t in listen. Eye Dialect Pronunciation Spelling Spelling Pronunciation Spelling Reform Examples and Observations: The letter combination gh is silent in the following words: bought, caught, dough, eight, flight, high, right, sleigh, sigh, taught, thought. Mr. Loobertz: We put the "cool" in "school." Special Agent G. Callen: Wouldn't that be "chool"? Mr. Loobertz: The "h" is silent. Special Agent G. Callen: I'm in ell. (Lew Temple and Chris O'Donnell, "Full Throttle."NCIS: Los Angeles, 2010) "As the influence of the Classical world was revived in the 15th century, scholars of English desired to remind their readers that most of the words in the language originated in Latin and Greek. To show off their knowledge that doubt, then spelled 'dout' because it came intomedieval English via French doute, derived originally from Latin dubitare they added the b--and it stuck. In its way, it was a nationalistic gesture, reasserting the Classical origins of English over Dutch, French, German and Norse influences of the intervening millennium since Roman influence waned in Britain from the fifth century and Anglo-Saxon languages began to infiltrate." (Ned Halley, Dictionary of Modern English Grammar. Wordsworth, 2005) "Who would shoot a gnome? And why is the 'g' silent?" (Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell in "Charmed Noir." Charmed, 2004) Lt. Randall Disher: First letter, "t" as in "tsunami." Captain Leland Stottlemeyer: Tsumani? Lt. Randall Disher: Silent "t." Captain Leland Stottlemeyer: What? No. "T" as in "Tom." Just say "Tom." Lt. Randall Disher: What's the difference? Captain Leland Stottlemeyer: It doesn't. The "t" is silent. Lt. Randall Disher: It's not completely silent. "Tsumami." (Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine in "Mr. Monk and the Daredevil." Monk, 2007) "Silent consonant letters constitute one of the problem areas in respect to pronunciation of English words. To solve some of the problems of the learners, a few spelling sequences containing silent letters are discussed below: (i) b is always silent in the spelling sequences mb and bt occurring in the word-final position: comb, numb, bomb, limb, debt . . .. (ii) d is always silent in the spelling sequence dj: adjective, adjunct, adjacent . . .. (iii) g is silent in the spelling sequence gm or gn: phlegm, gnarl, champagne, sign, gnat, gnaw . (iv) h is silent in the spelling sequence gh and in the word-final position: ghost, ghetto, aghast, ghastly, ah, eh, oh. (v) k is always silent in the word-initial spelling sequence kn: kneel, knee, knob, knight, knave, knowledge, knife, knock."

"English spelling is haunted by what William Watt calls 'the little ghosts of silent letters.' Indeed, it has been estimated that two thirds of our lexicon is populated with these mischievous specters, leading Thorstein Veblen to proclaim: 'English orthography satisfies all the requirements of the canons of reputability under the law of conspicuous waste." (Richard Lederer, Crazy English. Pocket Books, 1989) "Empty letters are naturally a target for spelling reformers, but one should not rush in with the scissors too hastily. A favorite target is final <-e>. The instances of <-e> at the end ofcopse, bottle, file, giraffe, are often referred to as 'silent' letters, but they are very different. The <-e> of copse marks the word as different from the plural cops. The word bottle cannot sensibly be spelt as *bottl, since syllabic consonants are always spelt with a vowel letter and a consonant letter, except for sm in sarcasm, prism. Similarly it might be thought thatfile could be spelt *fil. It would still be different from fill, as it is in filing, filling. However, some degree of redundancy is essential to human language . . .. Even the <-e> at the end of giraffe has something to be said in its favour. It can be said to mark the unusual final stress of the noun as in the <-CCe> of brunette, cassette, corvette, largesse, bagatelle, gazelle."