The Spelling Problem

Abstract

It is generally accepted by scholars that the songs of Homer were first written in ~ 700 BCE; the text seems to spring fully formed into a still illiterate world, demonstrating in a sophisticated vocabulary the first example of the use of a new alphabet. The language used is a never-spoken construct; its construction represents the first use of an alphabet enabling words to be written. This paper aims to open a discussion on the means by which spelling emerged, either democratically or as the work of one man.