0 A silent letter in a word is one that is written but not pronounced, such as the "b" in "doubt" --
Vowels are often removed when they are not the first or last letter of a word, and silent letters are also ignored.
Some silent letters were added on the basis of erroneous etymologies, as in the case of the word "island" and "scythe".
The most radical reformists wanted to do away with all silent letters and change the remaining ones to a smaller subset of the alphabet.
Many words had silent letters removed and vowel combination brought closer to the spoken language.
It condenses words by omitting silent letters and only writing long vowels, and initial short vowels.
During this stage, children are thought to know that a long vowel must be marked in some way; however, they do not fully understand the use of silent letters.
This is the normal procedure, even for languages with alphabetical systems, and it explains, for example, why silent letters pose no problem for readers who recognize the word concerned.
Danish spelling is characterised by a striking lack of correspondence between letters and phonemes, including a large number of silent letters.
