dianora

I suspect auto-correct and auto-complete are only a small part of the total picture when it comes to any deterioration in our spelling ability. There's also modern pedagogy: do schools still teach spelling as a separate subject? Do they teach cursive writing? Do French teachers still give dictées? Then there's the psychology and brain processes of writing something longhand vs. typing on a computer keyboard - if you're writing by hand, studies suggest you have to think more about what you're doing and trying to convey and the learning is reinforced better, regardless of whether you have a proofreader or computerized auto-correct.

Our schools are more diverse and have many more ESL students than they once did, and they may well enrich our language as much as struggle to master standard English spelling.

Finally, spelling itself (along with grammar and other aspects of language) evolves over time, as I've noticed just in my lifetime: for example, we're losing hyphens, diphthongs, apostrophes and other intra-word punctuation. And of course, Canadian spelling to begin with is itself a weird hybrid of British and U.S. English, with numerous regional variations and other outside influences to boot.

If texting language, abbreviations, acronym, emoticons and the like are thrown into the mix, that of course opens up several more cans of worms!