This is the reason why in most languages the shortness of a vowel is expressed by the doubling of the consonant following; this doubling being no true reduplication of the sound, but a mere Orthographical conventionality.
"The English Language"
Robert Gordon Latham
That this is the natural and primary object is self-evident; but beyond this natural and primary object there is, with the Orthographical systems of most languages, a secondary one, viz.
"The English Language"
Robert Gordon Latham
Its use as a sign of quantity is an Orthographical expedient, or a conventional mode of spelling.
"The English Language"
Robert Gordon Latham