Reply #2: I know the problem of reading and having trouble

[SheilaT]

figuring out what is meant. We actually use stress patterns and rising or lowering inflections to indicate meanings, which can't come through in the written form.

I'm convinced that English is moving in the direction of becoming a tonal language, because of the subtle differences in pronunciation, by which I generally mean the stress pattern, to fully indicate meaning in the spoken form.

Try this experiment: the green house (the house colored green)
the Green house (family named Green lives there)
the greenhouse (you grow things inside)

Notice you will actually pronounce each phrase slightly differently. I rest my case.