One major view concerning what an orthography should be conforms to Pike's idea that a practical orthography should be phonemic, that is, that there should be a one-to-one correspondence between each phoneme and the symbolization of that phoneme. An alternative view, that of Chomsky and Halle, proposes that the fundamental principle of orthography is that phonetic variation is not indicated where such variation is predictable by a general rule. This paper points out contradictions in both of these views and states that the claims about what an orthography should be need to be carefully formulated and tested. Possibilities for research are outlined in terms of: (1) the linguistic study of orthography, and (2) linguistics and learning to read and write. The former would include identifying the varieties of an existing orthography, formulating constraints on orthography, and formulating relevant rules. The latter would entail cooperation between linguists, educators, and psychologists in examing such factors as poor teaching, preparedness to learn reading and writing, and the efficiency with which individuals handle orthographic systems. (CLK)