View source for Reforms of French orthography

{{Short description|History of reform efforts in French orthography}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Expand French|date=January 2022}}{{French language}}
[[French orthography]] was already (more or less) fixed and, from a [[Phonology|phonological]] point of view, outdated when its [[lexicography]] developed in the late 17th century and the {{lang|fr|[[Académie française]]|italic=no}} was mandated to establish an "official" [[Prescription and description|prescriptive norm]]. Still, there was already much debate at the time opposing the tenets of a traditional, [[etymological]] [[orthography]], and supporting those of a [[Spelling reform|reformed]], phonological [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] of the language.

[[César-Pierre Richelet]] chose the latter (reformed) option when he published the first monolingual French [[dictionary]] in 1680, but the {{lang|fr|Académie}} chose to adhere firmly to tradition in the first edition of [[Dictionnaire de l'Académie française|its dictionary]] (1694).

Various other attempts at simplification followed, culminating in the "rectifications" of 6 December 1990.<ref name="academie" /> Further, more radical proposals also exist to simplify the existing writing system,<ref>Examples of proposals include:{{Primary source inline|date=September 2022|reason=To demonstrate notability}}

* [http://fonetik.fr/index-en.html Fonétik] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://sites.google.com/site/ortofasil/ Ortofasil] {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071123015620/http://www.alfograf.net/ortograf/ Altograf] {{in lang|fr}}
* [http://ortograf.net/ Ortograf] {{in lang|fr}}</ref> but these have failed to gather much interest to date.

==16th century==
{{Expand section|date=January 2011}}
Spelling and punctuation before the 16th century was highly erratic, but [[Global spread of the printing press#France|the introduction of printing in 1470]] provoked the need for uniformity.

Several Renaissance humanists (working with publishers) proposed reforms in French orthography, the most famous being [[Jacques Peletier du Mans]] who developed a phonemic-based spelling system and introduced new typographic signs (1550).  Peletier continued to use his system in all his published works, but his reform was not followed.

==18th century==

{{Expand section|date=January 2011}}
:''{{lang|fr|L'Acad'''é'''mie s'eſt donc v'''û'''e contrainte '''à''' faire dans cette nouvelle Edition, '''à''' ſon orthographe, pluſieurs changemens qu'elle n'avoit point jug'''é''' '''à''' propos d'adopter, lorſqu'elle donna l'Edition pr'''é'''c'''é'''dente.}}''—Académie, 1740, using accents for the first time

The third (1740) and fourth (1762) [[edition (book)|editions]] of the Académie dictionary were very progressive, changing the spelling of about half the words altogether.

[[Diacritic|Accents]], which had been in common use by [[Printing|printers]] for a long time, were finally adopted by the Académie, and many [[silent letter|mute consonant]]s were dropped.

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|estre}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|être}}'' (to be)
:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|monachal}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|monacal}}'' (monastic)

Many changes suggested in the fourth edition were later abandoned along with thousands of [[neologism]]s added to it.

Very importantly too, subsequent 18th century editions of the dictionary added the letters ''[[J]]'' and ''[[V]]'' to the [[French alphabet]] in replacement of consonant ''[[I]]'' and ''[[U]],'' fixing many cases of [[Homonym|homography]].

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|uil}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|vil}}'' (vile)

==19th century==

Many changes were introduced in the sixth edition of the Académie dictionary (1835), mainly under the influence of [[Voltaire]]. Most importantly, all ''oi'' [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s that represented {{IPA|/ɛ/}} were changed to ''ai,'' thus changing the whole [[imperfect]] [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugation]] of all [[verb]]s.  The [[loanword|borrowing]]s of ''[[wikt:connoisseur|connoisseur]]'' and ''[[wikt:foible|foible]]'' into English predate this change; the modern French spellings are ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|connaisseur}}'' and ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|faible}}''.

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|étois}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|étais}}'' (was)

The spelling of some plural words whose singular form ended in ''D'' and ''T'' was modified to reinsert this mute consonant, so as to bring the plural in morphological alignment with the singular. Only ''{{lang|fr|gent}}, {{lang|fr|gens}}'' retained the old form, because it was perceived that the singular and the plural had different meanings. The Académie had already tried to introduce a similar reform in 1694, but had given up with their dictionary's second edition.

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|parens}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|parents}}'' (parents)

In 1868, Ambroise Firmin-Didot suggested in his book ''{{lang|fr|Observations sur l'orthographe, ou ortografie, française}}'' (Observations on French Spelling) that French phonetics could be better regularized by adding a cedilla beneath the letter "t" in some words. For example, in the suffix ''{{lang|fr|-tion}}'' this letter is usually not pronounced as (or close to) {{IPA|/t/}} in French, but as {{IPA|/sjɔ̃/}}. It has to be distinctly learned that in words such as ''{{lang|fr|diplomatie}}'' (but not ''{{lang|fr|diplomatique}}'') it is pronounced {{IPA|/s/}}. A similar effect occurs with other prefixes or within words. Firmin-Didot surmised that a new character ţ could be added to French orthography.

==20th century==

With important dictionaries published at the turn of the 20th century, such as those of [[Maximilien-Paul-Émile Littré|Émile Littré]], [[Pierre Larousse]], [[Arsène Darmesteter]], and later [[Dictionnaires Le Robert|Paul Robert]], the Académie gradually lost much of its prestige.

Hence, new reforms suggested in 1901,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2917471|jstor=2917471|title=Another Step Towards the Simplification of French Orthography|last1=Schinz|first1=A.|journal=Modern Language Notes|year=1904|volume=19|issue=2|pages=38–44|doi=10.2307/2917471|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 1935, and 1975 were almost totally ignored, except for the replacement of [[Apostrophe (mark)|apostrophes]] with [[hyphen]]s in some cases of (potential) [[elision]] in 1935.

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|grand'mère}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|grand-mère}}'' (grandmother)

Since the 1970s, though, calls for the modernisation of French orthography have grown stronger. In 1989, [[French prime minister]] [[Michel Rocard]] appointed the [[Conseil supérieur de la langue française (France)|Superior Council of the French language]] to simplify French orthography by regularising it.

===Rectifications of 1990 {{anchor|1990}}{{anchor|The rectifications of 1990}}=== <!-- Courtesy note per [[MOS:LINK2SECT]], [[Grand dictionnaire terminologique]] R's to anchor "1990". -->
{{Split section|1990 French orthography rectification|date=January 2022|discuss=Talk:Reforms of French orthography#What about splitting the section "Rectifications of 1990"?}}
The council, with the help of some Académie members and observers from [[La Francophonie|Francophone]] states, published reforms that it called ''"{{lang|fr|rectifications orthographiques}}"'' on 6 December 1990.<ref name="academie">{{Cite web|url=http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/orthographe/plan.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010303014029/http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/orthographe/plan.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2001-03-03|title=Rectifications de l'orthographe-J.O. du 6-12-1990|date=2001-03-03|access-date=2018-04-16}}</ref>

Those "rectifications", instead of changing individual spellings, published general rules or lists of modified words. In total, around 2000 words have seen their spelling changed, and French [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] was also affected.

====Hyphens====

Numerals are joined with hyphens:

:''{{lang|fr|sept cent mille trois cent vingt et un}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|sept-cent-mille-trois-cent-vingt-et-un}}'' (700,321).

Elements of [[Compound (linguistics)|compound nouns]] are fused together:
*if one element is a verb: ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|porte-monnaie}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|portemonnaie}}'' (wallet)
*in [[bahuvrihi]] compounds (where the individual sense of the elements has changed): ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|sage-femme}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|sagefemme}}'' (midwife)
*in [[onomatopoeia]]s: ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|coin coin}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|coin-coin}}'' (quack).

[[Loanword|Loan]] compounds are also fused together:

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|hot-dog}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|hotdog}}'' (hot dog).
:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|week-end}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|weekend}}'', aligning the word with its modern English spelling.

====Number====

Compound nouns joined with hyphens (or fused) make their [[plural]] using normal rules, that is adding a final ''s'' or ''x'', unless the modifier is an adjective (in which case both elements must agree), or the head is a [[determiner (linguistics)|determined]] [[noun]], or a proper noun:

:''{{lang|fr|des pèse-lettre}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|des pèse-lettres}}'' (letter scales)

Loanwords also have a regular plural:

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|lieder}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|lieds}}'' (songs)

====''{{lang|fr|Tréma}}''====
The ''{{lang|fr|tréma}}'' (known as a [[diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] in English) indicating exceptionally that the ''u'' is not silent in ''{{lang|fr|gu}} + vowel'' combinations is to be placed on the ''u'' instead of on the following vowel. Also, trémas are added to such words where they were not previously used:

:''{{lang|fr|aiguë}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|aigüe}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɛɡy|}} (''fem.'' acute)
:''{{lang|fr|ambiguïté}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|ambigüité}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɑ̃biɡɥite|}} (ambiguity)
:''{{lang|fr|arguer}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|argüer}}'' {{IPA|fr|aʁɡɥe|}} (to argue)

A {{lang|fr|tréma}} is also added to a ''u'' following an ''{{lang|fr|e muet}}'' added to soften a ''g'', to prevent the ''eu'' combination being read as {{IPA|fr|œ|}}:

:''{{lang|fr|gageure}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|gageüre}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɡaʒyʁ|}} (wager)

====Accents====

Verbs with their [[infinitive]] in ''éCer'' (where C can be any consonant) change their ''[[acute accent|é]]'' to ''[[grave accent|è]]'' in the [[future tense|future]] and [[conditional tense|conditional]]:

:''{{lang|fr|je céderai}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|je cèderai}}'' {{IPA|fr|ʒə sɛd(ə)ʁe|}} (I shall give up)

Additionally, verbs ending in ''e'' placed before an [[word order|inverted]] [[subject (grammar)|subject]] "je" change their ''e'' to ''è'' instead of ''é'':

:''{{lang|fr|aimé-je&thinsp;?}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|aimè-je&thinsp;?}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɛmɛʒ|}} (do I like?)

[[Circumflex]] accents are removed on ''i'' and ''u'' if they are not needed to distinguish between homographs. They are retained in the [[preterite|simple past]] and [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]] of verbs:

:''{{lang|fr|mû}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|mu}}'' (driven), but ''{{lang|fr|qu'il mût}}'' unchanged (he must have driven), and
:''{{lang|fr|dû}}'' (the past participle of the very common irregular verb ''{{lang|fr|devoir}}'', or the noun created from this participle) is kept to make the distinction with ''{{lang|fr|du}}'' (the required contraction of ''{{lang|fr|de + le}}'', which means ''some'' when used as an undetermined masculine article, or means ''of the'' when used as a preposition).

Wherever accents are missing or wrong because of past errors or omissions or a change of pronunciation, they are added or changed:

:''{{lang|fr|receler}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|recéler}}'' {{IPA|fr|ʁəsele|}} (to receive&nbsp;– stolen goods)
:''{{lang|fr|événement}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|évènement}}'' {{IPA|fr|evɛn(ə)mɑ̃|}} (event)

Accents are also added to loanwords where dictated by French pronunciation:

:''{{lang|fr|diesel}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|diésel}}'' {{IPA|fr|djezɛl|}} (diesel)

====Schwa changing into open ''e''====

In verbs with an infinitive in ''{{lang|fr|-eler}}'' or ''{{lang|fr|-eter}}'', the [[vowel height|opening]] of the [[schwa]] ({{IPAslink|ə}} → {{IPAslink|ɛ}}) could previously be noted either by changing the ''e'' to ''è'' or by doubling the following ''l'' or ''t'', depending on the verb in question. With this reform, only the first rule shall be used except in the cases of ''{{lang|fr|appeler}}'', ''{{lang|fr|jeter}}'', and their [[derivation (linguistics)|derivatives]] (which continue to use ''ll'' and ''tt'' respectively).
<!-- (unnecessary historical detail) This is caused by the fact that the historic gemination of consonants (in conjugated verbs where the final schwa desinences became silent) is no longer pronounced and has been replaced by opening the preceding vowel in standard French phonology. To keep the spelling without a written double consonant, the accent becomes necessary to keep the vowel open.-->

:''{{lang|fr|j'étiquette}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|j'étiquète}}'' (I label)

This applies also when those verbs are nominalized using the [[suffix]] ''{{lang|fr|-ement}}'':

:''{{lang|fr|amoncellement}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|amoncèlement}}'' (pile)

====Past participle agreement====

Notwithstanding the normal rules (see [[French verbs#Past participle agreement|French verbs]]), the past [[participle]] ''{{lang|fr|laissé}}'' followed by an infinitive never agrees with the [[object (linguistics)|object]]:

:''{{lang|fr|je les ai laissés partir}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|je les ai laissé partir}}'' (I let them go, literally: I have let them go)

This is an alleged simplification of the rules governing the agreement as applied to a past participle followed by an infinitive. The participle ''{{lang|fr|fait}}'' already followed an identical rule.

====Miscellaneous====

Many phenomena were considered as "anomalies" and thus "corrected". Some "families" of words from the same root showing inconsistent spellings were uniformized on the model of the most usual word in the "family".

:''{{lang|fr|imbécillité}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|imbécilité}}'' (idiocy)

This rule was also extended to suffixes in two cases, actually changing them into totally different [[morpheme]]s altogether:

:''{{lang|fr|cuissot}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|cuisseau}}'' (haunch)
:''{{lang|fr|levraut}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|levreau}}'' (leveret)

Isolated words were adjusted to follow older reform where they had been omitted:

:''{{lang|fr|douceâtre}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|douçâtre}}'' (sickly sweet)
:''{{lang|fr|oignon}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|ognon}}'' (onion)

Lastly, some words have simply seen their spelling simplified, or fixed when it was uncertain:

:''{{lang|fr|pagaïe/pagaille/pagaye}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|pagaille}}'' (mess)
:''{{lang|fr|punch}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|ponch}}'' ([[punch (drink)|punch]])

====Application====

These "rectifications" were supposed to be applied as of 1991 but, following a period of agitation and the publication of many books such as the Union of copy editors' attacking new rules one by one, [[André Goosse]]'s defending them, or [[Josette Rey-Debove]]'s accepting a few (that have been added, as alternative spellings, to [[Dictionnaires Le Robert|Le Robert]]), they appeared to become, for a while, dead proposals.

==21st century==
In 2004, an international institutional effort to revive the 1990 spelling reforms arose. Notably, a French-[[Belgium|Belgian]]-[[Switzerland|Swiss]] association was set up to promote reform. In July of the same year, [[Microsoft]] announced that the French version of their applications would soon comply with the new spelling rules. On 23 March 2005, a version of [[Encarta]] was published using the new spelling, and, on 14 April 2005, an update of [[Microsoft Office]] was offered.

Officially, [[French people]], including public workers, are free for an undetermined length of time to continue using the old spelling. The new spelling is "recommended", but both old and new are considered correct.

In [[Quebec]], the {{lang|fr|[[Office québécois de la langue française]]}}, which was reluctant at first to apply what it prefers to call the "modernisation", because of the opposition it received in France, announced that it was now applying its rules to new borrowings and neologisms.{{cn|date=November 2025}}

More and more publications are modernizing spelling. Le Forum, from the Université de Montréal, and Les Éditions Perce-Neige have adopted the new spelling.

In 2009, several major Belgian publishing groups began applying the new spelling in their online publications.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfwb.be/index.php?id=portail_detail_actualite&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=453 |title=Le 16 mars, la presse belge passe à la 'nouvelle orthographe' |accessdate=2009-03-14 |language=French |publisher=Communauté française de Belgique |date=2009-03-13}}</ref>

The 2009 edition of the {{lang|fr|[[Dictionnaires Le Robert|Dictionnaire Le Robert]]}} incorporates most of the changes.  There are 6000 words that have both the traditional and alternative spellings. The 2011 edition of the Dictionnaire Larousse incorporates all of the changes.

On 3 February 2016, a report by French television channel [[TF1]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://lci.tf1.fr/france/societe/reforme-orthographique-10-mots-qui-vont-changer-a-la-rentree-8712574.html |title=(in French) Réforme de l'orthographe: 10 mots qui vont changer à la rentrée |access-date=20 February 2016 |archive-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203140226/http://lci.tf1.fr/france/societe/reforme-orthographique-10-mots-qui-vont-changer-a-la-rentree-8712574.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> that the reforms would be applied from the next school year caused wide outrage. A "#JeSuisCirconflexe" campaign ensued on [[Twitter]] and the government was accused of "simplifying" the language. However, the government said the [[circumflex]] would not be eliminated and that pupils could use either the old or new spellings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/not-the-oignon-fury-france-changes-2000-spellings-ditches-circumflex|title=Not the oignon: fury as France changes 2,000 spellings and drops some accents|last=Willsher|first=Kim|date=2016-02-05|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-04-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35615603|title=French furore over spelling continues|last=Schofield|first=Hugh|date=2016-02-20|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-04-16|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/french-language-reform-becomes-a-cause-c%C3%A9l%C3%A8bre-1.2528683|title=French language reform becomes a cause célèbre|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2018-04-16|language=en-US}}</ref>

There are also fringe movements to further reform the language: for example, one led  by the linguist [[Mickael Korvin]], who would like to radically simplify French by eliminating accents, punctuation and capital letters and, in 2016, invented a new way to spell French called [[Mickael Korvin| nouvofrancet]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lexpress.fr/education/sans-accent-ni-lettre-muette-le-nouvofrancet-une-langue-pour-l-avenir_1757379.html|title=Sans accent ni lettre muette: le "nouvofrancet", une langue pour l'avenir?|date=2012-04-30|website=L'Express (French newspaper)|language=fr|access-date=2021-03-12}}</ref>

==See also==

*[[Circumflex in French]]
*[[French orthography]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.orthographe-recommandee.info/ http://www.orthographe-recommandee.info/] (in French)
*[http://www.renouvo.org RENOUVO] (Réseau pour la nouvelle orthographe du français, in French)
*[http://www.languefrancaise.cfwb.be/orthographe/ À la découverte de la nouvelle orthographe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129033435/http://www.languefrancaise.cfwb.be/orthographe/ |date=29 November 2021 }} (Communauté française de Belgique, in French)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reforms of French Orthography}}
[[Category:French orthography reforms| ]]
[[Category:History of the French language]]
[[Category:Académie Française]]