LINGUIST List 3.893

Thu 12 Nov 1992

Sum: French Orthography Reform

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1. , French Orthographical Reform Summary

Thanks to all those who responded to my query on the status of French
Orthographical Reform. This is a summary of those responses with a few
of my comments in square brackets.

DOCUMENTS:

The official document describing the reform (Rectifications de l'orthographe)
was the Journal Officiel de la Republique Francaise, 1990, no.100, 6 de'cembre,
1990, a publication of the Conseil supe'rieur de la langue franc,aise.

The most complete record of the Conseil's report is a document entitled
"Rapport du Groupe de travail sur les rectifications de l'orthographe"
(Hotel de Matignon, 19 juin 1990).

GENERALLY NEGATIVE REPORTS:

Officially, the proposed reforms were accepted by the government,
and by the all-knowing Academie Francaise, so they should have been
implemented. However, public opinion strongly opposed the report,
especially since the reforms didn't really "simplify" things very
much: there were still lots of arbitrary rules, and arbitrary
exceptions to them. ...
The final blow, I gather, came when most editors of newspapers,
magazines and publishing houses announced that they would simply
not apply the reforms.

[Several other messages refer to the reforms being "rescinded,"
"killed," "knocked back," "turned to indifference," and "lost
steam and died." ]

REFORM SPELLINGS NOW OPTIONAL:

[It seems that the reform spellings are not completely dead but
remain as optional variants.]

-L'Academie francaise est revenue sur sa decision d'accepter ces rectifications
 et a sa seance du 17 janvier 1991, elle a preconise que les nouvelles graphies
 soient "soumises a l'epreuve du temps" avant d'etre imposees par l'Education n
ationale. Si, apres cinq ans les modifications avaient ete adoptees dans la pra
tique, elles seraient confirmees, sinon elles deviendraient caduques.

Bernard Cerquiglini, the Delegue General a la Langue Francaise, in the
French Prime Minister's cabinet, was a week-long visitor here last year.
He was a key player in the attempted spelling reform. According to
what he told us, the reforms (or "rectifications) have indeed become
official, but are optional.

In any case, proponents left adults
the choice of using the new or the old orthography, but wanted the
new rules to be taught in schools. As far as I know, that's not happening.

THE MOST POSITIVE REPORT:

Yes indeed, the french have adopted spelling reform to some extent.
(My little brother is being taught to write "photograph" with an
'f'). The reforms don't seem to affect the population at large other
than the fact that these new spellings are increasingly prevalent.
The old spellings are always an option and are still widely used.

QUEBEC:
[As an interesting sidelight, it seems that there was a successful reform in
 Quebec.]

For the Quebec reform, you should consult the Office de la langue
francaise of the Governement of the province of Quebec in Canada.
(819) 820-3707