This week, I decided to commit suicide (professionally) by writing a column that risks losing two thirds of my subscribers. I am indeed going to talk to you about phonetic spelling. Well, you will have noticed, I am prudent enough (and anxious to be able to pay my rent for some time to come) not to have titled this letter: “Paçon au francé fonétik!” On the other hand, it seems interesting to me to approach this subject, because it allows us to ask these two eternal questions: what is spelling used for and what rules should govern it?
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In this matter, two schools clash. If the first defends the status quo, the second believes that spelling is to language what the score is to music: a simple way of notating it. According to this approach, the graphics should therefore be as transparent as possible: the sound [o] always write o and never At neither water ; the sound [f]always f and no ph, etc. This is more or less the case for Turkish, Serbian, Italian or Castilian, which are no less cultural languages, we will agree. To transcribe “theatre” and “lyrical art”, our transalpine friends write as follows: theatero and arte lirica and no one is offended.
Let’s go back in time again and recall this truth as obvious as it is little known: “Initially, alphabetic writings are phonetic by definition”, as underlines the professor of paleography Marc Smith, who teaches the history of writing at the School national charters. And it makes sense! Once defined a graphic code – the letter has to transcribe the sound [a] ; the letter b for the sound [b], etc. –, no scribe was perverse enough to write has when he heard [o] Or [u]. Then things got worse.
The problem is simple to understand: over generations, pronunciation changes and every living language is sooner or later faced with a choice. Either it remains faithful to the original spelling, or it adapts it to take into account phonetic evolution. Take the example of “dragon”, which dates back to Latin “draconem”. Orally, “dravsonem” therefore became [dragon] and, you can see with me, the spelling followed: “dragwe”.
However, this is not systematically the rule in French, as the word “second” shows. Why do you and I pronounce it? [segon] ? Because this term comes from Latin “secundum” and that, as for “draconem”, [k] evolved into [g]. But, then, why do we write it “sevsond”? Because, for this word, the spelling has been aligned with the etymology. Note that it is not the same in Castilian, where “segundo” is pronounced [g] and is written gnor in English, where “sevsond” is pronounced [c] and is written vs. Conclusion ? French spelling lacks consistency. It is sometimes etymological, that is to say faithful to its origins; and sometimes phonetic, that is to say consistent with developments in pronunciation. All in a happy mess.
This is why the phonetic movement has had and still has many prestigious supporters. Because here we have to break a myth. No, this movement was not born three years ago in an obscure office of the Ministry of National Education where a few crazy pedagogues (admire the alliteration in [d] And [g]) would spend their days fomenting the ruin of French Culture with our taxes. Without going back to Voltaire, who recommended writing “filosofe”, let us point out the existence, from 1856, of a grammar written entirely in the phonetic alphabet by Maurice Lachâtre, a lexicographer close to Proudhon wishing to facilitate the people’s access to the language. And this is just one example among many. (see the “to watch” section.)
Why were his supporters defeated here, while they triumphed in other countries? Perhaps because of our collective psychology. At the end of the Middle Ages, as the linguist Bernard Cerquiglini recalls, scholars realized that, of all the Romance languages, French was the furthest from Latin due to the Germanic influence due to the arrival of the Franks. A bit annoyed, the clerics then introduced “complications” by Latinizing the French spelling at all costs, adding here and there letters that we did not hear, but which recalled its ancient origins: a p to “seven” (from Latin “septem”), formerly “set”; A m and one p at “time” (from Latin “tempus”), formerly “tens”, and so on. This tradition was generally taken up by the first dictionary of the French Academy, in 1694, and has continued since then, to the delight of the manufacturers of red pens used to surround our schoolchildren’s “mistakes”…
This choice, which has been debated for centuries, continues to fuel reflection today. The Alfonic Circle thus pleads for a rigorously phonetic alphabet, in order to “help children get into reading and writing in a more effective and relaxed way”. Less radical,The Erofa group would be satisfied with three reforms: the removal of double consonants (except in words like “access”); the replacement of the x final not pronounced by s (“hair” like “tires”); the removal of ch And ph of Greek origin, as is the case for other Romance languages (“arcaic”, “corist”, “anfibie”…).
Nothing far-fetched in their eyes, but enough to make the hair of their many opponents stand on end.
FIND VIDEOS DEDICATED TO FRENCH AND THE LANGUAGES OF FRANCE ON my youtube channel
READ ELSEWHERE
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Fascinating interview with neuroscience researcher Michel Desmurget, who warns of the decline in reading among young people. “No other medium allows you to penetrate the thoughts of others to this extent,” he emphasizes, “so much so that reading has a considerable impact on the ability to understand others.” He also calls for reading to be made “a great national cause”.
Inclusive writing: “use will decide”
Interesting and nuanced comments from linguist Mireille Elchacar in the columns of our Canadian colleagues at Duty. It firstly reminds us that inclusive writing is a set of processes – pronouns, the “iel”, doublets, midpoints, etc. – which everyone can choose to use or not. And that, ultimately, it is “the use [qui] will determine [ceux] who are going to settle down.
Concern for the teaching of French in Spain
While the European Commission is pleading for multilingualism, the Spanish education system is moving more and more towards the teaching of a single modern foreign language, English, from kindergarten onwards. A situation that worries French teachers. Through Benjamin Boutin, honorary president of Francophonie sans frontières and associate lecturer at the International Institute for Francophonie-Lyon III University, they have just alerted Stéphane Séjourné, the new Minister of Affairs, to this subject. foreign.
In Brazil, phones open to indigenous languages
In Brazil, it was for a long time impossible to write a message on your phone in your own language when you belonged to an indigenous community in the Brazilian Amazon. Thanks to a brand new app, those days are now over.
Young Acadians put up bilingual French-English signs
Acadian students are mobilizing to have bilingual stop signs installed in their communities. A way to improve the linguistic and cultural representation of French in certain predominantly English-speaking provinces of Canada.
Occitan and Basque teachers defend the place of their languages in the baccalaureate
Defenders of Occitan and Basque demonstrated in front of the academic inspection of Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) to ask for the possibility of taking certain patent and baccalaureate tests in these two languages.
Radio Naoned, new channel in Breton
Based in Saint-Herblain, in Loire-Atlantique, Radio Naoned (integrated into the Radio Breizh network) intends to broadcast a program 100% in the Breton language throughout Brittany. Its managers have submitted their application to Arcom in order to obtain a frequency.
Spa and Stoumont commit to the Walloon
The Belgian municipalities of Spa and Stoumont want to obtain the “Yes” label for regional languages. An approach put in place to promote the practice of Walloon and safeguard the centuries-old heritage of which they are the vectors. Bilingual signs, awareness in schools, plays: the two localities are already committed to this path, but now want to go further.
Thanks to artificial intelligence, media guests speak multiple languages
After writing articles and creating images, artificial intelligence is now used by some media to make their journalists and guests speak in several languages. Brut has just published a twelve-minute documentary recorded in French, then translated into English and Spanish.
Speaking French in international relations is possible
“Informal diplomacy” instead of “backchannel diplomacy” ; “wait-and-see country” and not “fence‑sitting country” ; “gentle tourism” (or “slow tourism”) instead of “slow tourism”. Yes, despite the predominance of English, it is possible to speak French in international relations. The proof with these equivalents gathered on the FranceTerme site.
Avoid language stereotypes with Paringalang
“We cannot entrust responsibilities to a person who speaks with a Marseille accent.” It is this type of stereotype that Priscille Ahtoy, a doctor of social sciences who supports businesses, communities and educational establishments in promoting linguistic and cultural diversity, is tackling. A philosophy summed up in the name of his company: Paringalang – for PARITY, INTERCULTURALITY and EQUALITY THROUGH LANGUAGE.
Erratum
Contrary to what I wrote last week, the Vatican has not just one but four official languages: Italian, German, French and Latin, of course. Mea culpa…
TO LISTEN
Accents: France Inter denounces glottophobia… while practicing it
Bravo to this France Inter program dedicated to the show Sharp talk, by Benjamin Tholozan, who denounces discrimination linked to accents. National radio should still stop excluding journalists and presenters from the air who are “guilty” of not expressing themselves with the standard accent…
TO WATCH
The last spelling reform… almost two centuries old, by Linguisticae
For centuries, some people have been pleading for a simplification of spelling and the French Academy was not always opposed to it, at least until 1835. This is what the YouTuber Linguisticae points out in this lively and educational video. .
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