{"id":8403,"date":"2016-02-13T13:34:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T11:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.frenchcourses-paris.com\/?p=8403"},"modified":"2017-12-28T14:31:26","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T12:31:26","slug":"french-spelling-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frenchcourses-paris.com\/fr\/french-courses-paris\/french-spelling-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"French spelling reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

French spelling\u00a0reform : the\u00a0end of the circumflex?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Suggested new spellings for more than 2,000 French words have sparked controversy.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Academie Francaise proposed a French spelling reform proposal<\/b>\u00a0in 1990, including the deletion of the circumflex accent (\u02c6) and hyphens in some words, but they were optional.<\/p>\n

Now publishers say they will include the new spellings<\/strong> in schoolbooks.<\/p>\n

France’s education minister has said the changes will not culminate in the end of the circumflex<\/strong>, and that old and new spellings will both remain correct.<\/p>\n

Despite this, the news sparked furious reaction on social media, with users arguing the changes constituted dumbing down.<\/p>\n

Some tweets even used the hashtag #JeSuisCirconflexe<\/strong> (I am circumflex).<\/p>\n

What is a circumflex?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The peaked accent (^<\/strong>) looks like a hat, or so children are told when they are learning French<\/strong>. It goes over vowels – in some cases it changes the word’s pronunciation, in others it serves to distinguish homonyms (words that are spelled and pronounced like another word but are different in meaning).<\/p>\n

The changes will see it being used on\u00a0a<\/strong>,\u00a0o<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0e,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>but dropped from\u00a0i<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0u<\/strong>\u00a0(with some exceptions).<\/p>\n

The outrage reportedly started after a\u00a0report by the TF1 website said the reforms would take effect in the upcoming academic year.<\/p>\n

It quoted a note from the education ministry last year saying that the French spelling reform\u00a0should be adopted and reported that publishers have decided to add the changes in textbooks from September.<\/p>\n

Following the French spelling reform, students will then have a choice to use either the old spellings or the new ones and teachers will have to accept both ways as correct.<\/p>\n

‘Comment dire?’ Some of the new spellings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Image copyrightThinkstock<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Old spelling<\/strong><\/td>\nNew spelling<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oignon<\/td>\nOgnon (onion)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
N\u00e9nuphar<\/td>\nN\u00e9nufar (water lily)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
S’entra\u00eener<\/td>\nS’entrainer (to practise)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ma\u00eetresse<\/td>\nMaitresse (mistress, teacher)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Co\u00fbt<\/td>\nCout (cost)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mille-pattes<\/td>\nMillepattes (centipedes)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Porte-monnaie<\/td>\nPortemonnaie (purse, wallet)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sources: Thelocal.fr, TF1<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The proposed changes in French spelling followed a review of the language to simplify French learning, but they were not binding and had faced strong opposition in the country,\u00a0Le Monde reported<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(in French).<\/p>\n

They include the deletion of the hyphens and the circumflex<\/strong> in some words. The accent disappears from above the letter i and u in certain words and not from the letter o.<\/p>\n

The new spelling would reportedly impact around 2,400 words.<\/p>\n

‘#JeSuisCirconflexe’<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Users on social media were furious over the changes, and the hashtags #ReformeOrthographe<\/strong> (orthographic reform) and #JeSuisCirconflexe<\/strong> (I am circumflex) were one of Twitter’s trending topics in France on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Many users shared pictures showing their dissatisfaction with the changes, and most of the anger was directed at the alleged end of the circumflex<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Adapted from the BBC
\nSource\u00a0: http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-35496893<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>5 February 2016<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French spelling\u00a0reform : the\u00a0end of the circumflex? Suggested new spellings for more than 2,000 French words have sparked controversy. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2625],"tags":[2058,2053,2061,2057,507,2062,2056,2067,2071,2070],"class_list":["post-8403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french-courses-paris","category-french-expressions","tag-changes-in-french-spelling","tag-french-spelling-reform","tag-french-words","tag-hyphens","tag-learning-french","tag-new-spellings","tag-old-spellings","tag-orthographic-reform","tag-simplify-french-learning","tag-teachers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t