It’s a pretty fascinating example. As everyone knows, in the word onion, -oi- is pronounced (o). That’s good: since 1990, it is allowed to write onion. Let’s calculate: this reform was implemented 33 years ago and yet, an immense majority of French people continue to use the old form. The observation is therefore there, irrefutable: there is in our country an almost visceral attachment to a spelling that is nevertheless recognized as complex, as evidenced by the polls (1). And it is this mystery that I would like to try to solve this week by evoking the main motivations of an attitude which, at first glance, may seem irrational.
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The force of habit. We are attached to the way in which we discovered the French language. What we often ignore is that it has profoundly evolved over time. Thus, half (!) of the words present in the first edition of the dictionary of the French Academy, published in 1694, have changed spelling, calculated the linguist Bernard Cerquiglini. All the same: we would be shocked – myself included – if we suddenly saw the reappearance, as was the rule at the end of the 17th century obviate, lung, refresh, knowing or lower
We don’t want to have suffered for nothing. We toiled away on the school benches learning the rules of past participle agreement with to have, the list of words ending in -or taking an -x in the plural and whatnot. We don’t see why anyone would today want us to have sweated (without -s!) for nothing. It’s not very glorious, no doubt, but it’s human…
Preserve the sense of effort. Because of the time the school spends teaching spelling, many of us associate its eventual simplification with the idea of giving up any requirement. However, the two concepts are not necessarily linked. “Reforming spelling is not eliminating the sense of effort, it’s freeing up time for something else: enriching vocabulary, mastering syntax, clarifying your argument, studying great authors, etc.”, pleads thus the linguist Maria Candea.
A question of power. We sometimes forget that language is an instrument of power. The one who masters it has a valuable advantage over the one who does not master it. Hence, consciously or unconsciously, the defense of a complex spelling by those who know it, for fear of losing their comparative advantage…
A large linguistic lack of culture. The school strives to offer us a literary culture by approaching Molière, Balzac and the others. On the other hand, it hardly provides us with linguistic culture. We don’t learn, for example, that our Italian and Spanish cousins use a largely phonetic spelling system. Nor do we learn that we are studying the texts of Molière… with a reformed writing. The great Jean-Baptiste thus wrote “Misanthrope” – yes, without -h – but also “encor” (without -e) and “bizarerie” (without double -r).
This is so true that Jules Ferry was… opposed to the spelling chosen for “his” school, as the two Belgian specialists on the subject, Jérôme Piron and Arnaud Hoedt, mischievously recall in their excellent show entitled Friendliness. And for good reason: before the introduction of compulsory education, written French, the standard of which draws much inspiration from Latin and Greek, was the prerogative of a narrow elite. As soon as the minister intended to distribute it to the masses, he considered that the spelling should be simplified. He was not followed.
Having gone through this system ourselves, we tend to think that the spelling we have discovered is the only one possible and to reject any idea of reform.
An abusive faith in etymology. We are also convinced that the discrepancies between pronunciation and writing must be preserved because they would come under etymology. However, this alleged rule suffers from innumerable exceptions. “Melancholy”, for example, comes from the Greek melancholiabut still lost its (h)… “Ear“, derived from Latin auricle, should be written For the Auri. “Weight”, distant descendant of syllabus, should not take -d. And so on.
A spelling blocked for too long. We, the French of 2023, do not speak like our predecessors of 1923 and even less like those of 1823. And because all languages evolve over time, it is of course the same for Italians, Germans or English. The difference ? Most of our neighbors change their spelling every 20 or 30 years. A perfectly adapted rhythm because it allows you to make only slight changes.
Nothing like this in France, where the last significant reform dates back to… 1835. Which leaves us a priori the choice between two bad solutions: to carry out a radical reform – which will provoke innumerable oppositions – or to be satisfied with marginal changes, which will not significantly improve the situation.
In short, it’s to cry – and no need for onions for that…
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(1) See for example the one made for the Voltaire Project.
READ ELSEWHERE
Place names, a moving heritage
There are some 6 million place names in France, that is… 100 times more than the words contained in the Petit Larousse. Some seem immutable: Garonne, Aube, Eure and Tarn date back to pre-Indo-European periods! Others are very recent (avenue François-Mitterrand or Jacques-Chirac). Still others are transformed to enter everyday language (“The Mecca of cinema”, “a vegetable salad”). It is to this abundant material that this work, both serious and surprising, is devoted.
Place names, a moving heritage. Under the direction of Pierre Jaillard. Editions Honoré Champion.
Minority languages: what role for family transmission?
Passing on the language you speak to your children is a natural reflex. However, due to a repressive attitude of the State, the choice of French alone in education and the rural exodus, the transmission of the so-called regional languages was almost interrupted in France during the course of the 20th century. This book brings together the proceedings of a symposium held on this theme. Focused mainly on Breton, its lessons are however valid for other languages placed in the same situation.
Breton language, minoritized languages: future and family transmission. Texts brought together by Immaculada Fàbregas-Alégret and Hervé Le Bihan. Editions TIR.
Breton language: 54 associations write to the prefect
Rouedad ar brezhoneg, which brings together 54 associations for the defense of Breton, has just addressed the regional prefect to demand “application of the law on the heritage protection of regional languages and of the specific State-Region convention”.
Basque agricultural high schools want to be able to teach in Basque
Vocational agricultural high schools in the Basque Country would now like their students, who have to work in the territory, to be able to have more lessons in Basque. This is the case, in particular, of the Armand-David high school in Hasparren, whose project is supported by parliamentarians Max Brisson and Denise Saint-Pé.
Why not pass an Occitan license?
This professional training will allow you to embrace many professions (teacher, journalist, editor, etc.). It will also allow you to deepen your knowledge of a millennial culture – and still alive. You can follow it in particular in Montpellier, Carcassonne and Mende.
Inaudible leis/The inaudible, by Daidier Mir
The commune of Brovès, in the Var, was suppressed when the military camp of Canjuers was created. In this bilingual Occitan/French novel, Daidier Mir multiplies the points of view to express the way in which this disappearance was experienced.
Inaudible leis/The inaudible, by Daidier Mir. Editions Edit me.
Regional languages sell (continued)
After my article last week on the usefulness for companies of using regional languages, readers informed me that several academic studies have been carried out on this subject. Here are a few :
Regional cultures and economic development, Proceedings of the Congress of Avignon, Annals of the Faculty of Law of Avignon, Special notebook n°2, by Jean-Robert Alcaras, Philippe Blanchet and Jérôme Joubert. Aix-Marseille University Press (2001).
Regional languages, cultures and development: case studies in Alsace, Brittany and Provence. Works collected by Dominique Kuck and René Kahn. Editions L’Harmattan (2009).
Regional cultures and economic development. Territorial resources for regional economies. Under the direction of René Kahn, Roseline Le Squère and Jean-Michel Kosianski. Editions L’Harmattan (2014).
Pleonasms, language tics, vocabulary… Karine Dijoud, classics teacher and host of an Instagram account dedicated to the French language (@lesparentheseselementaires), offers some tips in this book to avoid making mistakes. With a welcome chapter distinguishing the contributions of “useful” foreign languages when they make it possible to express notions that did not exist in French (rugby, airbag) from “useless” borrowings which replace words that are nevertheless well established (forwarder/to transfer, update/update, impact/influencer, etc).
French with style, by Karine Dijoud. First Editions.
TO LISTEN
“The difference between a language and a dialect is that the language has an army”
I recently had the chance to be Pascal Paradou’s guest on his RFI show, Vive(s) voix. This is an opportunity for me to recall this quote from the linguist Max Weinreich, which wonderfully sums up the situation of minority languages. And to call on France to take the measures that will allow them to be preserved.
TO WATCH
Once is not custom: I move away from national borders to offer you this song from the region of Valencia, Spain. And I’d be surprised if you didn’t end up clapping your hands and feet listening to it…
