Alternative orthographies

The French orthography is fixed in an official way by the French Academy. There exist however alternative orthographies for specialized uses, generally intended for targeted populations which for all kinds of reason have difficulties with the written French language.

There exist also proposals for an orthography of general use which call in question the preeminence of the orthography as fixed by the French Academy. These proposals are generally simplified standards, presented like more accessible and in conformity with the spoken language today.

One should not confuse “alternative orthography” with “alternative C-W communication” which is another allowed orthography for a particular word.

Some standards of specialized use

The notation alfonic

Conceived by Andre Martinet in the years 1970, alfonic proposes a notation in which a letter is allotted to each sound. The majority of the letters have in alfonic the value which they usually have and of this fact many words are written in the same way in orthography and alfonic. The alfonic was developed for French, to offer to learning young people, inhibited by fear to make faults, a tool giving them the means of overcoming this fear and of leaving free course to their expression.

The ortograf altêrnativ

The ortograf altêrnativ, as for it, is not a simplification of the orthography but well an alternative mode of written communication intended for children reached of intellectual deficiencies in order to make them functional in their immediate environment.

Language SMS

There is also the language SMS which is means of communication modifying the even grammatical orthographical characteristics of a language (here, French) in order to reduce its length, with an aim of decreasing the necessary duration to compose the statement or in order to reduce its length in on this side maximum threshold imposed by messages SMS on portable.

Some standards of general use

The Ortograf.net standard

The Ortograf.net movement initiated by Mario Périard proposes a standardized, rationalized orthography and more phonetics. The code suggested, similar to " the ortograf altêrnativ" , which is already used successfully in the Québécois schools to give a minimum of autonomy in reading and writing to autistic and trisomic children. In the name of the " principle of accessibility universelle" , the Mayor of Montreal also uses it on a site entitled " Access simple" and intended for this same public.

Its partisans consider that the French language belongs to those which speak it and which if the latter adopt propagate a manner simple to write it and it, this standard will be essential itself. The administration, the system of education and the company in general will finish by having to adjust itself. The movement thus invites the population to take possession of its language while being based on a simple standard and specifies rather than to wait vainly and passively a " réformette" partial of the orthography coming from any authority. Ortograf.net suggests acting while writing phonetically as of now and/or while making follow each correspondence of the note I adêr O standar of the ortograf altêrnativ - www.ortograf.net which one finds on their site. This strategy with license to the standard to be propagated quickly since 2006. The movement claims that it would currently be about the alternative standard in more strong progression.

The standard Ortograf.fr or Alfograf

The Ortograf.fr standard initiated by Louis Rougnon-Glasson is a project which rests on the creation of a French phonetic alphabet: the alfograf (“French phonetic alphabet of movement ORTOGRAF-FR”). Thanks to this alphabet, the new writing will have the perfect simplicity of a phonetic orthography, while keeping the maximum of resemblance to what we have the practice to read.

Initially, the various writings permitted by this phonetic alphabet will be able to coexist with our current manner to write French, who will remain rigorously unchanged. They will not present any risk of additional destabilization of the users in their dearly acquired practices, but at the same time, they will bring already assets interesting, either for to indicate the normal pronunciation French words, or for to facilitate the training of the reading and the writing.

More largely, the movement Ortograf-Fr proposes the installation of a " graeco-latin alphabet universel". This alphabet universal would very conveniently place at the disposal of all the users all the alternatives of the Latin alphabet which one can find in the various countries, so as to facilitate the international communication.

This universal alphabet would allow moreover systematically to bind two unspecified successive letters to create a " digraph lié". This digraph dependant is in itself a new letter having a clean identity. Currently, the writing of French has only one digraph which is materialized on the level of the writing and which is usually used: it is the digraph welded œ, which one meets in the writing of words such as " cœur" , " œuf". On the other hand, ten digraphs are not materialized on the level writing, it are for example: CH, with, or, one, one, etc…

the increase in the number of realizable graphics, starting from a simple keyboard of computer, increase obtained thanks to the bound digraphs, then makes it possible to remove on the level of the writing the majority of confusions which are not currently regulated on the level of the reading. To take only one example, one will use the dependant digraph " on" whenever the current couple of letters corresponding is pronounced with the Frenchwoman, and one will keep the two separate letters if the corresponding correct pronunciation is that which is imported of English.

Other projects

Of another projects propose to replace the orthography: the fràsil of Pierre Barnouin and the proligrafi of François Sébastianoff chair association “droi D to eqrir”.

External bonds

the notation Alfonic
the ortograf altêrnativ
the site of the town of Montreal in ortograf altêrnativ
the alphabet Alfograf
the standard Ortograf
Dikortograf
a criticism (article and forum) of orthographical diverting and site ortograf.net

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