Editing Orthography (section)

{{Short description|Set of conventions for written language}}
{{For|the type of projection|Orthographic projection}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2016}}
{{Linguistics|Topics}}
An '''orthography''' is a set of [[convention (norm)|conventions]] for [[writing]] a [[language]], including norms of [[spelling]], [[punctuation]], [[Word#Word boundaries|word boundaries]], [[capitalization]], [[hyphen]]ation, and [[Emphasis (typography)|emphasis]].

Most national and international languages have an established [[writing system]] that has undergone substantial standardization, thus exhibiting less [[dialect]] variation than the spoken language.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9783110141894.1.2.273 |chapter=Standard Variety |title=Sociolinguistics |date=2004 |last1=Ammon |first1=Ulrich |pages=273–283 |isbn=978-3-11-014189-4 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Coulmas|Guerini|2012|pp=454ff}} These processes can fossilize pronunciation patterns that are no longer routinely observed in speech (e.g. ''would'' and ''should''); they can also reflect deliberate efforts to introduce variability for the sake of national identity, as seen in [[Noah Webster]]'s efforts to introduce easily noticeable differences between [[American and British spelling]] (e.g. ''honor'' and ''honour'').

Orthographic norms develop through social and political influence at various levels, such as encounters with print in education, the workplace, and the state. Some nations have established [[language academies]] in an attempt to regulate aspects of the national language, including its orthography—such as the [[Académie Française]] in France and the [[Royal Spanish Academy]] in Spain. No such authority exists for most languages, including English. Some non-state organizations, such as [[newspapers of record]] and [[academic journal]]s, choose greater orthographic homogeneity by enforcing a particular [[style guide]] or spelling standard such as [[Oxford spelling]].