Editing Gallo language (section)

=== ELG ===
The ELG system (short for "''écrire le gallo''", French for “write the Gallo [language]”), the oldest system, was proposed in 1978 by Alan-Joseph Raude and completely eschews French orthography. Raude based his writing system on medieval texts written in Gallo, therefore creating a system authentic to the language without reference to other modern writing systems. Regional differences were less pronounced during the Medieval era, meaning ELG’s spelling choices are based on a more standardized form.<ref name=":2" />[[Image:Signalétique gallo, métro de Rennes.jpg|thumb|A Gallo sign in the [[Rennes]] [[rapid transit|metro]]]]In the words for finger, evening, and me (in French: doigt, soir, moi), which display regional pronunciation differences, the “oi” found in French is written as “ei”, giving the forms: deit, seir, mei, though [ei] will not be the pronunciation everywhere.<ref name=":2" />

Ruczèu ("stream", in French: ruisseau) is pronounced [ʁysəw] in eastern Upper Brittany and [ʁyzəw] in the west. The ''ae'' in Bertaeyn ("Brittany"), can be pronounced [ae], [aɛ], [aə], or other possibilities. The diagraphs oe, cz, and tz are notable distinguishing elements of ELG.<ref name=":8">Raude, Alan. ''Écrire le gallo''. Rennes, France. 1993.</ref>

Word-final ''e'' ceased to be pronounced as early as the twelfth century in Gallo, several centuries before French, so Raude proposes to not write them. On the other hand, word-final silent consonants are retained to preserve the continuity between derived forms: fauc (false) (the final c is not pronounced) is related to fauchae (to mow), where the consonant is pronounced. In French, word-final e often serves to indicate an otherwise silent consonant should be pronounced, such as in grand [grɑ̃] and grande [grɑ̃d]. ELG indicates this with a doubled consonant: graund and graundd.<ref name=":2" />

ELG’s choices create a visually distinct system for Gallo, but it requires learning and is not immediately intuitive for Gallo speakers, who may not even recognize it as Gallo upon first seeing it.<ref name=":8" />

ELG is used in some public places, such as for bilingual signage in the [[Rennes]] metro system.<ref>Villard, Laurence. ''Langues dominantes, langues dominées''. Publications of the universities of Rouen and Le Havre (modern name: University Press of Rouen and Le Havre). 2008.</ref>