Editing Reforms of French orthography (section)

===Rectifications of 1990 {{anchor|1990}}{{anchor|The rectifications of 1990}}=== <!-- Courtesy note per [[MOS:LINK2SECT]], [[Grand dictionnaire terminologique]] R's to anchor "1990". -->
{{Split section|1990 French orthography rectification|date=January 2022|discuss=Talk:Reforms of French orthography#What about splitting the section "Rectifications of 1990"?}}
The council, with the help of some Académie members and observers from [[La Francophonie|Francophone]] states, published reforms that it called ''"{{lang|fr|rectifications orthographiques}}"'' on 6 December 1990.<ref name="academie">{{Cite web|url=http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/orthographe/plan.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010303014029/http://www.academie-francaise.fr/langue/orthographe/plan.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2001-03-03|title=Rectifications de l'orthographe-J.O. du 6-12-1990|date=2001-03-03|access-date=2018-04-16}}</ref>

Those "rectifications", instead of changing individual spellings, published general rules or lists of modified words. In total, around 2000 words have seen their spelling changed, and French [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] was also affected.

====Hyphens====

Numerals are joined with hyphens:

:''{{lang|fr|sept cent mille trois cent vingt et un}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|sept-cent-mille-trois-cent-vingt-et-un}}'' (700,321).

Elements of [[Compound (linguistics)|compound nouns]] are fused together:
*if one element is a verb: ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|porte-monnaie}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|portemonnaie}}'' (wallet)
*in [[bahuvrihi]] compounds (where the individual sense of the elements has changed): ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|sage-femme}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|sagefemme}}'' (midwife)
*in [[onomatopoeia]]s: ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|coin coin}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|coin-coin}}'' (quack).

[[Loanword|Loan]] compounds are also fused together:

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|hot-dog}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|hotdog}}'' (hot dog).
:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|week-end}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|weekend}}'', aligning the word with its modern English spelling.

====Number====

Compound nouns joined with hyphens (or fused) make their [[plural]] using normal rules, that is adding a final ''s'' or ''x'', unless the modifier is an adjective (in which case both elements must agree), or the head is a [[determiner (linguistics)|determined]] [[noun]], or a proper noun:

:''{{lang|fr|des pèse-lettre}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|des pèse-lettres}}'' (letter scales)

Loanwords also have a regular plural:

:''{{Wikt-lang|fr|lieder}}'' → ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|lieds}}'' (songs)

====''{{lang|fr|Tréma}}''====
The ''{{lang|fr|tréma}}'' (known as a [[diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] in English) indicating exceptionally that the ''u'' is not silent in ''{{lang|fr|gu}} + vowel'' combinations is to be placed on the ''u'' instead of on the following vowel. Also, trémas are added to such words where they were not previously used:

:''{{lang|fr|aiguë}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|aigüe}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɛɡy|}} (''fem.'' acute)
:''{{lang|fr|ambiguïté}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|ambigüité}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɑ̃biɡɥite|}} (ambiguity)
:''{{lang|fr|arguer}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|argüer}}'' {{IPA|fr|aʁɡɥe|}} (to argue)

A {{lang|fr|tréma}} is also added to a ''u'' following an ''{{lang|fr|e muet}}'' added to soften a ''g'', to prevent the ''eu'' combination being read as {{IPA|fr|œ|}}:

:''{{lang|fr|gageure}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|gageüre}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɡaʒyʁ|}} (wager)

====Accents====

Verbs with their [[infinitive]] in ''éCer'' (where C can be any consonant) change their ''[[acute accent|é]]'' to ''[[grave accent|è]]'' in the [[future tense|future]] and [[conditional tense|conditional]]:

:''{{lang|fr|je céderai}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|je cèderai}}'' {{IPA|fr|ʒə sɛd(ə)ʁe|}} (I shall give up)

Additionally, verbs ending in ''e'' placed before an [[word order|inverted]] [[subject (grammar)|subject]] "je" change their ''e'' to ''è'' instead of ''é'':

:''{{lang|fr|aimé-je&thinsp;?}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|aimè-je&thinsp;?}}'' {{IPA|fr|ɛmɛʒ|}} (do I like?)

[[Circumflex]] accents are removed on ''i'' and ''u'' if they are not needed to distinguish between homographs. They are retained in the [[preterite|simple past]] and [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]] of verbs:

:''{{lang|fr|mû}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|mu}}'' (driven), but ''{{lang|fr|qu'il mût}}'' unchanged (he must have driven), and
:''{{lang|fr|dû}}'' (the past participle of the very common irregular verb ''{{lang|fr|devoir}}'', or the noun created from this participle) is kept to make the distinction with ''{{lang|fr|du}}'' (the required contraction of ''{{lang|fr|de + le}}'', which means ''some'' when used as an undetermined masculine article, or means ''of the'' when used as a preposition).

Wherever accents are missing or wrong because of past errors or omissions or a change of pronunciation, they are added or changed:

:''{{lang|fr|receler}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|recéler}}'' {{IPA|fr|ʁəsele|}} (to receive&nbsp;– stolen goods)
:''{{lang|fr|événement}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|évènement}}'' {{IPA|fr|evɛn(ə)mɑ̃|}} (event)

Accents are also added to loanwords where dictated by French pronunciation:

:''{{lang|fr|diesel}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|diésel}}'' {{IPA|fr|djezɛl|}} (diesel)

====Schwa changing into open ''e''====

In verbs with an infinitive in ''{{lang|fr|-eler}}'' or ''{{lang|fr|-eter}}'', the [[vowel height|opening]] of the [[schwa]] ({{IPAslink|ə}} → {{IPAslink|ɛ}}) could previously be noted either by changing the ''e'' to ''è'' or by doubling the following ''l'' or ''t'', depending on the verb in question. With this reform, only the first rule shall be used except in the cases of ''{{lang|fr|appeler}}'', ''{{lang|fr|jeter}}'', and their [[derivation (linguistics)|derivatives]] (which continue to use ''ll'' and ''tt'' respectively).
<!-- (unnecessary historical detail) This is caused by the fact that the historic gemination of consonants (in conjugated verbs where the final schwa desinences became silent) is no longer pronounced and has been replaced by opening the preceding vowel in standard French phonology. To keep the spelling without a written double consonant, the accent becomes necessary to keep the vowel open.-->

:''{{lang|fr|j'étiquette}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|j'étiquète}}'' (I label)

This applies also when those verbs are nominalized using the [[suffix]] ''{{lang|fr|-ement}}'':

:''{{lang|fr|amoncellement}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|amoncèlement}}'' (pile)

====Past participle agreement====

Notwithstanding the normal rules (see [[French verbs#Past participle agreement|French verbs]]), the past [[participle]] ''{{lang|fr|laissé}}'' followed by an infinitive never agrees with the [[object (linguistics)|object]]:

:''{{lang|fr|je les ai laissés partir}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|je les ai laissé partir}}'' (I let them go, literally: I have let them go)

This is an alleged simplification of the rules governing the agreement as applied to a past participle followed by an infinitive. The participle ''{{lang|fr|fait}}'' already followed an identical rule.

====Miscellaneous====

Many phenomena were considered as "anomalies" and thus "corrected". Some "families" of words from the same root showing inconsistent spellings were uniformized on the model of the most usual word in the "family".

:''{{lang|fr|imbécillité}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|imbécilité}}'' (idiocy)

This rule was also extended to suffixes in two cases, actually changing them into totally different [[morpheme]]s altogether:

:''{{lang|fr|cuissot}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|cuisseau}}'' (haunch)
:''{{lang|fr|levraut}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|levreau}}'' (leveret)

Isolated words were adjusted to follow older reform where they had been omitted:

:''{{lang|fr|douceâtre}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|douçâtre}}'' (sickly sweet)
:''{{lang|fr|oignon}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|ognon}}'' (onion)

Lastly, some words have simply seen their spelling simplified, or fixed when it was uncertain:

:''{{lang|fr|pagaïe/pagaille/pagaye}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|pagaille}}'' (mess)
:''{{lang|fr|punch}}'' → ''{{lang|fr|ponch}}'' ([[punch (drink)|punch]])

====Application====

These "rectifications" were supposed to be applied as of 1991 but, following a period of agitation and the publication of many books such as the Union of copy editors' attacking new rules one by one, [[André Goosse]]'s defending them, or [[Josette Rey-Debove]]'s accepting a few (that have been added, as alternative spellings, to [[Dictionnaires Le Robert|Le Robert]]), they appeared to become, for a while, dead proposals.