Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents/Table des matières
- Preface/Préface
- Acknowledgments/Remerciements
- Brief introduction to the French language (with reference to the French of francophone countries)/Brève introduction à la langue française (avec référence au français des pays francophones)
- Part I
- 1 Register/Le registre
- 2 Alphabet, spelling, pronunciation/L'alphabet, l'orthographe, la prononciation
- 3 Written accents/Les accents écrits
- 4 Punctuation, font, upper and lower case/La ponctuation, la police de caractères, les majuscules et minuscules
- 5 Agreement/L'accord
- Part II
- Part III
- Part IV
- Part V
- Part VI
- Part VII
- Part VIII
- Part IX
- Part X
- Part XI
2 - Alphabet, spelling, pronunciation/L'alphabet, l'orthographe, la prononciation
from Part I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents/Table des matières
- Preface/Préface
- Acknowledgments/Remerciements
- Brief introduction to the French language (with reference to the French of francophone countries)/Brève introduction à la langue française (avec référence au français des pays francophones)
- Part I
- 1 Register/Le registre
- 2 Alphabet, spelling, pronunciation/L'alphabet, l'orthographe, la prononciation
- 3 Written accents/Les accents écrits
- 4 Punctuation, font, upper and lower case/La ponctuation, la police de caractères, les majuscules et minuscules
- 5 Agreement/L'accord
- Part II
- Part III
- Part IV
- Part V
- Part VI
- Part VII
- Part VIII
- Part IX
- Part X
- Part XI
Summary
L’orthographe des langues est une convention dans laquelle la prononciation n’a que faire ; et la profonde erreur des grammairiens d’aujourd’hui, c’est d’avoir pris au pied de la lettre cet axiôme étourdi d’un grand écrivain : «L’orthographe est l’image de la prononciation.»
Charles Nodier (1780–1844)If one interprets this quotation correctly, it leads to an extreme wariness of the function of spelling and its relationship with pronunciation. After all, letters merely represent a series of conventional signs which we have come to identify with certain sounds. Whether such a quotation justifies contemporary text spelling is analyzed at the end of this chapter.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Reference Grammar of French , pp. 25 - 70Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011