Orthographie

Orthographie is the conventional spelling system of a language, including the set of letters and diacritics, capitalization, punctuation, hyphenation, and the rules governing their use. It defines how spoken language is represented in written form and how words are formed and separated in text. Orthography is influenced by a language’s history, pronunciation changes, and the authority of standardizing bodies.

The purpose of orthography is to provide a stable, readable representation that allows speakers and readers from different dialects to share written communication. It interacts with phonology, morphology, and syntax, but is not purely a reflection of pronunciation. Some languages have shallow orthographies with close phoneme–grapheme correspondences, while others have deep orthographies with more irregular spellings.

Orthographic standards are often codified by dictionaries, language academies, or official language reforms. Throughout history, reforms have aimed to simplify spelling, regularize rules, or adapt to new writing technologies. German, for example, underwent a significant orthography reform in the late 20th century, with subsequent adjustments. Other languages, such as English, have experienced proposals for reform but retain varied spellings across varieties.

In practice, orthography also encompasses typographic conventions, such as capitalization rules and punctuation usage, which help convey meaning and structure. In the digital age, orthography interacts with spell-checking, autocorrect, and natural language processing, while ongoing debates about spelling and standardization continue in many linguistic communities.