Spellingétés

Spellingétés is a theoretical concept in sociolinguistics that refers to the network of actors, practices, and artifacts that collectively shape orthographic norms within a language. The term blends spelling with the French plural suffix -étés to emphasize that spelling is produced by multiple, interacting entities rather than by a single authority.

Spellingétés operate across macro and micro levels. Macro-level actors include standardization bodies, official orthographies, dictionaries, and national or regional education systems. Micro-level practices occur in classrooms, editorial rooms, publishing houses, and online communities. Technological artifacts such as spell-checkers, word processors, and keyboard layouts also function as influential agents in shaping how words are written.

They are dynamic and context dependent. Some norms are prescriptive in formal domains; others are descriptive or aspirational in everyday use. Revisions to orthography may arise from data on actual usage, changes in technology, or social movements that valorize certain forms.

Because spellingétés encompass both authority and everyday practice, they illuminate tensions between standardization and variation, and between globalized digital communication and local linguistic identities.

Research on spellingétés draws on corpus analysis, sociolinguistic interviews, ethnography of online communities, and policy analysis to track how orthographic norms shift and why.

Related topics include orthography, standard language ideology, and language policy.