OrthoFonic: un projet de didacticiel pour l’apprentissage de l’orthographe française

Abstract

OrthoFonic is a lexical database of 5,500 words and 8,500 forms which is based on the Listes orthographiques de base (Basic Spelling Lists, 1984, 4000 forms). This list takes into account the revised spellings of the “Rectifications orthographiques” of 1990. To these Spelling Lists, which are in turn taken essentially from the Frequency Dictionary of French Words by A. Juilland et al. (1970), have been added the corresponding Alfonic phonological transcriptions and the IPA phonetic transcriptions as used in the Petit Robert. Thus, OrthoFonic could become the motor for a computerised teaching program constructed around the orthographical, phonological, phonetic and grammatical information associated with the most frequent lexical items of written French.

Creating a software program based on this high frequency lexis would make it possible to do away with forms that are rare or unused, and could encourage the acquisition of the written forms that are the most frequent in actual use.