Language reform is a kind oflanguage planning by widespread change to a language. The typical methods of language reform are simplification andlinguistic purism. Simplification regularises vocabulary, grammar, or spelling. Purism aligns the language with a form which is deemed 'purer'.
Language reforms are intentional changes to language; this article does not cover naturallanguage change, such as theGreat Vowel Shift.
By far the most common language reform is simplification. The most common simplification isspelling reform, butinflection,syntax,vocabulary and word formation can also be targets for simplification. For example, in English, there are many prefixes which mean "the opposite of", e.g.un-,in-,a(n)-,dis-, andde-. A language reform might propose to replace the redundant prefixes with one, such asun-.
Linguistic purism or linguistic protectionism is the prescriptive practice of recognising one form of a language as purer or of intrinsically higher quality than others. The perceived or actual decline may take the form of change of vocabulary, syncretism of grammatical elements, or loanwords, and in this case, the form of a language reform.
Estonian (1910s/1920s) – reform movement led byJohannes Aavik and Johannes V. Veski renewed the vocabulary, borrowing a lot of roots from Finnish and other Uralic languages and even inventing some roots.
Greek (1970s/1980s) – while the written "pure" language, theKatharevousa was full ofAncient Greek words, the spoken "popular" language, theDemotic Greek was not. After the fall of the military rule, a law was promulgated, making the latter the written language as well. For example, on Greek coins, the plural of the currency was drachmai (Katharevousa) before and became drachmes (Demotic Greek) after 1982.
Hebrew (1920s) –Modern Hebrew was created from Ancient Hebrew by grammatical simplification (especially of thesyntax) according to Indo-European models, coinage of new words from Hebrew roots based on European models, and simplification of pronunciation rules. Linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann argues that Modern Hebrew, which he calls "Israeli", is a Semito-European hybrid, based not only on Hebrew but also on Yiddish and other languages spoken by revivalists.[1] Zuckermann therefore endorses the translation of the Hebrew Bible into what he calls "Israeli".[2]
Hungarian (late 18th and early 19th centuries) – more than ten thousand words were coined,[3] thousands of which are actively used today (see alsoFerenc Kazinczy).
Norwegian (20th century) – as Norway became independent from Denmark (1814), Norwegians wanted a written language closer to spoken Norwegian. The reforms in 1907 and 1917 madeRiksmål the written standard Norwegian, renamedBokmål in 1929. Bokmål and the more vernacularNynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. Today both language forms are written: on Norwegian coins, the name of the country is alternately Norge (Bokmål) and Noreg (Nynorsk).
Portuguese (20th century) – replaced a cumbersome traditional spelling system with a simplified one (asthma, for instance, becameasma andphthysica becametísica).
Romanian (19th century) – replacedCyrillic script with theLatin alphabet, deprecated thousands ofSlavic words in favour ofRomance words. Romanian has undergone spelling reforms in 1904, 1953, and, most recently, in 1993, with two minor ones in 1964 and 2005.
Russian – 1918 – Major changes inRussian orthography. Several letters were removed fromRussian alphabet. Minor changes inRussian grammar. The reform has simplified some aspects of the language. Other reforms happened in 1708/1710 and 1956.
Serbian (19th century) —Slavonic-Serbian, the literary language of Habsburg Serbs, was disused withVuk Karadžić's reforms and standardisation as official language of Serbia.
Turkish (1930s) – language and writing system were reformed beginning in the 1920s, such that the older language is called by a different name:Ottoman Turkish. TheOttoman alphabet was based on the Arabic alphabet, which was replaced in 1928 by the new Latin-basedTurkish alphabet. Loanwords ofPersian andArabic origin were dropped in favour of native Turkish words or new coinages based onTurkic roots.[6]
Vietnamese (20th century) –Classical Chinese lost official status in 1918, and the colonial schools instituted a "Franco-Vietnamese Curriculum" at this time. Vietnamese was taught using theLatin alphabet, and this form soon became dominant.
^Kálmán Szily presented approx. 10,000 words in his bookA magyar nyelvújítás szótára ("Dictionary of Hungarian language reform", vol. 1–2: 1902 and 1908), without aiming to be comprehensive.
