Knowra Académie française Académie française The Académie française is a French learned society founded in 1635 to advise on the French language and publish its official dictionary. Its elected members are known as the Immortals.
Dictionnaire de l’Académie française : The Académie française’s dictionary, documenting French vocabulary and usage through successive editions. This publication is the institution’s most visible instrument for recording and recommending French usage.
Cardinal Richelieu : A French statesman and chief minister to Louis XIII who founded the Académie française in 1635. Richelieu sponsored the society and secured royal backing for its work.
French spelling reform : Efforts to change French spelling conventions, including proposals made by the Académie française. The Academy’s dictionary editions and recommendations influence debates over accepted spellings.
Office québécois de la langue française : A Quebec government agency responsible for applying the province’s French-language policy and terminology work. Unlike the Academy, it has statutory responsibilities within a specific jurisdiction.
French language standardization : The process by which conventions of spelling, grammar, and vocabulary become widely accepted in a language. The Academy has shaped, but never monopolized, the standardization of French.
Immortals (Académie française) : The forty elected members of the Académie française, traditionally called the Immortals. These members elect successors and carry out the Academy’s work.
Louis XIII : King of France from 1610 to 1643, whose royal authority recognized the Académie française. His letters patent gave the Academy official status in 1635.
French language policy : Government and institutional measures that shape the use, teaching, and status of French. The Academy advises public authorities but does not control all French language policy.
Real Academia Española : Spain’s national academy for the Spanish language, which publishes a dictionary and works with other Spanish academies. Its networked model contrasts with the Académie française’s national institutional structure.
Vaugelas : Claude Favre de Vaugelas, a seventeenth-century French grammarian whose usage judgments influenced standard French. His emphasis on elite usage helped shape the standards the Academy later pursued.
Show all 28