New rules introduced for Luxembourgish language as of November

Minister of Education Claude Meisch confirmed the news responding to a parliamentary question submitted by LSAP MP Mars di Bartolomeo. The Centre for the Luxembourgish Language is developing an update of spelling rules, namely adapting existing reforms.

The minister explained that Luxembourg, as a living and evolving language, requires constant updating consisting of completing, clarifying, and modernising current spelling rules. All of these reforms, including punctuation rules, are giving the Luxembourgish language a higher level of standardisation.

The new rules will endeavour to fill existing gaps in the domains of punctuation, abbreviation, upper- and lower-case usages, writing in one or more words, and integrating foreign words into Luxembourgish. Some rules considered too broad will also be specified, with the minister giving some examples such as the following:

• The elongating 'h' will disappear in Luxembourgish spelling, so that Ausnahm (exception) becomes Ausnam.
• A double 'ee' will be introduced to contrast the simple 'e'. Pegel (water levels) and Regel (rule) will both become Peegel and Reegel.
• Verbs imported from other words that end in the suffix '-néieren' will have to be written with one 'n', rather than two, regardless of how the original word is spelt. The same will apply to adjectives, mainly those coming from French, that end in '-(i)onell'.
• Added suffixes will no longer affect the base form of a word, making the new spelling Märchen (fairy tale) rather than Mäerchen and Titchen (bag of sweets) rather than Tiitchen.
• Luxembourgish pronunciation will prevail over German spelling in words where 'e' precedes 'r'. Words like Bier, Buer, ieren and spueren will be affected.
  
• The rule on words ending with 'n' will be relaxed, meaning, for example, the municipality Lëntgen (Lintgen) wil be able to keep its 'n' ending in the sentence 'zu Lëntgen gëtt gebaut' or lose it ('zu Lëntge gëttgebaut'). In such cases, Meisch explained, this would be more a rule of pronunciation.

The collection of new rules will be presented in mid-November, being applicable once published. However, current rules will remain in place until the new academic year in 2020 as not to confuse existing knowledge.