The RAE has not changed its criteria: "only" is written without a tilde

This week hundreds of tweeters shared with exclamations of joy the news that the SAR had finally surrendered. Apparently, the institution gave in and allowed to put the tilde in the demonstrative pronouns and in "only" when it works as an adverb. The messages in which you could almost hear the uncorking of a bottle of cava linked to a news item on the web about Estandarte literature , which opened with a surprising headline: "The RAE failed: only this one, with a tilde." However, the news of the death of that tilde was exaggerated: the headline includes statements from seven years ago that have been taken out of context and do not change the recommendation. Alone and this, without tilde.

Lately, ONLY news like this brightens my day 😉 https://t.co/1czqQj4r9R

You read that the SAR is going to return the accent to the adverb ONLY.
And five minutes later you read that it is not true and that justice is still not done.

You can't play with our feelings like that.

The text that accompanies the headline already lowers its triumphalism (or defeatism, depending on how you look at it): these are statements from 2013 by Salvador Gutiérrez, professor, academic and director of the 2010 Spanish Language Spelling , precisely the one he buried tick it alone. Gutiérrez said that it was necessary to "advise" the writing of "only" without a check and explain with scientific criteria why it should not be emphasized. "In spelling, you don't have to adapt forceful positions, but try to reorient the uses."

At the time (2013), many media outlets collected these statements, published in an interview with the Efe agency. But, although it is true that Gutiérrez admitted resistance to the new proposals, the institution's recommendation did not change then nor has it changed now, as the RAE Twitter account has also explained, responding to questions raised these days.

#RAEconsultas Not true. It is old news and does not offer rigorous information. The rule of the 2010 «Spelling» on the tilde in «only» and the demonstrations is still in force.

#RAEqueries Demonstrative pronouns can be ticked if they can also be interpreted as determiners; the adverb "only", if it can also be considered an adjective. If there is no risk of ambiguity, the tilde is not justified. It is recommended never to brand them.

Many of the tweeters who shared their exhilaration also made their disappointment public when they realized that the news was not as the headline implied. They also took the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to the tick of "solo". Some recalled that among the ranks of the irreducible of this tilde there is at least one academic, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, who on more than one occasion has defended its use publicly (although not this week).

In that case, only (for only) must have a tilde. The RAE says no, but I do put it, because I need it to explain myself better when I write. As I have once said, the RAE does not write articles or novels. A greeting.

@blasmartinez I will write only, that one, that one, this one and this one with a tilde, until it hits.

Why did the RAE remove the checkmark from "only"?

It may seem that removing the tilde from "solo" and from the demonstrations is a simplification that makes it more difficult for us to understand each other in writing. Or, worse, that it is a change of criteria to satisfy people who do not know the norm. But in reality it is the correction of a previous error of the RAE itself. As Elena Hernández, head of the Spanish department up to date and coordinator of the consultation area of ​​the Royal Spanish Academy, told us, these tildes were always an error that, “out of habit, became generalized”. The philologist added that “it has never been obligatory to label the adverb. That tilde was only admitted in case of ambiguity ”.

The diacritical tilde serves to differentiate two words that are written the same when one of them is tonic and the other is unstressed. The unstressed words are those that do not have their own accent in the spoken string and therefore rely on another tonic word for their pronunciation. This occurs, for example, with "de" and "dé" in phrases such as "that car belongs to Sara" (toneless) or "I hope she gives it to me" (tone). But the same does not happen with "solo", since both the adjective and the adverb are tonic words.

The academic Julio Casares already identified this inconsistency in 1952 and Gutiérrez himself recounted in EL PAÍS that the RAE has not accentuated these words in his texts since 1959. When the Academy started working on the last spelling, published in 2010, it was decided to give greater coherence to the accentuation system and recommend that it be discontinued, although it is admitted in cases of ambiguity.

It is true that there may be cases in which it is difficult to know what "only" we are talking about. The RAE speaks on its website of "rare and elaborate" examples that "can always be avoided by other means", such as the use of synonyms or changing the order of words, for example. In fact, we can find ambiguities beyond just and only.

For example, if we use the tilde to differentiate between "only" (adjective) and "only" (adverb), why not use it to differentiate between "safe" (adjective) and "safe" (adverb)? If someone says that they are going to have safe sex, does it mean that they are going to have sex or that they are going to use protection? Gutiérrez wrote in an article in the RAE bulletin that if we followed this criterion to mark words, cases similar to "only" and "only" would multiply. And he gives many other examples: "Vino de Cariñena". Are we talking about the verb come or drink? "A new medicine for the epidemic". Is "for" a preposition or is it from the verb "stop"?

Just a habit

It is difficult to eradicate the tittle of only by the force of the custom, explained Hernández. And also because it has long been an easy way to show some linguistic superiority. But this resistance to spelling change will eventually subside. As they all refer: in the eighteenth century it was decided to eliminate from the writing the Latinizing digraphs that still remained in many words, such as the th of theatro or the ph of philosophia: “When that decision was made -Hernández told us-, many academics protested (and this is stated in the minutes). Writing Christo without an ax sounded almost blasphemous to them. Academician Gregorio Salvador often tells this anecdote and always ends it by saying: In the end these gentlemen died and today we write Christ without ax and nobody cares. "

Of course, if someone wants to take the tick of "only" to the grave, they are free to do so. The RAE collects uses and sets the norm of formal and cultured language, but at the end it gives "recommendations", a formula that it uses regularly in its texts and on its Twitter account. The language is from the speakers, also the written one, and the RAE police are not going to appear at anyone's house to fine or arrest violators. Among other things because to see who dares with Pérez-Reverte.

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