The Royal Spanish Academy denies having modified the rule on the use of the tilde in solo

"Sometimes old battles are won," the academic Arturo Pérez-Reverte wrote on Twitter this Thursday in reference to the supposed change of opinion of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) on whether or not the adverb alone should be labeled, the demonstrative pronouns this , ese and aquel and their corresponding feminine ones, after the institution recommended eliminating it in 2010. In yesterday's plenary session, the Academy agreed on a new wording of the norm that will be published in the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary

(DPD) and in which it adds a phrase that leaves "in the judgment of the writer" the possibility of branding those words in case of ambiguity.

But although the writer congratulated himself on what he considers logical, the debate between detractors, supporters and surprises is by no means closed.

Not everything is so clear, not even within the RAE.

In the afternoon, on the same social network, Pérez-Reverte expressed his disagreement with the information disseminated by the Academy, in which the institution stated that the recently approved does not modify the 2010 Spelling. And he predicted an upcoming "stormy" plenary

session

The "old battle" was not entirely won.

On the other hand, Salvador Gutiérrez Ordóñez, academic and director of the

and the

had been emphatic in the morning: "The norm has not changed, but a clearer wording has been approved."

“It is mandatory to write the adverb without tilde only in contexts where its use does not entail a risk of ambiguity and it is optional to mark the adverb only in contexts where, in the opinion of the writer, its use entails a risk of ambiguity.

This paragraph does not imply a change in the norm, ”he clarifies.

Official sources of the RAE recall that the plenary decision was "unanimous".

Sometimes old battles are won.https://t.co/hPOVAnZeMz

– Arturo Pérez-Reverte (@perezreverte) March 2, 2023

This long controversy began in 2010 when the

included that it should only be branded alone and the three aforementioned pronouns when there is a "risk of ambiguity" ("he traveled alone on the train", "he drinks a coffee alone", " he studied alone in the library” or “why do you want this cake?”).

Until then, it was only written with an accent if it was an adverb ("you only live once") and this, that and that when they functioned as nominal pronouns ("has been that).

However, many writers, journalists and academics refused at the time to directly apply the dictates of Orthography

reluctantly complied with it (Mario Vargas Llosa, Soledad Puértolas, Pérez-Reverte, Javier Marías, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Luis Mateo Díez. ..).

More information

"Only" or "only": 10 years of insubordination in the RAE for a tilde

The controversy seemed to have subsided over time, until yesterday the newspaper

advanced that the RAE had changed its criteria again: it could be branded again in case of ambiguity, but the decision was now "up to the opinion of the writer" .

The next edition of the

would reflect this.

Does that mean that before it was not at the discretion of the author?

Carlota de Benito, PhD in Spanish Language and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Zurich, is blunt in her response on social networks: "Public service information against orthographic populism: you could already put the tilde [since 2010] only in cases of ambiguity.

section

where it is read that "the use of the tilde may be dispensed with even in cases of double interpretation".

Or what is the same: it will be possible or it will not be possible.

That is to say, this is so at the will of the one who has been writing for 13 years.

However, not everyone understands it this way.

Juan Gómez Jurado, author of

a novel translated into more than 40 languages, happily maintains: “We have won.

It was just necessary not to fight alone!”

.

And on his Twitter account he reproduces the following headline: "The RAE rectifies and returns the accent to only 13 years later."

We have won.

It was only necessary not to fight alone!

#OnlyWithTilde #Victoria

🔥PLEASE RT TO CELEBRATE🔥 pic.twitter.com/jzThRegdol

— Juan Gómez-Jurado (@JuanGomezJurado) March 2, 2023

In 2020, on the tenth anniversary of the change in the norm, the director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, recognized that the institution was divided by the use of the diacritical accent, which is how the graphic accent is known when it is used to distinguish the same words

“We don't have a consensus there,” he admitted.

While Luis Mateo Díez, academic from chair l, finished off: “The tilde is forceful.

What used to be [only as an adverb and only as an adjective] was better than now.

We will continue to insist.

It would be the last straw if we all assumed that norm: it is good that we do not agree ”.

Something completely different from the opinion of Salvador Gutiérrez, responsible for the new Spelling that revolutionized the Academy.

“I hope they stop being stubborn [those in favor of the tilde], because they don't have technical arguments with which to defend themselves.

They are only sentimental criteria and a spelling is not done like that.

It would be a very serious mistake for the RAE to operate outside of science”.

The division is perfectly reflected in the RAE portal

, which offers an ambiguous answer to the question.

“When it only works as an adjective, it is not branded;

when it functions as an adverb, it can only be checked if there is a risk of ambiguity, but it is recommended not to check it even in those cases and to resolve the ambiguity in another way”.

That is, it is "recommended", not mandatory.

It is the same difference that exists between a traffic sign that advises driving at 70 and another that prohibits exceeding that speed.

The current

, also a publication of the RAE, tiptoes when it comes to prohibiting and offers advice to avoid having to mark.

"Possible ambiguities (...) can always be avoided by other means, such as the use of synonyms (alone or only), the inclusion of some element that prevents double meaning or a change in the order of words that forces a single interpretation, a proper score."

But it does not reflect an express prohibition either.

In July 2021, the writer Javier Marías, a firm supporter of using the diacritical accent, wrote a column on the story and memory that had no relation to this controversy, but which he titled “Only fictions, subjectivities and inaccuracies”.

And there it remained, with its corresponding tilde, in the newspaper library of EL PAÍS.

On Friday afternoon, Pérez-Reverte, the highest visible head of the supporters of the tilde, showed his disgust on the social network Twitter after the tweets from the Academy where he affirms that what was approved in the last plenary session "does not modify" the

of 2010. The creator of

accused the RAE of giving "biased and inaccurate" information and assured that "next Thursday's plenary session will be stormy."

"Nothing new is added"? "You will have to justify it"?

I'm sorry to say that @RAEinforma, run by an anti-tildista academic, is giving biased and inaccurate information.

Yesterday, the plenary session of the RAE approved an important modification.

Next Thursday's plenary session will be stormy.

pic.twitter.com/5DYLCaQn9u

– Arturo Pérez-Reverte (@perezreverte) March 3, 2023