Some readers have expressed concern about the term will repay used as part of a headline on the first page of the written version of our newspaper Guerrilla (Friday, January 12, 2024). We are pleased to address this concern, because it is evidence of the interest in these issues related to our rich mother tongue.
In the case of the verb redite, something very similar happens to what is presented to us with the adjective preminent. The most common forms are reeditar and preeminente, with double e, since these words are composed with two prefixes ending in this vowel and words that begin with it. However, the RAE points out that the graphic reduction of the two vowels to a single one is frequent and admissible, when in a generalized way and at all levels of speech, including pronunciation, it is articulated as a fusion.
In other words, both spelling realizations are valid. The RAE itself issued a communication about it in 2020. Interesting, right?
Remember that language is a living organ, which is constantly changing. We are the speakers, ultimately, with our frequency of use, who are clearing the way for what may or may not be accepted or approved.
The very logical principle of the economy of resources – and so characteristic of modernity – has also been imposed in the linguistic field. The accentuation itself has been coining it, especially with regard to the diacritical accent.
Tradition and novelty are permanently intertwined. Tremendous challenge for any philologist.
