Why Distinguish Homophones?

By definition, an orthography needs to have a phonological basis in order to work properly. But we must also take into account the semiographical dimension, which means that each linguistic sign will have a more easily recognizable graphical shape whenever necessary. This is particularly useful in those cases where the signs are completely or partly homophonic. It is proposed in this paper to briefly review this notion of linguistic heterography in French, from the original historical processes to the roles it plays nowadays, & to describe some of the multifaceted ways in which it can be seen to operate. Its influence on our present linguistic usages seems to be so great that there can now be said to exist a real need for heterography. In societies where orthographies are mainly designed for readers, heterography seems to be particularly well suited to the requirements of written communications. References. Adapted from the source document