Typing quote character with shift now activates accents

The most locale issues you in this forum is related to KDE - with a long shot until you hit Gnome as second. Just try a search using keywords KDE locale - you will be surprised - maybe add in Plasma keyword - and I will not be surprised if you find a solution in there.

Please check your keyboard layout settings … then recheck … then eventually read this [root tip] Troubleshooting locale errors