Gender neutral language in French: Difference between revisions

The predominant neutral form, between the analytic and synthetic gender-neutral approach, is denoted in italics in the table. Words such as 'professionnel' and 'professionnelle', which are orally epicene and, thus, indistinguishable in speech, are not included; the use of their shortened doublet form enables inclusivity and gender neutrality in written language.

The distinction between 'analytic gender neutral' ''versus'' 'synthetic gender neutral' is usually referred to as 'inclusif' ''versus'' 'neutre'.<ref name=":0" /> While there is no evidence from psycholinguistic studies suggesting that portmanteau words like 'utilisateurice' cannot be cognitively interpreted as neutral, these forms could technically also be called that way. Since gender neutral forms are inherently inclusive of all genders, there is no reason why they cannot be called that way either. The interchangeability of these terms makes them unsuitable for differentiating these two methods of creating gender neutral/gender inclusive French words. For this reason, the following table distinguishes them based on their morphological properties— blend words being more analytical and non blend words being more synthetic.

 

A part from the italic denoted words, most of them are not used. This list represents the suggestions that have been made for neutralizing French and presents the items that have been retained by most blogs, researchers and LGBT communities in the French-speaking world.