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{{Gender neutral language}}
{{Gender neutral language}}
The French language has two gramatical genders: feminine and masculine. Activists have started seeking solutions to degender the language as much as possible and, therefore, make it more inclusive. These solutions entail neologisms as well as non-neologisms.  
The French language has two grammatical genders: feminine and masculine. Activists have started seeking solutions to degender the language as much as possible and, therefore, make it more inclusive. These solutions entail neologisms as well as non-neologisms.


==Non-neologisms==
==Non-neologisms==
===Refeminization ===
===Refeminization ===
Prior to the 17th century, French, like Italian, Spanish, and other Romance languages, utilized feminine inflections to distinguish female and male professionals. However, for a range of reasons — both societal, such as misogyny,<ref name=":1">Becquelin, H. (no data): ''Langage en tout genre. Argument historique''. Article on non discriminating language. University of Neuchâtel. Online at: https://www.unine.ch/epicene/home/pourquoi/argument-historique.html (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref><ref name=":12">Viennot, E. (2023): ''Pour un langage non sexiste ! Les accords égalitaires en français''. Online at: https://www.elianeviennot.fr/Langue-accords.html (retrieved 18.12.2023).</ref> and linguistic<ref name=":2">Moreau, M.-L. (2019): L’accord de proximité dans l’écriture inclusive. Peut-on utiliser n’importe quel argument ? In: Dister, A./ Piron, S. (eds.): ''Les discours de référence sur la langue française (Presses de l’Université Saint-Louis)'', 351–378. 10.4000/books.pusl.26517.</ref>, as French was being standardized and dialect speakers were expected to learn French — grammarians ensured that these feminine designations were effectively removed from the language.<ref name=":1" />
Prior to the 17th century, French, like Italian, Spanish, and other Romance languages, utilized feminine [[wikipedia:Inflection|inflections]] to distinguish female and male professionals. However, for a range of reasons — both societal, such as misogyny,<ref name=":1">Becquelin, H. (no data): ''Langage en tout genre. Argument historique''. Article on non discriminating language. University of Neuchâtel. Online at: https://web.archive.org/web/20231213005251/https://www.unine.ch/epicene/home/pourquoi/argument-historique.html (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref><ref name=":12">Viennot, E. (2023): ''Pour un langage non sexiste ! Les accords égalitaires en français''. Online at: https://www.elianeviennot.fr/Langue-accords.html (retrieved 18.12.2023).</ref> and linguistic<ref name=":2">Moreau, M.-L. (2019): L’accord de proximité dans l’écriture inclusive. Peut-on utiliser n’importe quel argument ? In: Dister, A./ Piron, S. (eds.): ''Les discours de référence sur la langue française (Presses de l’Université Saint-Louis)'', 351–378. 10.4000/books.pusl.26517.</ref>, as French was being standardized and dialect speakers were expected to learn standard French — grammarians ensured that these feminine designations were effectively removed from the language.<ref name=":1" />


Today, many people refer to the contemporary introduction of feminine designations as 'feminization,' believing that these occupational titles are newly coined terms. However, this is not the case, as they are being revived from an earlier iteration of the French language, making 'refeminization'<ref name=":0">Divergenres (2021): ''Guide de grammaire neutre et inclusive''. Québec. Online at: https://divergenres.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/guide-grammaireinclusive-final.pdf (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> a more accurate term.
Today, many people refer to the contemporary introduction of feminine designations as '[https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/23983/banque-de-depannage-linguistique/la-redaction-et-la-communication/feminisation-et-redaction-epicene/synthese-sur-la-feminisation-lexicale-et-la-redaction-epicene féminisation]' ('feminization') believing that these occupational titles are newly coined terms. However, this is not the case, as they are being revived from an earlier iteration of the French language, making 'reféminisation'<ref name=":0">Divergenres (2021): ''Guide de grammaire neutre et inclusive''. Québec. Online at: https://divergenres.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/guide-grammaireinclusive-final.pdf (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> ('refeminization') a more accurate term.


Even though it seems paradoxical, refeminization is part of a movement to degender the French language, as studies in various languages have demonstrated that the generic masculine, despite being considered gender-neutral by French prescriptive grammar ("Selon Le Bon Usage de Maurice Grevisse, l'adjectif se met donc au 'genre indifférencié, c'est-à-dire au masculin'."),<ref name=":3">Alchimy (2017): ''« Le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin » : Bien plus qu’une règle de grammaire''. In: ''Usbek&Rica.''</ref> is not actually cognitively neutral.<ref>Tibblin, J./Van De Weijer, J./Granfeldt, J./Gygax, P. (2023): There are more women in ''joggeur·euses'' than in ''joggeurs'' : On the effects of gender-fair forms on perceived gender ratios in French role nouns. In: ''J. Fr. Lang. Stud.'' ''33'', 28–51. 10.1017/S0959269522000217.</ref><ref>Heise, E. (2003): Auch einfühlsame Studenten sind Männer: Das generische Maskulinum und die mentale Repräsentation von Personen [Even empathic students are men: The generic masculine and the mental representation of persons]. In: ''Verhaltenstherapie & Psychosoziale Praxis 35''(2), 285–291.</ref> By incorporating the feminine form of a word, speakers acknowledge the presence of individuals of more genders than just one.
Refeminization contributes to degendering French, as studies in various languages have demonstrated that the generic masculine, despite being considered gender-neutral by French prescriptive grammar ("Selon Le Bon Usage de Maurice Grevisse, l'adjectif se met donc au 'genre indifférencié, c'est-à-dire au masculin'."),<ref name=":3">Alchimy (2017): ''« Le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin » : Bien plus qu’une règle de grammaire''. In: ''Usbek&Rica.''</ref> is not actually cognitively neutral.<ref>Tibblin, J./Van De Weijer, J./Granfeldt, J./Gygax, P. (2023): There are more women in ''joggeur·euses'' than in ''joggeurs'' : On the effects of gender-fair forms on perceived gender ratios in French role nouns. In: ''J. Fr. Lang. Stud.'' ''33'', 28–51. 10.1017/S0959269522000217.</ref><ref>Heise, E. (2003): Auch einfühlsame Studenten sind Männer: Das generische Maskulinum und die mentale Repräsentation von Personen [Even empathic students are men: The generic masculine and the mental representation of persons]. In: ''Verhaltenstherapie & Psychosoziale Praxis 35''(2), 285–291.</ref> By incorporating the feminine form of a word, speakers acknowledge the presence of individuals of more genders than just one,<ref>Schütze, Christin (2020): ''Comprehension of Gender-neutral forms and the pseudo-generic masculine in German: a visual world eye-tracking study – ‘It goes without saying’ that everyone is included?''. Master thesis. University of Potsdam. Available at: https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/opus4-ubp/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/48415/file/schuetze_diss.pdf (accessed 2 March 2026).</ref> and the interchangeability of the masculine versus feminine terms as a result of the growing similarity in their distributions contribute to decoupling [[wikipedia:Sex|biological sex]], [https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/thesaurus/terms/1335 gender position] or [[wikipedia:Gender_identity|gender identity]] (cf. [[wikipedia:Sex_assignment|sex assignment]]) from the specific contexts they tend to be associated with.


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
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===Shortened doublets===
===Shortened doublets===
The feminine suffix is attached to the masculine, rather than the whole word being repeated (as in classical doublets).<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":4" />
The feminine [[wikipedia:Suffix|suffix]] is attached to the masculine, rather than the whole word being repeated (as in classical doublets).<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":4" />


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
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For instance, « <u>Les élèves</u> apprennent leur leçon. »; « <u>L'enfant</u> regarde la télévision. »; « <u>Les juges</u> ont pris leur décision. ». As singular articles indicate gender ('la' and 'le'), this technique works best with plural forms. However, it also works with singular forms if the noun begins with a vowel, because the article automatically becomes "l'...," which does not express gender. A drawback is that there are not epicene occupational titles for all professions or functions.<ref name=":0" />
For instance, « <u>Les élèves</u> apprennent leur leçon. »; « <u>L'enfant</u> regarde la télévision. »; « <u>Les juges</u> ont pris leur décision. ». As singular articles indicate gender ('la' and 'le'), this technique works best with plural forms. However, it also works with singular forms if the noun begins with a vowel, because the article automatically becomes "l'...," which does not express gender. A drawback is that there are not epicene occupational titles for all professions or functions.<ref name=":0" />


In certain Swiss-French varieties, as in the canton of Vaud, masculine and feminine words ending in '-é' resp. '-ée' are pronounced differently (i. e. 'une employée' [ynɑ̃plwaj<u>e:</u>]/[ynɑ̃plwaj<u>e:j</u>] ''versus'' 'un employé' [ɛ̃nɑ̃plwaj<u>e</u>]/[œ̃nɑ̃plwaj<u>e</u>]). However, this linguistically conservative pronunciation is becoming increasingly marginal: it is primarily confined to Switzerland and, in major cities and among younger generations, the pronunciation is gradually converging with the standard French norm, meaning that the distinction between /e/ and /e:/ (or /e:j/, remnant from Franco-Provençal dialects, i. e. Patois, spoken in the region before linguistic homogenization) is being neutralized, resulting in a single phoneme /e/ and causing 'employé' and 'employée' to be pronounced identically. As a result, here, these words are considered orally epicene.
In certain Swiss-French varieties, as in the canton of Vaud, masculine and feminine words ending in '-é' resp. '-ée' are pronounced differently (i. e. 'une employée' [ynɑ̃plwaj<u>e:</u>]/[ynɑ̃plwaj<u>e:j</u>] ''versus'' 'un employé' [ɛ̃nɑ̃plwaj<u>e</u>]/[œ̃nɑ̃plwaj<u>e</u>]). However, this linguistically conservative pronunciation is becoming increasingly marginal: it is primarily confined to Switzerland and, in major cities and among younger generations, the pronunciation is gradually converging with the standard French norm, meaning that the distinction between /e/ and /e:/ (or /e:j/, remnant from [[wikipedia:Franco-Provençal|Franco-Provençal dialects]] spoken in the region before linguistic homogenization) is being [[wikipedia:Neutralization_(linguistics)|neutralized]], resulting in a single phoneme /e/ and causing 'employé' and 'employée' to be pronounced identically. As a result, here, these words are considered orally epicene.


=== Monogender epicene nouns and collective terms ===
=== Monogender epicene nouns and collective terms ===
The table below shows gendered language on the left and neutral — i.e. grammatical gender that has nothing to do with biological sex or gender identity — language on the right.
The table below shows gendered language ('[https://www.plus.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Gender_in_German_MWerner.pdf sexus]', i. e. natural sex or individual's gender) on the left and gender-neutral language ('genus', i. e. [[wikipedia:Grammatical_gender|grammatical gender]]) on the right.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Collective terms<ref name=":11" />
|+Collective terms<ref name=":11" />
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{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Monogender (epicene) nouns<ref name=":11" />
|+Monogender (epicene) nouns<ref name=":11" />
!Explicit binary gender
!Sexus
!Grammatically fixed gender
!Grammatically fixed gender (genus)
|-
|-
|Je ne connais pas '''cet homme'''.
|Je ne connais pas '''cet homme'''.
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===Proximity agreement===
===Proximity agreement===
Up until the 18th century, the masculine gender did not always take precedence over the feminine in instances where the genders could theoretically be congruent: proximity<ref>EPFL (2023): ''L’accord de proximité''. Online at:https://www.epfl.ch/about/equality/fr/langage-inclusif/guide/principes/accord/ (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> and free-choice agreement coexisted alongside the masculine-over-feminine rule.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":2" /> For a significant portion of Old French history, proximity agreement was the most prevalent method for agreeing adjectives, past participles, etc. (cf. Anglade 1931:172).<ref>Anglade, J. (1931): ''Grammaire élémentaire de l'ancien français''. Paris: Armand Colin, 157–196.</ref> Today, this agreement could facilitate gender equality in grammar instead of the masculine-over-feminine hierarchy that was suggested in the 17th and 18th century by French grammarians such as Malherbe, Vaugelas, Bouhours and Beauzée:<blockquote>« Le genre masculin, étant le plus noble, doit prédominer toutes les fois que le masculin et le féminin se trouvent ensemble. » (Claude Favre de Vaugelas, ''Remarques sur la langue français''e, 1647).<ref name=":1" />
Up until the 18th century, the masculine gender did not always take precedence over the feminine in instances where the genders could theoretically be congruent: proximity<ref>EPFL (2023): ''L’accord de proximité''. Online at:https://www.epfl.ch/about/equality/fr/langage-inclusif/guide/principes/accord/ (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> and free-choice agreement coexisted alongside the masculine-over-feminine rule.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":2" /> For a significant portion of Old French history, [[wikipedia:Agreement_(linguistics)|proximity agreement]] was the most prevalent method for agreeing adjectives, past participles, etc. (cf. Anglade 1931:172).<ref>Anglade, J. (1931): ''Grammaire élémentaire de l'ancien français''. Paris: Armand Colin, 157–196.</ref> Today, this agreement could facilitate gender equality in grammar instead of the masculine-over-feminine hierarchy that was suggested in the 17th and 18th century by French grammarians such as Malherbe, Vaugelas, Bouhours and Beauzée:<blockquote>« Le genre masculin, étant le plus noble, doit prédominer toutes les fois que le masculin et le féminin se trouvent ensemble. » (Claude Favre de Vaugelas, ''Remarques sur la langue français''e, 1647).<ref name=":1" />


« Lorsque les deux genres se rencontrent, il faut que le plus noble l’emporte. » (Bouhours 1675).<ref name=":3" />
« Lorsque les deux genres se rencontrent, il faut que le plus noble l’emporte. » (Bouhours 1675).<ref name=":3" />
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==Neologisms==
==Neologisms==
The most commonly used form in the neologisms tables is marked by italics.


===Personal pronouns===
===[[wikipedia:Personal_pronoun|Personal pronouns]]===
Regarding its [[wikipedia:Pronoun|pronouns]], French only distinguishes gender in the third-person (e.g.: 'elle', 'la', 'eux', etc.).


====Subject pronouns====
====[[wikipedia:Subject_pronoun|Subject pronouns]]====
French only distinguishes gender in the third-person singular (cf. 'elle' and 'il'). Up until the 12th century, French knew the neutral subject pronoun 'el'/'al'.<ref>Marchello-Nizia, C. (1989): Le neutre et l’impersonnel. In: ''Linx'' ''21'', 173–179. 10.3406/linx.1989.1139.</ref> Today, 'el' cannot be reintroduced from Old French as it would sound identical to 'elle', the current feminin subject pronoun. As for 'al', it sounds like 'elle' in spoken Canadian French.<ref name=":5">Ashley, F. (2019): Les personnes non-binaires en français : une perspective concernée et militante. In: ''H-France Salon'' ''11''(14).</ref> It could, however, still be a viable option for the rest of the Francophone community.<ref name=":13">Alpheratz (2018): ''Genre neutre.TABLEAUX RÉCAPITULATIFS de mots de genre neutre (extraits)''. Online at: https://www.alpheratz.fr/linguistique/genre-neutre/ (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> Nowadays, according to the ''Guide de rédaction inclusive'' (2021:14) from the Laval University,<ref name=":11">Université Laval (2021): ''Guide de rédaction inclusive''. Online at: https://www.ulaval.ca/sites/default/files/EDI/Guide_redaction_inclusive_DC_UL.pdf (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> the ''Guide de grammaire neutre et inclusive'' (2021:5) from Divergenres,<ref name=":0" /> the ''Petit dico de français neutre/inclusif'' (2018) from La vie en Queer,<ref name=":6">La vie en Queer (2018): ''Petit dico de français neutre/inclusif''. Online at: https://lavieenqueer.wordpress.com/2018/07/26/petit-dico-de-francais-neutre-inclusif/ (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref>  and Wiki Trans (2019),<ref name=":7">Wiki Trans (2019): ''Comment parler d'une personne non binaire ?'' Online at: https://wikitrans.co/2019/12/25/comment-parler-dune-personne-non-binaire/ (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> the most widely adopted subject (neo)pronoun is 'iel'. It was added to the prestigious dictionary ''Le Robert'' in 2021.<ref>Radio Télévision Suisse (2021): ''L'entrée du pronom "iel" dans Le Robert provoque des remous''. Online at: https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/12651159-lentree-du-pronom-iel-dans-le-robert-provoque-des-remous.html (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> Alongside 'iel', Canadian French also uses 'ille'.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> In metropolitan France, the pronoun 'al', proposed by linguist Alpheratz in their book ''Grammaire du français inclusif'' (2018), has gained some recognition. The table below presents the primary gender-neutral subject pronouns found in the French-speaking world.
Up until the 12th century, French knew the neutral subject pronoun 'el'/'al'.<ref>Marchello-Nizia, C. (1989): Le neutre et l’impersonnel. In: ''Linx'' ''21'', 173–179. 10.3406/linx.1989.1139.</ref> Today, 'el' cannot be reintroduced from Old French as it would sound identical to 'elle', the current feminin subject pronoun. As for 'al', it sounds like 'elle' in spoken Canadian French.<ref name=":5">Ashley, F. (2019): Les personnes non-binaires en français : une perspective concernée et militante. In: ''H-France Salon'' ''11''(14).</ref> It could, however, still be a viable option for the rest of the Francophone community.<ref name=":13">Alpheratz (2018): ''Genre neutre.TABLEAUX RÉCAPITULATIFS de mots de genre neutre (extraits)''. Online at: https://www.alpheratz.fr/linguistique/genre-neutre/ (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> Nowadays, according to the ''Guide de rédaction inclusive'' (2021:14) from the Laval University,<ref name=":11">Université Laval (2021): ''Guide de rédaction inclusive''. Online at: https://www.ulaval.ca/sites/default/files/EDI/Guide_redaction_inclusive_DC_UL.pdf (retrieved 12.12.2023).</ref> the ''Guide de grammaire neutre et inclusive'' (2021:5) from Divergenres,<ref name=":0" /> the ''Petit dico de français neutre/inclusif'' (2018) from La vie en Queer,<ref name=":6">La vie en Queer (2018): ''Petit dico de français neutre/inclusif''. Online at: https://lavieenqueer.wordpress.com/2018/07/26/petit-dico-de-francais-neutre-inclusif/ (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref>  and Wiki Trans (2019),<ref name=":7">Wiki Trans (2019): ''Comment parler d'une personne non binaire ?'' Online at: https://wikitrans.co/2019/12/25/comment-parler-dune-personne-non-binaire/ (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> the most widely adopted subject (neo)pronoun is 'iel(le)'. It was added to the prestigious dictionary ''Le Robert'' in 2021.<ref>Radio Télévision Suisse (2021): ''L'entrée du pronom "iel" dans Le Robert provoque des remous''. Online at: https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/12651159-lentree-du-pronom-iel-dans-le-robert-provoque-des-remous.html (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> Alongside 'iel(le)', Canadian French also seems to use 'ille'.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> In metropolitan France, the pronoun 'al', proposed by linguist Alpheratz in their book ''Grammaire du français inclusif'' (2018), has gained some recognition. The table below presents the primary gender-neutral subject pronouns found in the French-speaking world.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|+
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|-
|-
!Dominant usage
!Dominant usage
|iel <small>[jɛl]</small>
|''iel''(le) <small>[jɛl]</small>
|ille <small>[ij]</small><ref name=":5" />
|ille <small>[ij]</small><ref name=":5" />
| al  
| al  
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|}
|}


====Clitic and tonic pronouns====
====[[wikipedia:Object_pronoun|Object pronouns]]: [[wikipedia:Clitic|clitics]] and [[wikipedia:Disjunctive_pronoun|tonic pronouns]]====
French distinguishes between clitic and tonic pronouns. A clitic is a word that attaches in a syntactically rigid way to another word to form a prosodic unit with it, lacking prosodic as well as distributional autonomy.<ref name=":8">Michel, L./Levet, D. (2017): ''La catégorie de la personne''. Saint-Denis: MSH Paris Nord. Online at: https://web.ac-reims.fr/casnav/enfants_nouv_arrives/aide_a_la_scolarisation/LGIDF/LGIDF.LA%20PERSONNE.02.03.17.pdf (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> Currently, there is no prevailing gender-neutral clitic direct object personal pronoun; the most common ones are detailed below.
French distinguishes between clitic and tonic object pronouns. A clitic is a word that attaches in a syntactically rigid way to another word to form a prosodic unit with it, lacking prosodic as well as distributional autonomy.<ref name=":8">Michel, L./Levet, D. (2017): ''La catégorie de la personne''. Saint-Denis: MSH Paris Nord. Online at: https://web.ac-reims.fr/casnav/enfants_nouv_arrives/aide_a_la_scolarisation/LGIDF/LGIDF.LA%20PERSONNE.02.03.17.pdf (retrieved 15.12.2023).</ref> Currently, there is no prevailing gender-neutral clitic direct object personal pronoun; the most common ones are detailed below.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Clitic pronouns
|+Clitic pronouns
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|-
|-
|<u>iel</u>
|<u>iel</u>
|<u>lae</u> <small>[lae]</small><u>/lo/lan/</u><ref>Wiki LGBTQIA FR (2021): ''Al/lan''. Online at: https://lgbtqia.fandom.com/fr/wiki/Al/lan (retrieved 11.01.2024).</ref><u>li/lu/lia, (l')</u>
|
* <u>''lae''</u> <small>[lae]</small>
* lea <small>[ləa]</small>
* <u>lo</u>
* <u>lan</u><ref>Wiki LGBTQIA FR (2021): ''Al/lan''. Online at: https://lgbtqia.fandom.com/fr/wiki/Al/lan (retrieved 11.01.2024).</ref>
* <u>li</u>
* <u>lu</u>
* <u>lia</u>
* <u>l'</u> <small>(standard French clitic used when the direct object precedes words that start with a vowel)</small>
|<u>lui</u>
|<u>lui</u>
|-
|-
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Tonic pronouns are also called 'autonomous' because, in opposition to clitics, they form their own prosodic unit and can stand alone in the sentence, hence their distribution is not as fixed as the clitics' one.<ref name=":8" /> There are currently two competing systems:<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" /><ref>Spencer-Hall, A./Gutt, B. (eds)(2021): ''Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography''. Amsterdam University Press. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv1ks0cj4.
Tonic pronouns are also called 'autonomous' because, in opposition to clitics, they form their own prosodic unit and can stand alone in the sentence, hence their distribution is not as fixed as the clitics' one.<ref name=":8" /> There are currently two competing systems:<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" /><ref>Spencer-Hall, A./Gutt, B. (eds)(2021): ''Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography''. Amsterdam University Press. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv1ks0cj4.


French cultural and linguistic translation from Maillet C. online at: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/88291459/Maillet_Trad_Terminologie_20pour_20les_20e_3Ftudes_20trans_20et_20non_20binaire_2021-libre.pdf?1657042694=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DTerminologie_pour_les_etudes_trans_et_no.pdf&Expires=1704980549&Signature=aHUqRbpWbQ8K1jtiqQoQV6cgYM~YTcaZmgDhb8U2KTMDILHd8PhO9peeR0SLWNPOlX5RCo1E7aQcCdQzxBeyKmzPDgp9QbYArmWmHSmtOH-QZRUvrjeFeEZSp6qzmIGyZD3ebRNlOH5aMrJViI1eQ32o53Bw2ghAge~D9upEEx~KXPQe9FIUArfFQo0ylInGK9jqh-OM60Qz2pXRc8llTJ3ovtnVPiL2cu2l1mcfBODJyb~IZZZ1MPczrVu-79y1RjeMr8f5BGtMbRD5nv8jtmLex6vWmIl1svtYZTpOaFPy8LwWBa70VogboWPqfAoOL1~CDZPuhlGuDmDErNknDA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (retrieved 11.01.2024).</ref> one consists in syncretizing (cf. analogical levelling)<ref name=":9">Campbell, L. (1998): ''Historical Linguistics. An Introduction''. First ed. Cambridge/Massachusetts: The MIT Press.</ref> clitic and tonic pronouns, following the paradigm of standard French 'elle', which equates keeping the gender-neutral subject pronoun — be it 'iel', 'ille', 'al' or 'ol', etc. — as such; the other approach, exemplified in the table below with 'iel', supports differentiating (cf. analogical extension)<ref name=":9" /> clitics from tonic pronouns, thereby aligning with the paradigm of 'il'.
French cultural and linguistic translation from Maillet C. online at: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/88291459/Maillet_Trad_Terminologie_20pour_20les_20e_3Ftudes_20trans_20et_20non_20binaire_2021-libre.pdf?1657042694=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DTerminologie_pour_les_etudes_trans_et_no.pdf&Expires=1704980549&Signature=aHUqRbpWbQ8K1jtiqQoQV6cgYM~YTcaZmgDhb8U2KTMDILHd8PhO9peeR0SLWNPOlX5RCo1E7aQcCdQzxBeyKmzPDgp9QbYArmWmHSmtOH-QZRUvrjeFeEZSp6qzmIGyZD3ebRNlOH5aMrJViI1eQ32o53Bw2ghAge~D9upEEx~KXPQe9FIUArfFQo0ylInGK9jqh-OM60Qz2pXRc8llTJ3ovtnVPiL2cu2l1mcfBODJyb~IZZZ1MPczrVu-79y1RjeMr8f5BGtMbRD5nv8jtmLex6vWmIl1svtYZTpOaFPy8LwWBa70VogboWPqfAoOL1~CDZPuhlGuDmDErNknDA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (retrieved 11.01.2024).</ref> one consists in [[wikipedia:Syncretism_(linguistics)|syncretizing]] (cf. [[wikipedia:Morphological_leveling|analogical levelling]])<ref name=":9">Campbell, L. (1998): ''Historical Linguistics. An Introduction''. First ed. Cambridge/Massachusetts: The MIT Press.</ref> clitic and tonic pronouns, following the paradigm of standard French 'elle', which equates keeping the gender-neutral subject pronoun — be it 'iel', 'ille', 'al' or 'ol', etc. — as such; the other approach, exemplified in the table below with 'iel', supports differentiating (cf. analogical extension)<ref name=":9" /> clitics from tonic pronouns, thereby aligning with the paradigm of 'il'.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Analogical extension
|+Analogical extension
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|elle
|elle
|-
|-
|<u>iel</u>
|<u>'''iel'''</u>
|<u>ellui</u> <small>[ɛllɥi]</small>
|'''<u>''ellui''</u> <small>[ɛllɥi]</small>'''
|-
|-
| ils
| ils
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|elles
|elles
|-
|-
|<u>iels</u>
|<u>'''iels'''</u>
|<u>elleux</u> <small>[ɛllø]</small>
|'''<u>''elleux''</u> <small>[ɛllø]</small>'''
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Analogical levelling
!Clitic subject pronoun
!Tonic pronoun
|-
|il
|lui
|-
|elle
|elle
|-
|<u>'''iel'''</u>
|'''<u>iel</u>(le) <small>[jɛl]</small>'''
|-
|ils
|eux
|-
|elles
|elles
|-
|<u>'''iels'''</u>
|'''<u>iels(/ielles)</u> <small>[jɛl]</small>'''
|}
|}


Line 186: Line 220:


====Indefinite and definite article====
====Indefinite and definite article====
The distinction between 'analytic gender-neutral' ''versus'' 'synthetic gender-neutral' is usually referred to as 'inclusif' ''versus'' 'neutre'.<ref name=":0" /> Compounds — such as 'maon', from 'ma' and 'mon' — and portmanteau words, like 'utilisateurice', could be cognitively interpreted as neutral; at least, there have been no psycholinguistic studies disconfirming this, to the extent that these forms could technically also be called neutral. Furthermore, since gender-neutral forms are inherently inclusive of all genders, there is no reason why they cannot be called that way either. The subsequent interchangeability of these terms makes them unsuitable for differentiating these two methods of creating gender-neutral/gender inclusive words in French. 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.
In the context of gender-inclusive language in French, the distinction between compounds that blend or concatenate gender-marked agentive suffixes (e.g.: 'direct<u>eur</u>'''ice'''<nowiki/>') ''versus'' lexical (e.g.: 'sœur' and 'frère' → 'adelphe') and morphological substitutions (→ cognitive view)/derivations (→ structural view) ('direct<u>aire</u>') are usually referred to as 'inclusif' ''versus'' 'neutre' in queer-positive communities, because the concatenation of gender-marked agentive suffixes adds the missing gender i.e. sexus [[wikipedia:Sememe|sememe]] to the given [[wikipedia:English_nouns|personal noun]], turning it from a single-gender personal noun to a dual-gender masculine/feminine personal noun.<ref name=":0" /> However, since compounds — such as 'maon', from 'ma' and 'mon' — and portmanteau words, like 'utilisateurice', could theoretically be cognitively interpreted as neutral; at least, there have been no psycholinguistic studies disconfirming this yet (probably because the use of these neologisms is too peripheral), to the extent that these forms could technically also be called neutral. Furthermore, since the so called 'neutre' forms are inherently inclusive of all genders, there is no reason why they cannot be called that way either. The subsequent pragmatic interchangeability of these terms makes them unsuitable for differentiating these two methods of creating gender-neutral/gender inclusive words in French. 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'''.


The currently most widely accepted neutral forms are denoted in italics in the table. Apart from them, most of the forms depicted in the tables are not in use. The tables thus merely represent suggestions that have been made for degendering French, and feature the items that have been retained by most blogs, researchers and LGBT communities in the French-speaking world.
The currently most widely accepted neutral forms are denoted in italics in the table. Apart from them, most of the forms depicted in the tables are not in use. The tables thus merely represent suggestions that have been made for degendering French, and feature the items that have been retained by most blogs, researchers and LGBT communities in the French-speaking world.
Line 214: Line 248:


A drawback of 'an' pronounced as [ɑ̃] is its nasality, a factor known for making vowels challenging to distinguish and learn, even for native French speakers.<ref>Sicard, E./Menin-Sicard, A./Rousteau, G. (2022): ''Oppositions de voyelles orales et nasales : identification des formants selon le genre''. INSA Toulouse: ffhal-03826558v2f.</ref> Consequently, [ɑ̃] might be perceived as a mispronunciation of 'un' or simply not distinct enough from 'un' to be recognized as a different morpheme.
A drawback of 'an' pronounced as [ɑ̃] is its nasality, a factor known for making vowels challenging to distinguish and learn, even for native French speakers.<ref>Sicard, E./Menin-Sicard, A./Rousteau, G. (2022): ''Oppositions de voyelles orales et nasales : identification des formants selon le genre''. INSA Toulouse: ffhal-03826558v2f.</ref> Consequently, [ɑ̃] might be perceived as a mispronunciation of 'un' or simply not distinct enough from 'un' to be recognized as a different morpheme.
Accordingly, regarding the morphing resp. non-morphing of the definite article with the prepositions 'de' and 'à', we'd have 'à lae' and 'de lae'.
====Possessive adjectives ====
====Possessive adjectives ====
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
Line 258: Line 295:
|ces
|ces
|}
|}
La vie en Queer proposes 'cet', which sounds the same as the feminine 'cette'; Divergenres retains 'cèx', but notes that it sounds like the word 'sexe'. A third possibility is to voice or to devoice the final consonant of the feminine word, for instance turning [t] to [d], or [g] to [k]. This would allow the word to remain easily recognizable while being distinct from both the masculine and  the feminine forms. This approach has the advantage of minimizing misunderstandings and memorization effort.
La vie en Queer proposes 'cet', which sounds the same as the feminine 'cette'; Divergenres retains 'cèx', but notes that it sounds like the word 'sexe'. A third possibility would be to voice resp. to devoice the final consonant of the feminine word, for instance turning [t] to [d], or [g] to [k]. This would allow the word to remain easily recognizable while being distinct from both the masculine and  the feminine forms. This approach would be advantageous in regards to minimizing misunderstandings and memorization effort.


===Non personal pronouns===
===Non personal pronouns===
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|celle <small>[s<u>ɛl</u>]</small>
|celle <small>[s<u>ɛl</u>]</small>
|''cellui'' <small>[s<u>ɛl</u><u>ɥi</u>]</small>
|''cellui'' <small>[s<u>ɛl</u><u>ɥi</u>]</small>
|
|ciel <small>[sjεl]</small>
|-
|-
!Plural
!Plural
Line 303: Line 340:
|celles <small>[s<u>ɛl</u>]</small>
|celles <small>[s<u>ɛl</u>]</small>
|''celleux''  <small>[s<u>ɛl</u><u>ø</u>]</small>
|''celleux''  <small>[s<u>ɛl</u><u>ø</u>]</small>
|ceuxes <small>[søks]</small>
|ciels <small>[sjεl]</small>, ceuxes <small>[søks]</small>
|}
|}


Line 343: Line 380:
|toutes
|toutes
|''toustes''
|''toustes''
|
|touds
|-
|-
!quelqu'un·e
!quelqu'un·e
Line 351: Line 388:
|quelqu'an <small>[kɛlkɑ̃]/[kɛlkan]</small>
|quelqu'an <small>[kɛlkɑ̃]/[kɛlkan]</small>
|}
|}
The indefinite pronoun 'quelqu'une' is extremely rare in modern French and its pendant 'quelqu'un' not necessarily perceived as masculine,<ref>Liam (2023): Coming out day. 11.10.2023. Mon vécu de coming out. In: ''ekivock.nb'' (Instagram account). Online at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyP-j_Tobbj/?img_index=3.</ref> thus it is not clear how essential the degendering of this pronoun is.  
The indefinite pronoun 'quelqu'une' is extremely rare in modern French and its pendant 'quelqu'un' does not seem to be perceived as masculine by native French speakers,<ref>Liam (2023): Coming out day. 11.10.2023. Mon vécu de coming out. In: ''ekivock.nb'' (Instagram account). Online at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyP-j_Tobbj/?img_index=3.</ref> thus it is not clear how essential the degendering of this pronoun is.  


===Nouns and adjectives ===
===Nouns and adjectives ===
Line 419: Line 456:
|amoureuseux
|amoureuseux
|amoureuxe [amuʁøks]
|amoureuxe [amuʁøks]
amoureusse
amouré·e
amouré·e
|-
|-
Line 424: Line 462:
|dieu
|dieu
|déesse
|déesse
|dieuesse
|dieuesse, dieusse
|dieuxe
|dieuxe
|}
|}
Line 504: Line 542:
|mignon <small>[miɲ<u>õ</u>]</small>
|mignon <small>[miɲ<u>õ</u>]</small>
|mignonne <small>[miɲɔ<u>n</u>]</small>
|mignonne <small>[miɲɔ<u>n</u>]</small>
|migneune [miɲœn]
|mignonn <small>[miɲ<u>õn</u>]</small>
|mignaine, ''mignan'' <small>[miɲɑ̃]/[miɲan]</small>
|mignaine, ''mignan'' <small>[miɲɑ̃]/[miɲan]</small>
|}
|}
The '-aine' suffix has gained popularity. However, its use in monosyllabic words like 'brun·e' may hinder comprehension, which could explain why 'bran', a form that preserves the nasality of the final vowel while only changing its place of articulation, is more widespread. Words with a '-ien/-ienne' (and obviously also '-ain/-aine') suffix cannot form a synthetic gender-neutral form with '-aine', as this would result in a word pronounced exactly the same way as the feminine one (cf. 'citoyenne'). Here, the synthetical neutral forms created with '-an' only retain masculine phonetic traits (i. e. its manner of articulation — vocalic — and its nasality trait — which is positive). Theoretically, this could lead to similar issues as discussed in the Endings from Latin '-or' and '-rix' subchapter. The same could be true with synthetic gender-neutral forms ending in '-aine', but this time in favour of the feminine. However, even though the suffix '-aine' could sound feminine, the resulting form is still easily distinguishable from the original one, since the vowels implied are oral and not nasal, and can therefore be less easily mistaken for mispronunciations — while 'écrivan', 'citoyan' and 'bran' could be (for more information, see the Indefinite and definite article subchapter).
The '-aine' suffix has gained popularity. However, its use in monosyllabic words like 'brun·e' may hinder comprehension, which could explain why 'bran', a form that preserves the nasality of the final vowel while only changing its place of articulation, is more widespread. Words with a '-ien/-ienne' (and obviously also '-ain/-aine') suffix cannot form a synthetic gender-neutral form with '-aine', as this would result in a word pronounced exactly the same way as the feminine one (cf. 'citoyenne'). Here, the synthetical neutral forms created with '-an' only retain masculine phonetic traits (i. e. its manner of articulation — vocalic — and its nasality trait — which is positive). Theoretically, this could lead to similar issues as discussed in the Endings from Latin '-or' and '-rix' subchapter. The same could be true with synthetic gender-neutral forms ending in '-aine', but this time in favour of the feminine. However, even though the suffix '-aine' could sound feminine, the resulting form is still easily distinguishable from the original one, since the vowels implied are oral and not nasal, and can therefore be less easily mistaken for mispronunciations — while 'écrivan', 'citoyan' and 'bran' could be (for more information, see the Indefinite and definite article subchapter).
The use of "-iste" is always genderneutral, like "feministe".


====Endings with silent consonant X in the masculine and audible consonant X in the feminine====
====Endings with silent consonant X in the masculine and audible consonant X in the feminine====
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Endings with silent (♂︎) and audible consonant (♀︎)
|+Endings with silent (♂︎) and audible (♀︎) consonant
!
!
!Masculine  
!Masculine  
Line 529: Line 569:
|
|
|grante, granxe, gransse
|grante, granxe, gransse
|-
!-al/ale
|principal
|principale
|
|principèl, principalx, principalz
|-
|-
!-iet/iète
!-iet/iète
Line 542: Line 588:
|oblonk
|oblonk
|-
|-
!-er/-ière  
!-ier/-ière  
|premier <small>[pʁəmj<u>e</u>]</small>
|premier <small>[pʁəmj<u>e</u>]</small>
|première <small>[pʁəmjɛ<u>ʁ</u>]</small>
|première <small>[pʁəmjɛ<u>ʁ</u>]</small>
Line 660: Line 706:
|Monestre
|Monestre
|}
|}
==Illustrative narrative text with neologisms==
Neologisms from different paradigms and approaches are depicted here.
''"Lae maîtrè accueillent les enfants et leur demande de prendre place. La leçon du jour concerne les métiers. L’instituteurice interroge les élèves sur leurs souhaits professionnels et les professions exercées par les membres de leur famille. Eune élève dans la deuxième rangée prend la parole :''
*Plus tard, j’aimerais travailler en tant qu’infirmiér ou chirurgian, parce que mi frœur aîné·e, Amel, est eune brillande médecin à l’hôpital de Lyon et que je l’admire beaucoup. Malheureusement, al est très occupé·e en ce moment et je ne peux lo voir et passer du temps avec ael que le week-end.
''An autre élève réagit :''
*Quand j’étais à l’hôpital parce qu’il y avait un problème avec mon glucomètre, li docteuresse qui s’est occupé·e de moi m’a dit qu’iel s’appelait Amel ! Est-ce que ton adelphe est rouxe, par hasard ?
*Non, al est pas rouxe, mais al se teint régulièrement les cheveux avec du henné !
*Alors je suis sur·e que c'était tan frœur ! Moi, quand je serai grante, j’aimerais m’occuper aussi bien des autres que le fait Amel. J’aimerais devenir éducataire spécialisé·e.
*Moi aussi j’adore aider les autres ! Souvent, le matin, j’aide mi jumal à s’habiller, à préparer sa récré et à mettre ses chaussures, parce qu’iel a un chromosome de plus que moi alors certaines choses sont moins faciles pour ellui. Je me montre toujours patiende et douxe parce qu’iel fait pas ça exprès ! J’écrirai des livres sur ce dont les personnes qui réfléchissent différemment ont besoin et je découvrirai pourquoi elles pensent comme ça : du coup, quand je serai vieuille, je serai écrivan-chercheureuse.
*Comment ça, quand tu seras vieilleux ? Tu crois que tu vas commencer à travailler quand ?
*Je sais pas, quand je serai adulte, quand je serai vieuille, quoi.
* Ce que tu es mignan de penser que je suis vieilleux, moi, merci bien.
*(ricanements)
*Moi, je suis un peu inquiède parce que je ne sais pas ce que je voudrais faire plus tard.
* Peut-être tes camarades peuvent te donner des idées.
*Je peux te raconter ce que fait mo grante cousaine, Anh : comme al adore les animaux, al est devenu·e paysaine, comme ça al peut les caresser tous les jours !
* Mi voisaine, à moi, iel est enseignande de Yoruba, et parfois iel donne même des cours à domicile.
*Mais, je lae connais, tan voisan André·e, al est kazakhstanaisse, ses langues maternelles, c'est le russe et le kazakh, al peut pas enseigner le Yoruba.
*Bien sûr qu’iel peut ! Tu as pas besoin d’avoir une nationalité spécifique pour savoir une langue ! La preuve, moi je suis allemante et italian, mais je parle que français.
*On a discuté de beaucoup de métiers dans le monde du social. Est-ce que vous connaissez des gens dans des domaines plus techniques ?
*Oui, mi paman, par exemple, al travaille en tant qu’ingénieureuse de logiciel. Parfois, al est de piquet et, ces soirs-là, quand quelque chose tombe en panne, al devient toude blank et se précipite sur son ordinateur pour réparer le problème. Mapa dit toujours que je dois pas rire de Paman, dans ces moments, mais j’arrive pas à me retenir, la tête qu’al fait est trop drôle.
*Et to mapa, iel fait quoi ?
*Ellui, iel est politician : iel vérifie que vous continuez à toustes vous comporter en bans citoyans !
*Tu es bien naïfive si tu penses qu’en général on se comporte en bans citoyans !
*Moi, j'ai pas pu parler encore.
*Vas-y, Ariel·le, on t'écoute.
*Mi tancle, iel est champian de para hockey.
*C'est pas un métier, ça, le sport.
*Oh que si ! Iel s'entraîne dur tous les jours, d'ailleurs sine entraîneureuse est très fier·e d'ellui parce qu'iel est an capitan si engagé·e que son équipe est régulièrement sélectionnée pour les Jeux Paralympiques. Moi, plus tard, j'aimerais aussi être eune sportifive de haut niveau, comme iel.
*Bien, sur ce, je vous propose à toustes d'aller enfiler vos affaires de sport : on se retrouve dans la salle de gymnastique pour une partie de unihockey.
''Les élèves :''
*Yes, merci Ariel·le !"


==Discussion==
==Discussion==
Cmaass
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edits

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