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Gender neutral language in French: Difference between revisions

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Gender neutral language in French (view source)

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==Neologisms==
==Neologisms==


* '''Subject pronouns:''' French only marks gender on the third person singular ("elle" and "il"). Up to the 12th century, French knew the neutral subject pronoun "el"/"al".<ref>Marchello-Nizia Christiane. Le neutre et l'impersonnel. In: ''Linx'', n°21, 1989. Genre et langage. Actes du colloque tenu à Paris X-Nanterre les 14-15-16 décembre 1988, sous la direction de Eliane Koskas et Danielle Leeman. 173-179. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/linx.1989.1139. Online at: www.persee.fr/doc/linx_0246-8743_1989_num_21_1_1139.</ref> Today, "el" cannot be recuperated from ancient French as it would be pronounced the same as "elle", the current feminin subject pronoun. In Laurentian French (Canada), "al" sounds like "elle" in spoken language.<ref name=":5">Florence Ashley (2019): Les personnes non-binaires en français : une perspective concernée et militante. In: ''H-France Salon'' 11(14), p. 6.</ref> It could, however, be an interesting candidate for the rest of the francophone community.<ref>Alpheratz (2018): Genre neutre.TABLEAUX RÉCAPITULATIFS de mots de genre neutre (extraits). Online at: https://www.alpheratz.fr/linguistique/genre-neutre/.</ref> Nevertheless, today, according to the ''Guide de rédaction inclusive'' (2021:14) from the Laval University,<ref>Université Laval (2021): Guide de rédaction inclusive. Online at: https://www.ulaval.ca/sites/default/files/EDI/Guide_redaction_inclusive_DC_UL.pdf.</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>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/.</ref>  and Wiki Trans (2019),<ref>Wiki Trans (2019): Comment parler d'une personne non binaire ? Online at: https://wikitrans.co/2019/12/25/comment-parler-dune-personne-non-binaire/.</ref> the most widespread subject (neo)pronoun is "iel". It was added 2021 to the grand dictionary Le Robert.<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.</ref> Next to "iel" Laurentian French also uses "ille".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> In metropolitan France, the "al" pronoun suggested by the linguist Alpheratz in their book ''Grammaire du français inclusif'' (2018) has gained some recognition. The following table presents the main gender neutral subject pronouns found in the French-speaking world.
* '''Subject pronouns:''' French only marks gender on the third person singular ("elle" and "il"). Up to the 12th century, French knew the neutral subject pronoun "el"/"al".<ref>Marchello-Nizia Christiane. Le neutre et l'impersonnel. In: ''Linx'', n°21, 1989. Genre et langage. Actes du colloque tenu à Paris X-Nanterre les 14-15-16 décembre 1988, sous la direction de Eliane Koskas et Danielle Leeman. 173-179. DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/linx.1989.1139. Online at: www.persee.fr/doc/linx_0246-8743_1989_num_21_1_1139.</ref> Today, "el" cannot be recuperated from ancient French as it would be pronounced the same as "elle", the current feminin subject pronoun. In Laurentian French (Canada), "al" sounds like "elle" in spoken language.<ref name=":5">Florence Ashley (2019): Les personnes non-binaires en français : une perspective concernée et militante. In: ''H-France Salon'' 11(14), p. 6.</ref> It could, however, be an interesting candidate for the rest of the francophone community.<ref>Alpheratz (2018): Genre neutre.TABLEAUX RÉCAPITULATIFS de mots de genre neutre (extraits). Online at: https://www.alpheratz.fr/linguistique/genre-neutre/.</ref> Nevertheless, today, according to the ''Guide de rédaction inclusive'' (2021:14) from the Laval University,<ref>Université Laval (2021): Guide de rédaction inclusive. Online at: https://www.ulaval.ca/sites/default/files/EDI/Guide_redaction_inclusive_DC_UL.pdf.</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/.</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/.</ref> the most widespread subject (neo)pronoun is "iel". It was added 2021 to the grand dictionary Le Robert.<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.</ref> Next to "iel" Laurentian French also uses "ille".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> In metropolitan France, the "al" pronoun suggested by the linguist Alpheratz in their book ''Grammaire du français inclusif'' (2018) has gained some recognition. The following table presents the main gender neutral subject pronouns found in the French-speaking world.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|+
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|}


* '''Clitic and tonic pronouns:''' French distinguishes between clitic and tonic pronouns. A clitic is a word that attaches to another word to form a prosodic unit with it, lacking independent prosodic autonomy.<ref>Michel Launey, Dominique Levet (2017): ''La catégorie de la personne''. Maison des Sciences des l'Homme 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.</ref> Currently, there is no prevailing gender neutral clitic direct object personal pronoun; the most common ones are detailed below.
* '''Clitic and tonic pronouns:''' French distinguishes between clitic and tonic pronouns. A clitic is a word that attaches to another word to form a prosodic unit with it, lacking prosodic as well as distributional autonomy.<ref name=":8">Michel Launey, Dominique Levet (2017): ''La catégorie de la personne''. Maison des Sciences des l'Homme 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.</ref> Currently, there is no prevailing gender neutral clitic direct object personal pronoun; the most common ones are detailed below.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+Clitics
|+Clitic pronouns
!Subject
!Subject
!Direct object
!Direct object
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|-
|-
|il
|il
|le
|le, (l')
|lui
|lui
|-
|-
|elle
|elle
|la
|la, (l')
|lui
|lui
|-
|-
|<u>iel</u>
|<u>iel</u>
|<u>lae/lo/li/lu</u>
|<u>lae/lo/li/lu, (l')</u>
|<u>lui</u>
|<u>lui</u>
|-
|-
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|<u>les</u>
|<u>les</u>
|<u>leur</u>
|<u>leur</u>
|}
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 isn't as fixed as the clitics' one.<ref name=":8" /> There are currently two competing systems:<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" /> one consists in syncretizing clitic and tonic pronouns (cf. analogical levelling),<ref name=":9">Campbell, Lyle (1998): ''Historical Linguistics. An Introduction''. First ed. Cambridge/Massachusetts: The MIT Press.</ref> 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, supports differentiating clitics (cf. analogical extension)<ref name=":9" /> from tonic pronouns, thereby aligning with the paradigm of "il".
{| class="wikitable"
|+Analogical extension
!clitic subject pronoun
!tonic pronoun
|-
|je
|moi
|-
|tu
|toi
|-
|il
|lui
|-
|elle
|elle
|-
|<u>iel</u>
|<u>ellui</u>
|-
|on
|nous
|-
|nous
|nous
|-
|vous
|vous
|-
|ils
|eux
|-
|elles
|elles
|-
|<u>iels</u>
|<u>elleux</u>
|}
|}


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