Is the Francophone world ready to head for a genderneutral language? French feminists say the sexist nature of their language promotes a sexist worldview, and that a move to a nonsexist version would better women’s status in French society. Given that language prescribes our realm of thought, a notion referred to as linguistic determinism, it is necessary to reform or even degender French so that the francophone world might become part of the inclusive world of the 21st century. Therefore, educating the next generation in a gender inclusive manner would foster concrete positive changes, like more welcoming professional environments for women, and a better reality for non-binary people. French students learn from a young age that “the masculine dominates the feminine”, which means if you have a room full of ten women and one single man, the language says the whole group is masculine. The problem pertaining to gender expression is exacerbated by the fact the French language does not have a grammatical neuter. For instance, many nouns, notably those which refer to professions, do not have feminine versions, which reinforces the problem. Therefore, a male minister is l’écrivain and a female minster is also l’écrivain. Whilst the francophone community attempts to advance into the 21st century, its success is impeded by a language which has not greatly evolved since its adoption as France’s lingua franca in the aftermath of the revolution in the 18th century. The sexism of the French language thereby inscribes itself into a patriarchal culture. However, the rule of the masculine dominating the feminine has not always been in place. According to ‘Les Echos’ (the echoes), « it was born of a political will… almost 400 years ago”. Necessarily then, today, this rule, persists in a conservatism of language, and of the French culture. To rectify these issues, most recommend the creation of feminised versions of professional nouns, and/ or the use of neutral nouns when this is possible. Many also recommend a grammatical tool which consists in adding a median point at the end of masculine nouns, followed by feminine endings, indicating the feminine and masculine of each noun (like musicien·ne·s (musician), which would be read « masculine and feminine musicians »). Some have even recommended the introduction of neologisms to create a neuter pronoun, like iel, or ille [a combination of ‘il’ and ‘elle’], neuter articles, (for example: an for un/une), modification for endings (for example : autaire for auteur/autrice), and portmantua words (for example : frœur, for frère/sœur). To address the concerns of the literature professor Éliane Viennot in the journal Libération : « [Even if you use ‘ iel ’or‘ ille ’] you must choose between ‘iel is happy {masc}’ or ‘iel is happy {fem}’, certain suggest establishing modificating agreements (for instance : heureuxe for heureux/heureuse). Karel Ohana
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