Two little vowels and a consonant: how three letters in “Le Robert” are roiling French speakers<\/p>\n
Hi there, everyone, it’s Jeff, and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. This is lesson 429, and JR has uploaded the full lesson to PlainEnglish.com\/429.<\/p>\n
Coming up today: “iel,” not from the mountaintops, but from the dictionary. “iel” is a new gender-neutral pronoun in French, according to<\/a> Le Petit Robert, and not everyone is happy about it. Like always, we have an English expression. It’s a phrasal verb today, “point out.” <\/p>\n “Le Petit Robert” is a prominent dictionary in France, used as an academic reference and considered one of the highest authorities on the language. Like all dictionaries, Le Petit Robert includes new words each year. The new words could be technical or scientific terms, they could describe new social trends that develop, or they could simply be terms popularized on social media.<\/p>\n This year, however, the famous French dictionary included a new pronoun in its online edition: “iel,” spelled “i-e-l” and pronounced like “yell” in English. It’s a mash-up of the masculine pronoun for he, which is “il,\u201d and the feminine pronoun for she, which is “elle.” So, if you combine “il” and “elle,” you get “iel.”<\/p>\n Le Petit Robert defines “iel” as “a third-person subject pronoun in the singular and plural used to evoke a person of any gender.” In other words, if you don’t want to specify the gender of the person or people you’re talking about, you can use “iel” instead of the masculine “il,” feminine “elle,” or their plural forms.<\/p>\n The term “iel” is already used among younger people on social media and in conversation. However, traditionalists fiercely object to the new term; among the people upset about the change are the French education minister and the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, who was once a teacher herself.<\/p>\n France 24 interviewed people on both sides of the issue. On one side of the issue, they interviewed some students who said that “iel” can be more inclusive. Some individuals prefer to be referred to as “iel” rather than “il” or “elle.” <\/p>\n In French, it’s typical to refer to groups of people as “ils,” the masculine term, when mixed genders are present or when you don’t know. Even if<\/a> there are nine French women and one French man in a group, you’d still use “ils,” the masculine plural pronoun, to describe the group. Some people consider “iel” a more inclusive or respectful way to refer to groups of mixed genders.<\/p>\n On the other side of the issue, traditionalists think that “iel” interrupts the flow of the language and is unnecessary. French is already a very gendered language; all objects, not just people, are masculine or feminine. By removing gender from a personal pronoun, the dictionary breaks with one of the fundamental parts of the French language.<\/p>\n “Iel” follows another idea designed to make French less gendered. In “gender-inclusive” language, you make adjectives that refer to mixed genders agree with both the adjective\u2019s masculine and feminine forms. For example, a mixed-gender group of French citizens would be called “citoyens,” which agrees with the masculine “ils.” But “gender-neutral” language would call them “citoyen\u00b7es”, with the masculine base and feminine ending separated by a raised dot. Jean-Michel Blanquet, the education minister, banned this type of writing in French schools.<\/p>\n Arguments over new words are often about more than just language, and so it is in France will “iel”. The traditionalists believe that “iel” is a symptom of American-style identity politics known as “wokeism” or, “le wokeisme.” France has traditionally seen itself as a colorblind society, where citizens put the ideals of “liberty, equality and fraternity” above individual identities like race and religion. In France, for example, the government does not even collect statistics based on race.<\/p>\n In America, however, personal identities along the lines of gender, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and more are very prominent. These individual identities, it must be said, cause a lot of cultural conflict that many in France would prefer not to import.<\/p>\n So, when Le Petit Robert included “iel,” many traditionalists saw it not only as an affront to the language but an attack on the French identity. There is also an election coming up in 2022, in which the current president is expected to face off against an opponent that will appeal strongly to French national identity. So at least among public officials, there is probably a little bit of political posturing ahead of<\/a> the next election, too.<\/p>\n What, however, did the dictionary writers say about this? They responded by saying that a dictionary is not the authority on what should be used in a language but a reference tool about what is used in a language. And as observers, they said that while “iel” is not very common, it’s used regularly enough to warrant inclusion in the dictionary.<\/p>\n If someone reads the word “iel” and wants to know what it means, that person should be able to look up the word in the dictionary and understand its meaning. What’s more<\/a> , Le Petit Robert pointed out<\/a> that nobody is required to use all the words in the dictionary. After all<\/a> , many words in a dictionary are used infrequently. And after seeing the definition, readers can either adopt it or reject it, but at least they’d know what it means. <\/p>\n The Acad\u00e9mie Fran\u00e7aise (feminine) is the official arbiter of what is correct in French. The academy is made up of 40 people, all with lifetime appointments. The members are called\u2014this is not a joke\u2014”immortals.” This gives you an idea of how seriously the French take their language!<\/p>\nA controversial new pronoun in the French dictionary<\/h3>\n
The Immortals will soon speak<\/h3>\n