French language Gender-neutral he-word ‘iel’ gets French speakers to barricades – Even Brigitte Macron and French Minister of Education knock out equal language reform

What is the French word for the European Year 2021?

The answer is easily “iel”.

In French-speaking Switzerland, “iel” was actually chosen word of the year. In French-speaking Belgium, “iel” is also strongly involved in 2021 in listings.

In France, on the other hand, “iel” has almost made the people rise to the barricades – both for and against.

What is “iel”?

“Street” is a new word that corresponds to the Finnish word “he”. It is not possible to deduce from a gender-neutral pronoun whether one is talking about a man or a woman or both.

The French ‘il’ are the same thing as the Swedish one in the new word “hen”, which was created many years ago to provide an alternative to masculine “han” and feminine “hon”.

The French new pronoun, on the other hand, is a fresh cancellation. A language dispute erupted in November when France woke up to the word “iel” in the authoritative Le Robert dictionary. online version.

“Iel” is a compound word. The masculine form of the word he is in French “il” and the feminine “elle”.

Similar types there have been recent debates and disputes over the sexuality of language in many parts of Europe language communities.

In Germany, in the early 2020s, there has been a particular debate over ‘genderGendersternchen), which takes into account both male and female actors. For example, the word “Schüler * from here” means both schoolboys (Schüler) and girls (Schülerinnen).

Read more: Should women always be taken into account? In Germany, conservative forces already want a stop to the talk of equality

In France, Le Robert’s solution has led to authoritarian struggles, the President’s wife Brigitte Macronia down to.

“There are two pronouns: il and elle, ”Macron said Le Monde magazine by. “The language is so beautiful and two pronouns are good.”

Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer took an absolute position.

“Inclusive writing is not the future of the French language,” Blanquer roared on Twitter. He said he agreed with the LREM MP François Jolivet, who accused Le Robert of the dictionary of “wokism”.

Wokism was a strange choice of words from a defender of the French language in that it was English. “Woke” from the United States means awake or conscious. Critics like Jolivet think “wokism” is a barking word.

There is no concise word for “inclusive” in everyday Finnish. It means participatory or inclusive, that is to say, one that excludes nothing or anyone. In the case of language, one could speak of equal use of language.

Helsinki Associate Professor of French at the University Johanna Isosävi has been following the development of equality in France and Finland for a long time and has also written about it on his blog.

“It’s interesting why‘ iel ’arouses so much opposition in France,” says Isosävi. “The Minister of Education’s reaction was quite strong: that equal use of language is not the future of France.”

In the 21st century, the subject of language debate in France has been professional titles. For example, in 2014, it was not self-evident that the new mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo could be mayor in feminine form.

“He has persevered in wanting to be spoken of as‘ Madame la Maire ’and not‘ Madame Le Maire, ’” says Isosävi.

“La” is a feminine article in French, while “le” is a masculine article.

Anne Hidalgo is still mayor, and hardly anyone questions the feminine form anymore. This has been the case for most professional titles. If a woman is elected president in France next spring, she will certainly be Madame la Présidente.

The discussion on professional titles is also familiar to Finnish speakers. The difference in tone is mainly due to the fact that there is no masculine and feminine in Finland.

Thus, Finnish discussions and disputes concern male-headed titles. There has clearly been or is about to be a change in which, for example, firefighters or supervisors become firefighters or foremen.

French the superiority of masculine forms in language has a long history.

“There’s a 17th-century rule in France that masculine wins,” says Isosävi. “Even if there are a thousand women and one man, you have to bend in the masculine.”

In 1635 the cardinal was founded Richelieun on the initiative of the French Academy, L’Académie française, whose task is to protect the French. For the first centuries, the Academy was exclusively masculine, and it is also evident in language.

Even today, the French Academy is a conservative linguist who has often opposed equal use of language and described it as a “disorder” or even a “danger to life” for the French language.

Academy it does not ultimately decide how French speakers use their language.

“Language users have power, and it has to be,” says Isosävi.

The prevalence of the gender-neutral pronoun “iel” is not a hotbed. In everyday language, there are various problems to solve, such as the fact that adjectives also bend according to gender.

If someone is beautiful but is not addressed as a man or a woman, then is she beautiful in a masculine (“iel est Beau”) or a feminine (“iel est Belle”)?

Case “Iel” is a typical language dispute in that emotions are hot and opposing camps don’t want to give up an inch.

Isosävi mainly considers the speed with which “iel” was included in the prestigious Le Robert dictionary to be exceptional.

“It has amazed French linguists as well.”

Street pronouns is apparently a creation of the 2010s that has started with sexual and gender minorities.

“But it has hit more through the 2020s,” Isosävi says.

A significant Canadian impetus has been given by the Canadian actor Elliot Page, who rose to fame as an actress as Ellen Page. She reported on her transgender gender in December 2020 and stated that in French she prefers the pronouns “il” and “iel”.

It is still too early to talk about the real breakthrough of the new pronoun. Le Robert’s dictionary also uses the adjective ‘rare’ from the word ‘iel’.

“It’s mostly used in some and other digital communications, so far more there,” Isosävi says.

In French In Belgium, “iel” finished second in the Word of the Year public vote.

French Broadcasting Corporation RTBF said on Tuesday that the Belgians chose the civilization word “ultracrépidarianisme” as the winner.

That, too, is strongly time-bound: the word means to offer strong insights into things about which one does not really know anything.

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