Reader TTS

A style of writing that seeks to make French more gender-neutral and to abolish the rule that ‘the masculine prevails’ has been banned in schools by Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer.

The new style – known as _écriture inclusive_ – suggests that instead of writing, for example, _les lycéens_, to mean both male and female lycée students, you should use_ les lycéen.n.es_, a

combination of masculine and feminine forms separated by a point. The same goes for adjective and verb agreements, for example: _Les français.e.s sont content.e.s_ instead of _les français

sont contents_. Other suggestions include using the feminine to refer to groups where there are more women than men, or using a ‘rule of proximity’, where agreement is made with the word

nearest to the adjective, such as _les hommes_ et _les femmes sont belles_. This was used centuries ago and could be brought back, some suggest. However, Mr Blanquer said ‘inclusive’ writing

made French hard to learn. Professor Sir Michael Edwards, 83, who lives between homes in Burgundy and Paris, sits on the Académie Française. It is France’s oldest, most revered linguistic

body, which among other tasks compiles a dictionary of words that have stood the test of time in good quality written sources. He thinks the minister “is absolutely right”, although “it is a

big question”. “The problem with _écriture inclusive_ in the strict sense, with dots, brackets or hyphens, seems to me foolish. “It makes clumsy a language which everyone has always thought

was rather beautiful. It looks like a kind of eczema on the page and it simply disfigures it. And when you try to read it, it causes a kind of cerebral stammering. “It also seems to me a

form of Maoism: that you should destroy all the past and start over again. But you can’t do that because a language evolves slowly. 'WHAT FOREIGNER WOULD WANT TO LEARN FRENCH IF YOU HAD

TO LEARN THESE RULES?' Sir Michael also dislikes the less extreme, but increasingly common, practice of doubling up masculine and feminine terms. He said it separates men and women

rather than bringing them together. “I’m thinking of things like saying _chacun et chacune_,_ il et elle_, etc. “You are continually interrupting the process of thought to remind people that

there are men and women in the world, whereas the French have always been keen on speaking clearly. “You end up with phrases like: _Chacun et chacune des français et des françaises doit

accomplir son devoir de citoyen ou de citoyenne en votant pour le candidat ou la candidate de son choix_. It’s gibberish. “However, there are moments when talking about men and women makes

sense. “You might say _les Patagoniens_ et _les Patagoniennes font les courses_, to point out the fact that men in that country also do the shopping. “Or, for example, Mr Blanquer said you

should talk about _les candidats et les candidates_ in advertising an exam, to make it clear that both men and women can take part – but once you’ve done that, you don’t need to keep saying

‘_il ou elle_’, etc.” Some grammarians fend off claims that the traditional grammar rules are sexist with arguments that the masculine can be seen as neutral grammatically. 'THE BASIC

PREMISE IS WRONG, THAT THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IS BIASED IN FAVOUR OF MEN' Sir Michael is not convinced. He said they argue that most Latin neuter words became masculine in French, but this

was not systematically the case. In his view, “the basic premise is wrong, that the French language is biased in favour of men”. “My view of the rule that says if there are feminine and

masculine nouns, then the masculine should be used for past participles and adjectives is that it is simply for utility. “It’s got to be one or the other and it happens that it’s the

masculine that’s used. It’s not impossible it could have been the feminine, but it’s not worked out that way.” He added: “If you say _il y avait un homme et dix femmes belles_, you would

take it to mean there was one man and 10 beautiful women, but if you put it in the masculine everyone understands you are including the feminine. Putting it in the feminine would cause

ambiguity.” Sir Michael added that linguistic gender is not always related to the gender of a person. He gave the example of _dans cette salle il y a 500 personnes, toutes barbues_ (in this

room, there are 500 people – a feminine word in French – all with beards). “No man objects to being called _une personne_, and there are many words from the army, such as _une sentinelle,

une vigile_ [watchman], _une estafette_ [messenger]…” He said offence can also be avoided by the way we talk about language. For example, teachers in French schools talk about the masculine

‘dominating’ in certain phrases, which he said tends to please the boys but not the girls. “It would be better to simply say that, for clarity’s sake, one has to use the masculine,” he said.

Regarding the rule of proximity, Sir Michael said he had found an Education Ministry directive from as recently as 1926 saying it was acceptable. “However, there can again be a problem of

clarity. If you put an adjective into the feminine, it always looks as if it only refers to whatever is feminine.” Sir Michael is, however, “not against” feminisation of jobs and titles and

has sat on a committee which looked into it. He said the traditional tendency for these to be masculine reflects past social norms, when most mayors, ministers, and ambassadors were men. “I

would be for it if a woman was elected president of France. Who would say _Madame le président?_ It would be ridiculous. “And the argument that you mustn’t say _l’ambassadrice_, because it

means an ambassador’s wife, is foolish now. “In fact, the very first (1694) edition of our dictionary defined the word as ‘a woman sent on a mission’.” “My view is that it is an enrichment

of French. The fact that many women now occupy roles that used to be closed to them is an opportunity to create the feminine forms: _une avocate, une écrivaine…_ “The only problem is they

are not familiar, so for a moment people feel uncomfortable with them. I’ve heard someone say _écrivaine_ sounds like _vaine_ [feminine form of the French for ‘vain’], but no one says the

same about _écrivain_.” Sir Michael said, historically, the Académie has sometimes been reactionary. For example, it reported against feminisation of jobs at the end of the 20th century –

but he feels that has changed. “We voted unanimously in favour this time. The Académie is the guardian of the language but also the place where its enrichment should take place. If a

language doesn’t change, it becomes dead.” Sir Michael said he has enjoyed his time at the Académie since his election in 2013 and still visits weekly, when possible with regard to Covid

restrictions. “It’s like a family. I thought it would be a rather formal affair but, in fact, it’s very friendly and I’ve made great friends. “Its work is very important and I am centrally

involved, as a member of the dictionary committee.” Académie members may propose ‘new’ words for inclusion in the dictionary and he said he is proud to have been responsible for many new

entries, such as _semaison_ (sowing) or _numineux_ (having a mystical or spiritual quality). He will be arguing for _simplexité_, which he said can refer to a situation where a very complex

idea is ultimately rendered simple, such as Albert Einstein’s E=mc2 equation. 'WE DON’T WANT TO INTRODUCE A BUZZ WORD BUT FIND 10 YEARS LATER THAT NOBODY IS USING IT' “However, we

take time to make sure a word is going to stay, because we don’t want to do what _Larousse_ or _Robert_ do and introduce a buzz word but find 10 years later that nobody is using it.” The

dictionary committee also has a final say on word use for official purposes, he said. Their approval is sought on widely varying terms, such as components in a nuclear power plant. “We think

very seriously about the best way of saying things, and accept a lot of these new words,” he said. Sir Michael said his forthcoming personal projects include a book of poems in English and

a series of lectures on the Bible, also to be published as a book. RELATED STORIES French accent discrimination law is 'politically historic' Help is at hand: Mayday signal’s

French origins explained