France: Dictionary "Le Robert" takes up pronouns for trans people

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Is shocked by the personal pronoun "iel": French education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer

Photo: JB Autissier / PanoramiC / IMAGO

The traditional French dictionary »Le Robert« has included a gender-neutral personal pronoun in its online version and thus triggered a discussion.

Specifically, it concerns the entry »iel«, which was added to the online dictionary of »Robert« a few weeks ago.

In French, "il" stands for the masculine personal pronoun "he", "elle" stands for "she".

The definition says that the pronoun "iel" stands for a person regardless of gender.

The spelling »ielle« is also possible.

The word is made up of the male personal pronoun and the female equivalent.

In the plural it has a plural S at the end.

The meaning of "Le Robert" in France is roughly comparable to that of the Duden in Germany.

Trans people welcomed the decision: Lee Ferrero from the Transat association for transgender people in Marseille called the move on France Inter on Wednesday "almost historic".

Trans people do not feel they belong to the gender that was assigned to them at birth.

Critics call the language "dirty"

On the other hand, criticism came from France's Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

"Inclusive spelling is not the future of the French language," he wrote on Twitter.

He supported the protest of the MP François Jolivet against the dictionary.

Jolivet had described the authors of »Robert« as »activist« and sent a letter to the Académie Française, which is responsible for the standardization and maintenance of the French language.

In it he asked whether the Académie was dealing with the question.

Jolivet called the inclusion of the pronouns a forerunner of the "Woke" culture, which wanted to destroy all values ​​held in high esteem in France.

They led to a "polluted" language.

"Robert's job is to depict the development of language"

The general director of the Éditions Le Robert, Charles Bimbenet, justified the inclusion of the word in a statement by saying that it would recently be used more often.

He also made it clear in a communication that all dictionaries contain terms that convey certain ideas.

Of course, this is not a sign of approval for these ideas.

"It is Robert's job to observe the development of the diverse French language in motion and to depict it."

has / dpa