Would woke culture have reached the
Le Robert
dictionary
?
Last October, the institution of the late Alain Rey accepted in its digital pages the personal pronoun "
iel
", a contraction of "
he
" and "
she
".
Its definition: “
personal pronoun subject of the third person singular and plural, used to refer to a person of any gender.
The use of the pronoun in inclusive communication (sic). ”
How to explain this addition?
Definition of the personal pronoun "iel", according to Le Robert Le Robert
Each month, the dictionary lexicographers monitor and scrutinize new words. Among these are "
sanitary pass
", "
antivax
" but also the famous "
iel
". "
We noticed that this word was growing and we integrated it,
" explains
Marie-Hélène Drivaud, lexicographer at
Robert
, to
Le Figaro
. It has for the moment a probationary period, even if we are led to imply that the word will join the columns of the web dictionary before integrating the paper edition of 2022.
According to Robert, the French language “
must not stigmatize anyone
”.
The integration of this pronoun can be read in a "
woke
"
approach
which carries as a standard the defense of the "
oppressed
" and "
dominated
" (women, homosexual, transgender, bisexual, asexual, intersex, queers, etc.) "
It
would indeed allow the inclusion of non-binary people, who do not recognize themselves as either man or woman.
"
An activist approach
"
“
All our dictionaries have been inclusive for several years,
” says Marie-Hélène Drivaud.
We want as proof this other correction of the dictionary: "
we have reviewed all the times where there was written '' man '' to replace it by '' human ''
" Thus, with the definition of "
hair
", we do not reads more "
hair on a man's
skull
" but
"human skull".
Read also Alain Rey, father of Petit Robert, died
“
All this is part of a militant approach,
regrets Bernard Cerquiglini, lexicographer at Larousse.
"Iel" does not come from a lack. We touch a pronoun, the language system. However, the pronouns have not changed since the 4th century. ”
In addition, French is based on two genres. Therefore, it is counterintuitive. “
The masculine plays the role of generic, that's how it is. It works this way from vulgar Latin.
Jean Pruvost, linguist and author of
The story of the French language
with Taillandier editions, goes further. "
The pronoun "iel" is unnecessary and discourteous. It is an aberration. Under the guise of equality, the masculine always remains in front of the feminine: in '' iel '', '' he '' is placed in front of '' her ''.
This is also the case in inclusive writing when we write “
institutor.ice
” or even “
author.ice
”.
Finally, last problem, this “
iel
” would not be French.
According to Bernard Cerquiglini, it is an Anglicism.
“
The mistake of some feminists is to follow English which has a neutral.
However, in French, we do not have any. "
This inequality can be remedied by duplication, as Bernard Cerquiglini and Jean Pruvost agree.
One would say then "
those and those
", "
French and French
" ...
Usage, the only judge
Are
“
Nouvelleau
”, “
cellui
”, “
man
”, “
pregnant
” the next candidates on Robert's list? “
We pay close attention to these aspects,
” notes Marie-Hélène Drivaud. However, it is not on the agenda. What then is the integration of new words based on? “
Certain words correspond to the usage, there, it meets a need of certain people.
One can wonder about this "
need
" and this "
use
".
“
When we integrate a word, whether in a paper or online dictionary, we check that it is integrated into the language
,” reports Bernard Cerquiglini.
We note its presence orally, in writing, its transgenerational presence.
However, here we are far from the mark.
"Use alone is the judge of the durability of a word.
You just have to listen to notice that this word cannot be heard orally and appears as a very small minority in writing.
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