The entry of the pronoun “iel” in Le Robert is controversial. After criticism from LREM deputy François Jolivet on Tuesday, November 16, supported by the Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer, the director general of dictionary editions defended on Wednesday the entry of this word in the online version there is a few weeks. This pronoun aims to designate, according to Robert’s definition, “a person whatever their gender”.
“It is a little surprising that it is already entering a dictionary”, reacted on franceinfo Mathieu Avanzi, lecturer and researcher in linguistics at the Sorbonne. “We do not know if it will really come into use”, notes the linguist who thinks that “speakers will end up doing what they want” with this pronoun.
franceinfo: When did this pronoun appear?
Mathieu Avanzi: The data we have do not allow us to go back exactly to the first sources. The pronoun started to really make headlines in the early 2020s. It is suspected that it appeared with the coming out of Canadian actor Elliot Page, who claimed to be non-binary. Since then, we see that the pronoun is gaining in scope but it has only gained in certain spheres of society for the moment. It is mainly on social networks, on the Web, but also all electronic writing, such as communications by phone, Whatsapp or SMS. It is therefore found in several forms. On the other hand, it is not found in other spaces such as the press or television. Finally, orally, we hear it very little.
French is a living language. As the defense of minorities becomes a priority, did this update become necessary?
Let’s say it’s quite surprising from Robert, who acts as a guide and reference, to have made the decision so quickly. Usually the lexicographers and lexicologists who work for Le Robert are much more wary of fads and wait for the words to really come into use. We do not yet know if “iel” will really come into use. It has been pointed out, in particular because of the problems it poses from a grammatical point of view: how are we going to bend certain adjectives or certain past participles? In writing, it’s very simple, just use midpoints or doublets. Orally, it is much more complicated, there are solutions proposed, but this will require a total revision of the system of adjectival inflections in French. It is very difficult to apply and set up.
The Minister of Education is against it. He believes that inclusive writing is not the future of the French language. What is your opinion on this issue?
It’s very difficult to say for or against, because the speakers, anyway, will end up doing what they want to do. Above all, we try to educate people, to show them where it comes from, why, what are the demands behind it and what are the possible or impossible applications in relation to language. From there, we can see if we integrate it into grammars and how we can explain it to young children who are learning spelling. But to say whether it is good or not is very difficult.
Can the Académie française decide something on the subject?
The Académie Française is very conservative, so there is no way it will validate this kind of pronoun. Today, the power of the French Academy is much smaller than in the past. Moreover, we see that dictionaries like Le Robert have taken over to play this normative vector and decide what is in the language and what is not. Speakers seize it later. I imagine that the French Academy will not do much with it. Perhaps she will dispute but her opinion remains relatively intimate. This question arises in all languages that have feminine and masculine genders. In Latin America, the speakers are much more advanced and much less normative than in Europe. This question of binary opposition arises and the speakers finally create solutions. What will be left is another question, and linguists are watching.