It’s the season of new words for old dictionaries. Coup sur coup, French-French dictionaries Larousse and Robert have just unveiled their list of new terms, meanings, phrases or expressions now admitted into the Holy of Holies lexicography.
The selections for the 2023 print editions (there is nothing innocent) follow social changes closely. The Laroussian list of 150 terms and expressions allows you to write a sentence like this (the inducted words are in italics): after eatinghalloumi, watered her konjac, finished his novel chick bed and sang a little yodelingshe bought a new work by crypto art imbued with wokism.
And by dipping into Robertone can write a sentence containing erasure culture, gender fluid, gender identity, woke and wokism.
The pandemic has obviously given a lot on all sides.
Robert offers a few neologisms, including covid and swab. Like The Laroussehe accepts the long COVID (across the Atlantic, this disease is male), while this competitor goes there with a vaccination pass (and not a passport like here), essential trade, and then also an enclave and reassuring, which characterize in France the speeches conflicting on public health measures.
But why ?
Well noted, but only, why bother? What is the purpose of this annual dubbing exercise, as if certain words or meanings were admitted to the linguistic hall of fame?
There are three reasons for publishing this kind of list, answers Professor Benoît Melançon, from the Department of French-language literature at the University of Montreal. The first has to do with what he calls linguistic curiosity.
“The lexicographers of Robert or Larousse, like all lexicographers in the world, are curious about what is changing in the language, he summarizes. It’s part of their job, and they’re here for it. »
The second objective relates to commercial competition. “It’s about distinguishing yourself from other dictionaries,” says Mr. Melançon, adding that he shouldn’t be cynical by observing this promotional necessity.
The third explanation concerns digital pressure. “Online dictionaries react much faster than Robert Where The Laroussewhich forces them to speed up their word processing themselves”, he says, giving the example of the Dictionary of Francophones (DDF), launched in 2021, only digital and entirely powered by existing dictionaries already online, in particular the Wiktionary, which reacts day by day.
The lexicographers of “Robert” or “Larousse”, like all lexicographers in the world, are curious about what is changing in the language. It’s part of their job, and they’re here for it.
There is therefore no fourth objective linked to the prescription. The good old works describe the use without prescribing it, unlike the Dictionary of the French Academy who wants to play language police.
A language and its evolution
In this regard, Professor Melançon notes that the use of the new non-gendered and diverse pronoun “iel”, endorsed last year by Robert in its digital version (but not by The Larousse), is now on the list of words that will be immortalized in paper in 2023.
“There was a radical opposition between the two dictionaries. The Larousse saw it as an aberration. Robert accepted it by noting that it exists. »
Although the professor hosts the blog L’Oreille tendue, on “the life of the language – French, but not only –, today like yesterday”, he admits that he does not wake up in the morning thinking about vocabulary selections. “But I’m obviously interested. We see here how the language evolves and we see how the dictionaries differ in their choices. The Larousse and Robert have their batches of new words, but they are not the same. »
The Quebec vocabulary always finds a little space in the annual anthology of 100 to 200 selections. This time, Robert goes with royal banana (banana split), acetaminophen, eco-anxiety, benefit concert and knitting pin.
Do we need this sanction to know that we can write washcloth, fitted sheet and double frame in The duty ? The professor is not offended to see French works playing late recognition with words and expressions that have been in use here for ages.
“These dictionaries have an international audience, but primarily a local audience,” explains Mr. Melançon. They are more sensitive to the vocabulary used in France. They are more and more open to words from elsewhere. We have an answer to this situation in Quebec, and it is the Usito dictionary from the University of Sherbrooke which reverses the perspective. »