La féminisation de la langue : un débat linguistique ? Lecture croisée des discours de l’académie française

Abstract

The inclusion of feminine signifiers in the French language has seen varying practical and theoretic approaches over the centuries. The first appears in the defence of a feminisation of the French language, whether through titles, professions or functions, or the systematic use of the feminine and the masculine in messages adressed to a mixed audience. The second approach, defended by the Académie française, involves a refusal to use a forced feminisation of the language. There is thus a rift between those defenders of feminisation, who focus on the social dimension of the debate (the equality of linguistic denominations as a guarantee of sexual equality in society) and the detractors (for whom the use of the masculine is justified by its generic value). However, the declaration of February 28th, 2019 by an Académie française which has declared itself in favour of a partial feminisation invites discussion of this dichotomy. And this about-turn seems all the more surprising, particularly due to presence of Edwards on the study commission whose position affirmed collectively (2014) and individually (2017), widely contested the rationale of a feminised terminology. Although these discourses adopt points of view which are apparently mutually exclusive (2014, 2017 versus 2019), they can nevertheless be considered to complement each other, on the one hand because they produce an understanding about the mechanisms of the language, and on the other hand because, through a set of rhetorical procedures, they depict an argumentative strategy that targets the emotions rather than reason. The unified positions of the Académie française (2014, 2017 and 2019) also present a subtle play between discourse and power. The Académie’s discourse on the feminisation of the language solicits as many solid arguments (arising from a discourse of power) as sensitivity (arising from the powers of discourse).

Keywords

• language
• académie française
• feminine signifiers
• power