LE FRANÇAIS NON-BINAIRE

AN INTRODUCTION TO NON-BINARY FRENCH: DEFINITIONS, STRATEGIES & RESOURCES

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WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

“gendered linguistic practices are a matter of transgender justice, and seriously impact the lives of transgender, non-binary, and other gender nonconforming (GNC) teachers and students alike” (Provitola 2)

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A COUPLE OF NOTES BEFORE WE START

This presentation is meant to offer more options of linguistic expression – not obligations for any speaker.

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We will be using a modular approach in this class, which means we will be using these different strategies in a flexible and learning-driven way, as opposed to a systematic implementation of these forms. In other words, please use the forms that you would like to, please ask questions, and please – and most importantly - always be respectful of other students’ choices.

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This is not an exhaustive list of the linguistic options of expression used by non-binary, transgender, and gender non-conforming communities – it is merely an introduction to some of the most prevalent forms. You are always welcome to let me know about language that you use in your life that may not be included here.

QUELQUES DÉFINITIONS

Grammatical gender (GG): “an inherent characteristic of nouns which, at the utterance level, prompts satellite elements [to] take on different forms as a result of the gender of the noun to which they refer” (Knisely, 174)

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ex. la table (f.) est belle (f.)

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*linguistically arbitrary – has nothing to do with performative characteristics of social gender*

Social gender (SG): “the lived, performative identities of individuals…are perceived as non-arbitrarily feminine and masculine, respectively because their GG classifications are assumed to be based on inherent sociocultural and/or biological characteristics” (Knisely 174)

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ex. Je suis une femme. Je suis professeure(f.).

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*A social construct*

QUELQUES DÉFINITIONS

Gender inclusive language: the movement’s purpose is to refute the "masculin l’emporte" rule in order to increase female visibility - a manifestation of which is the feminizations of French job titles. It rose to prominence in the 1970s feminist movements. (Knisely 175)

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ex. une auteure / une autrice

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The Académie française only adopted the feminization of titles in 2019 (Pilon 194).

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*not always respectful of non-binary individuals*

Gender-neutral / non-binary language “seeks to specifically represent non-binary subject positions…via de-gendered form[s]” (Knisely 175) Non-binary forms are used in addition to the hegemonic and standardized masculine / feminine. (Ashley 2)

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ex. an autaire

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*there are many forms and practices in constant evolution (see below)*

LINGUISTIC STRATEGIES – ACCORDS�ALTERNATIVES TO THE ’MASCULIN L’EMPORTE’ RULE

Accord de proximité: the adjective matches the noun closest to it in the sentence order (Pilon 196)

ex. Les étudiants (m.pl.) et les professeures (f.pl.) sont intelligentes (f.pl).

• (intelligentes is closest to the feminine plural noun in the sentence)

Accord de majorité : “agreement is based on the elements/people in greater number” (Pilon 196)

ex. 4 étudiants (m.pl) et 10 professeures (f.pl) sont gentilles (f.pl.)

• (gentilles is feminine plural because there are more woman professors than male students)

Accord au choix: “where the writer chooses themselves how to make the agreement” (Pilon 196)

ex. Les élèves sont inquièts (nb. pl.)

• (élèves could be masculine, feminine, or non-binary in its current form ; I chose non-binary agreement)

L’alternance : inter-/intra-sentential changes in accords contrary to hegemonic French norms.

ex. “Il est belle” or “Elle est beau” (Ashley 5)

• Typically ONLY used when chosen by non-binary individuals

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LINGUISTIC STRATEGIES – ACCORDS�ALTERNATIVES TO THE ’MASCULIN L’EMPORTE’ RULE

Doublets abrégés: “typographical marks or punctuation are used to indicate the presence of both the masculine and feminine” (Pilon 197)

ex. les étudiant.e.s, les étudiant/e/s, les étudiant_e_s, les étudiantEs, les étudiant-e-s, etc.

• *Based on the m/f binary, and feminine still comes second...*
• *no spoken equivalent*

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Termes épicènes : words that either do not have a grammatical gender or do not morphologically change based on gender.

ex. an élève / une élève / un élève (Ashley 3)

L'homophonie : using words that sound the same when spoken aloud regardless of gender (Ashley 3).

ex. an ami.e, une amie, un ami

Néologismes : the act of creating new words and forms to represent the spectrum of non-binary identities (Ashley 3) (Examples on the following slides)

NON-BINARY LANGUAGE FORMS (ASHLEY)�(NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST BY ANY MEANS)

ex. Jules est professeurx à l’université. Al enseigne l’histoire.

ex. Lu professeurx Martinez enseigne un cours à 15h.

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ex. An étudiant.e lui a posé une question en cours.

ex. À quéal étudiant.e voulez-vous parler ?

- À cellui-là.

ex. Iel s’est levé.e à 7h.

Ellui s’est unix au groupe.

Al est descendux à 10h.

NON-BINARY LANGUAGE FORMS (ASHLEY)�(NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST BY ANY MEANS)

ex. Iel est man sère. (they are my sibling)

ex. J’ai vu çu élève. (I saw that student)

ex. Quéal élève avez-vous vux ? (which student did you see?)

NON-BINARY LANGUAGE FORMS (ASHLEY)�(NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST BY ANY MEANS)

NON-BINARY LANGUAGE FORMS (ASHLEY)�(NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST BY ANY MEANS)

BIBLIOGRAPHIE

• Alpheratz. “Français inclusif : conceptualisation et analyse linguistique.” SHS web of conferences, vol. 46, EDP Sciences, 2018, p. 13003–, https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20184613003.
• Ashley, Florence. “Les personnes non-binaires en français : une perspective concernée et militante” H-France Salon, vol. 11, no. 14, 2019. https://h-france.net/Salon/SalonVol11no14.5.Ashley.pdf. Accessed 01 Jan 2022.
• Knisely, Kris Aric. “Subverting the Culturally Unreadable: Understanding the Self-Positioning of Non-Binary Speakers of French.” The French Review, vol. 94, no. 2, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020, pp. 173–92, https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2020.0280.
• Pilon, Simone. “Toward a More Gender-Inclusive and Gender-Neutral French Language.” The French Review, vol. 94, no. 2, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020, pp. 193–205, https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2020.0281.
• Provitola, Blase A. ““Faut-il choisir ?”: Transgender Access to the French Language Classroom.” H-France Salon, vol. 11, no. 14, 2019,https://h-france.net/Salon/SalonVol11no14.4.Provitola.pdf . Accessed 01 Jan 2022.