FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

“Occupe-toi de tes ognions!”
As long as we can keep that phrase, I’m good.
I don’t have an answer for the bigger question, though it is worth thinking about.

I was wondering when this was going to happen... I hope they don't mess up this beautiful language... Teresa

This is not a simple topic. It should, I think, make one's eyes water and brain reel! The culture of any country, region, group, etc. lives in its language.

One of the common pitfalls of moving to a new country is unconsciously to assume that the new country has the same culture as one's original country...but with a different language. It is, of course, not at all true, as anyone who's lived abroad for any period of time will tell you.

More importantly, there could be no French culture without the French language. One couldn't have la France if everyone here spoke l'Anglais. The same is true of the United States: No American English, no American culture. The UK is fundamentally a different culture from the US though the two countries more-or-less share a similar language (same for Canada).

Mucking with a language at a fundamental level, e.g., removing the gender of objects, would produce a tidal change.

Sooner be able to hold off a tidal wave with a paper parasol than to see the day when the Academy overhauls gender assignment for nouns. Bonne chance!

I think making all neutral things like onions have a neutral article is fine. And making business positions like mail carrier, or server, or chairperson all neutral is good. But as a linguist and writer I do want to make sure we don't torture language in order to de-genderfy everything. As my beloved Episcopal prayer book and hymnal try to de-emphasize the patriarchy, they've really destroyed the poetry of language that can lift the soul and flow lightly on the ear. However, on a positive note, English language experts are now beginning to accept "they" as a gender-neutral form that can take a singular verb.

Have a good week.

There are so many things which are more important in today's world, why on earth can't the language lovers agree to disagree and let's move on to peace, feeding the millions who are starving, pray for the disposed? I speak and read some French, German, Spanish, Latin and English.
and outside of being able to translate the hymn titles and say a few words to various cultures, what I want is Pax. Merci. Dunkerschen, gracias, grace.Au revoir.

Even in English some things are referred to by gender . Have you ever heard of a boat being referred to as a "he"?

Your post today is thoughtful and charming, Kristi. And it's a relief to see that France can change -- not just to make it easier for foreign speakers, but to know that France has flexibility in doctrine, laws, and even in its (her!) beautiful language. Bravo! Or is that Brava?

Our dear Kristi,
Once again you have shared your gift with us to delve into our intelligence and at least try to solve some thought provoking questions that are(might be always?) open for opinions on all sides!
Joie in Carmel, please make room for me.I'm joining you in going to plant my l'ongions!!!!
Love
Natalia XO

I must say, when I was taking a course in conversational Spanish, I was shocked to find that if there were 75 women in a room, and 1 man, the masculine would always be used! I agree with the wikipedia quote you shared, "Gendered languages ​​whose neutral is identical to the masculine or whose masculine prevails in a group pose three problems according to some analysts: they would make women invisible; they would oblige a dichotomous vision of the human race; they would force anyone to position themselves as a woman or as a man...."

Kristi, I’m impressed by the high level of commentary here – it speaks to the quality of the audience that you attract.

I also am uncertain whether, as a male, I’m fully attuned to the nuances of gender in language – even in English, I’m too accustomed to the use of male pronouns, etc. in context where a neutral term is actually meant. We seem prepared to destroy the music of the English language for some view of political correctness. Hopefully the French will not follow the English example. We use “they” and “their” where we once used “he” and “his” or could have (awkwardly) used “he or she” and “his or her”. En français,on a le mot “on” –pas en anglais. We have neutralized words like “chairman” by substituting “chairperson” or merely “chair”. And of course this pursuit of political correctness doesn’t stop at gender – the Toronto District School Board recently agreed not to use the word “chief” (e.g., as in chief executive officer, etc.) because indigenous peoples of Canada find it offensive (which seems to ignore completely the etymology of the word “chief” from the Latin word “caput”). (More likely, indigenous people are probably laughing at TDSB.) There does seem to be a paternalistic priority in the French language that is not present, or at least is not as prevalent, in English though. Is that offensive to women? What about those among us who don’t identify as either gender? There is a movement on now to remove entirely the reference to gender from Canadian passports. So, should the sex of an onion matter?

All living languages evolve over time. Slang and technology have brought many changes and many crossovers between languages. The French speaking peoples seem to have much more control of the French language than English speakers. Is that good, bad or neutral? Is it even possible to dictate the evolution of a language, or will every day usage prevail? Does gender identification in language possibly cause a delay in certain desirable social and cultural changes. Has the cause of feminism, gender equality and the sharing of power in French, and other, cultures been delayed or even stopped because of the gender issue in language? Like the etymology of "chief", will anyone remember or care in 100 years if the French language were neutralized?

I’m better at questions than at answers. But I've enjoyed the opportunity to consider ...

I think it is a positive thing to think about how gender bias in language affects social norms and the treatment of women. French is the most beautiful language in the world and that could never change. Thanks for your blog Kristi!

How about if it’s not broke don’t fix it ? As someone else mentioned - we very much do have plenty of broken things that DO in fact need fixing. Ciao !

It's interesting to know that "la langue" is feminin :). Very interesting discussions today!

it is that whole new "text" language. It started with "lol".....which I truly though was "little old lady". After finding out what it stood for I protested and if someone gets it used from me, it means "lots of love".

"OIGNONS" dear Joie (I Love Carmel where good Friends of mine live and where we've been, my husband and me, so often. I mean Carmel-by-the-sea).
Elisabeth (from France)
Who appreciates a lot every Kristi's writing !

Le pain I meant n that list. Phone locks up and will not let me fix my typos!

There are some who have very little to do in a day to occupy their time.....
not this hu-man! So are we taking man out of every word in which it factors? Wo-man--we will no longer be wo-men. We will be wo-its.
Hu-man, we shall no longer be, but hu-its and MAN will simply become an IT.
As in "Hey, check out that it over there---dishy!"
Could we just get back to doing something creative with our days and loving one another and looking for the cures to diseases and planting sweet onions?
LORDY, it's just too boring for words, this language thing.

Those green onions are gorgeous!

Russian in similar to French in its gender-based words, but I have never thought of French nor Russian as deliberately used to define or oppress a gender. I do understand the argument, but to me it feels exhausting. So, like you Kristi, I'm choosing to tend to my garden, with its (at least in Russian) masculine onions, rhubarb, and tomatoes, and its feminine strawberries and raspberries. All I care about is that they look and taste beautiful.

I guess I am becoming a dinosaur - I find this trend ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with being inclusive if it doesn't torture the language, but there are limits. I grew up saying such things as "each student should bring his book to class," knowing that some of the students were female, and not being especially bothered by it. Rather than make an issue of somehow feminizing everything, one can write "All students should bring their books to class." Plurals, wherever they can be used, can fit many situations. In church, God the "Father" (who most people, including me, believe also likely has "feminine" attributes) becomes God the "parent," and "son" or "daughter" becomes "child." This affects not just Scripture and prayers, but words to songs, which are not improved. I agree with one of the writers above about "you guys"; I have heard women call other women "you guys." Why not just "you," which sufficed for centuries? The French distinguish between "tu" and "vous" in some cases in the singular, but they also use "vous" for the plural; we should be able to use "you" for both.

Years ago, when "Ms." appeared, I wrote a somewhat satirical poem about it. I confess that since then, I've found "Ms." to be convenient when one doesn't know if a woman is married or not. I am widowed, and could use "Ms.", but it seems inappropriate somehow for me. If other women want to be called "Ms.", I can live with that.

Not having a gender on a passport, which is a form of identification, strikes me as odd.

In some languages, there is more than one gender of nouns, but they aren't called "masculine" and "feminine." Danish has "neuter" gender and "common" gender. One must memorize which one to use with a particular noun, but no male-female overtones are implied. We should not make an issue of "le" and "la." When I taught French, some first-year students said that having two articles was "stupid." Why? Mainly because English has only one. My great struggle with language students was endeavoring to help them realize that not only were they not the center of the world, others can be different from them and still not "stupid," "weird," etc. Learning a language can broaden one's horizons. The students learned that French is (or was then) spoken in 26 countries, and that it was an official UN language, and that there are more speakers of English than of French, etc.

I think tinkering with the language is for the most part counterproductive, and if anything, will make French harder to learn.

Wow, I sense your discomfort with possible changes to more gender neutral language in French, Kristin! Your headlining title is what caught MY attention. I think there is a HUGE difference between trying to "feminize" the language and simply trying to make it gender-neutral.
The term "feminize" sounds an alarm that everything will be made feminine and that any previously masculine "advantage" in the language will be replaced with the feminine.
In fact the rest of your article makes it clear that you're really only speaking about the movement to become gender inclusive - NOT to eradicate the masculine! Excluding the masculine would be as bad as the previous/current practice of excluding reference to the feminine when refering to a mixed gender group. That would be a step backwards, in my opinion!
I'm not saying it will be easy! As an English professor, I cringe when people use a plural pronoun to refer to a single person so as to avoid having to be gender specific. An example: the linguistically correct "Every child should bring HIS lunch to the picnic," vs. "Every child should bring THEIR lunch to the picnic." The word child is singular and many people dislike the clunkier "his or her" option. A work around would simply be to make the sentence plural: All children should bring their lunches to the picnic. I don't know if that would work in French, and even if it did, it would not solve all of the gender-specific challenges/problems. I feel the discomfort, too. Gender inclusive and Gender neutral are more precise terms for what you labeled as trying to "feminize" the language.