New linguistic uses, such as the “IEL” neutral pronoun are being adopted and experimented on French campuses. Fault of use, teachers improvise.
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In November 2021, the little Robert announced the addition, in the digital version of the dictionary, the neutral pronoun of the third person “IEL”. If the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, has worried about an attempt to “triturate the language”, this pronoun, long reserved for militant circles, is being adopted by a number of young people students.
“One feels an interest amount of students for these issues”, confirms Florence Damour, Social Responsibility delegate at the University of Lorraine. Engaged in an inclusion policy, the university regularly broadcasts awareness videos, particularly on the subject of non-binarity (persons who do not identify with the masculine gender or the female genre).
A term that Bex, 23, in history of art, discovered at a meeting of the LGBT Jules and Julies Student Association at Jean-Jaurès University in Toulouse. “I became aware of my gender identity during my academic years. When I was told that I was a girl, I did not like it, I found it reducing. In our friendly circles, we are almost all and all. binary and we use neopronoms “, precise Bex, which leaves the choice to its interlocutors alternately using the three pronouns (it, it and” ie “).
The basics of inclusiveness
In France, the use of the neutral pronoun in higher education varies according to the institutions, as a comparison, the practice is widespread in French in Quebec or in English, the United States or the United Kingdom. “At HEC Paris, the campus is rather anglophone, so when I chat with Anglo-Saxons, I tell them to use the neutral pronoun” they “or” them “to address me,” details Nolwenn, 19 years old , which is defined as transgender and not binary.