Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:59 on 2020-05-25 Permalink Reply  

• david119 10:29 on 2020-05-25 Permalink

  They try to make is sound super goofy,like the whole Anglo-created “latinx” thing, but practically, the changes they’re announcing won’t be a big deal, and aren’t anything particularly new.

  A quote like this doesn’t really translate, when we’re mostly talking about dropping an article, rephrasing, or using the equivalent of “tous et toutes”: La Ville adopte désormais un mode de communication épicène », donc qu’il s’attaque « à la suprématie du masculin sur le féminin en français ».

  That said, like the whole “latinx” thing, one surmises that there must be a English language influence on the thinking behind this genre of “feminism” – I don’t think it’s natural in the french-speaker’s brain to really think of the articles as masculine or feminine. I guess if French had retained the long-lost neuter that German still has, this whole track of thinking wouldn’t be nearly as salient.

• jeather 11:35 on 2020-05-25 Permalink

  I have absolutely no doubt that speakers of gendered languages can come to the feeling that “generic = male” is irritating whether or not English does it.

• Francesco 22:08 on 2020-05-25 Permalink

  IMO (as an Anglo) the now-common written gendering of what should be neutral titles looks silly and reinforces the other solitude’s desire to retain archaic ideals in modern contexts. Modern English has all but stopped using feminine-specific titles for equal attributes and occupations (ie we don’t call Val Plante “the Mayoress,” and older terms like stewardess have been supplanted by neutral titles); but now everywhere I read French communiqués and social media, I see the dot-e-dot-s (“Montréalais.e.s”) and it makes my teeth grind. In my opinion it’s a step backwards.

• DeWolf 11:04 on 2020-05-26 Permalink

  There was a discussion about this on Reddit and somebody gave this example of how things can become very unwieldy:

  « Tout bon avocat compétent ou toute bonne a avocate compétente, doit conseiller son nouveau client ou sa nouvelle cliente… »

  And another user pointed out that the new policy of using “épicène” language means avoiding gendered words altogether. The above sentence could be replaced by the following more elegant construction:

  « Chaque juriste aux compétences affirmées doit conseiller sa clientèle »

• Francesco 20:56 on 2020-05-26 Permalink

  Right, English is generally non-gendered, but over the last 40 years it has moved to epicene nouns and titles. Steward/stewardess = flight attendant, waiter/waitress = server, maid = housekeeper, actor/actress = performer, and so on. To be honest, the transition to neutral nouns was almost imperceptible, smoother than the move away from other (now) non-PC terms, such as those from the medical field. I just don’t understand why evolution of the French language has to be so dramatic.