Moving beyond il and elle
GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS FOR CORE FRENCH
Jennie Slack is the Past President of myPITA.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2021 myPITA newsletter.
Learning French often means being endlessly surrounded by expressions of gender. A table (la table) is a feminine noun. A pencil (le crayon) is a masculine noun. Why the French (and several other languages as well) decided that inanimate objects needed gender is anyone’s guess. The fact that French attributions of gender seem to completely lack logic simply increases our confusion. The fact that it is le féminisme and la masculinité feels like a decision that was made just to mess with us.
French pronouns are an integral part of teaching Core French. They are important in almost all authentic communication tasks. Like English, French has singular and plural pronouns. While we can avoid gender with some of those (we/nous you/tu/vous) referencing someone else in the third person is traditionally always gendered. He and she are translated to il and elle. They is more complicated, with a group of women being referred to as elles and a mixed-gender group defaulting to the plural male pronoun of ils. But what do we do when we want to refer to non-binary individuals or to avoid referring to gender, given that defaulting to a male ils is rather patriarchal?
Well, the short answer to that question is that the French aren’t sure quite what to do about the ubiquitous gendering of their language either. Much like our evolving use of language in English to incorporate our acceptance of various gender identities, French linguists and social activists are engaged in a spirited dialogue over the evolution of French. There are, however, a few conventions that we, as Core French teachers, can begin using with a reasonable degree of confidence to incorporate SOGI teachings into our practice.
The first choice to be made is whether you are looking to use an inclusive pronoun or a neutral pronoun. If you are looking to use an inclusive pronoun, then you would choose between the option of iel or ille, both of which blend together masculine and feminine elements. Pronunciation would be “ee-el.” Simply include an s on the end for the plural form of the pronoun. Which version you use would depend on which form you prefer. You might introduce both and allow students to use either one as they prefer, or you could simply choose one of them and not introduce the other. It really depends on your preference as a teacher and on how much complexity and choice you think your students can handle. It should be noted that this does not help with the issue of then needing to match adjectives to the gender of those being referenced. That particular complexity is not being addressed in this article; at this point in my exploration of the subject I would probably default to the masculine given its historical use as a catch-all. If a student is using it to reference themselves, of course, they should use whichever form of the adjective they prefer. There is a reason this debate is ongoing and complex, but it can also be used to generate some interesting discussions in your class as well!
There are also two main choices for gender neutral pronouns. Those choices are ol and ul. While iel is probably the most commonly used non-traditional singular pronoun, the use of ol and ul are more comfortable for some as it avoids the inherent use of a binary construct (the merging of masculine and feminine) and instead skews more towards a true neutral option.
The alternate possessive pronouns were created in the inclusive vein, merging the feminine ma and the masculine mon to form either mo or man. There does not appear to be a consistently used gender neutral form yet, though it seems likely that eventually one will appear. In the end, consistent use of gender neutral or inclusive pronouns isn’t likely to be of primary concern in our Core French classes as we work to get them to ask and answer simple questions or state preferences; however, introducing them to the concept, and discussing the ongoing evolution of languages in general can offer visibility, awareness, and consideration to our non-binary students and staff and can give you a tangential answer to your students asking you, “teacher, why is the table a girl?”
This article was originally published in the Fall 2021 myPITA newsletter.
Learning French often means being endlessly surrounded by expressions of gender. A table (la table) is a feminine noun. A pencil (le crayon) is a masculine noun. Why the French (and several other languages as well) decided that inanimate objects needed gender is anyone’s guess. The fact that French attributions of gender seem to completely lack logic simply increases our confusion. The fact that it is le féminisme and la masculinité feels like a decision that was made just to mess with us.
French pronouns are an integral part of teaching Core French. They are important in almost all authentic communication tasks. Like English, French has singular and plural pronouns. While we can avoid gender with some of those (we/nous you/tu/vous) referencing someone else in the third person is traditionally always gendered. He and she are translated to il and elle. They is more complicated, with a group of women being referred to as elles and a mixed-gender group defaulting to the plural male pronoun of ils. But what do we do when we want to refer to non-binary individuals or to avoid referring to gender, given that defaulting to a male ils is rather patriarchal?
Well, the short answer to that question is that the French aren’t sure quite what to do about the ubiquitous gendering of their language either. Much like our evolving use of language in English to incorporate our acceptance of various gender identities, French linguists and social activists are engaged in a spirited dialogue over the evolution of French. There are, however, a few conventions that we, as Core French teachers, can begin using with a reasonable degree of confidence to incorporate SOGI teachings into our practice.
The first choice to be made is whether you are looking to use an inclusive pronoun or a neutral pronoun. If you are looking to use an inclusive pronoun, then you would choose between the option of iel or ille, both of which blend together masculine and feminine elements. Pronunciation would be “ee-el.” Simply include an s on the end for the plural form of the pronoun. Which version you use would depend on which form you prefer. You might introduce both and allow students to use either one as they prefer, or you could simply choose one of them and not introduce the other. It really depends on your preference as a teacher and on how much complexity and choice you think your students can handle. It should be noted that this does not help with the issue of then needing to match adjectives to the gender of those being referenced. That particular complexity is not being addressed in this article; at this point in my exploration of the subject I would probably default to the masculine given its historical use as a catch-all. If a student is using it to reference themselves, of course, they should use whichever form of the adjective they prefer. There is a reason this debate is ongoing and complex, but it can also be used to generate some interesting discussions in your class as well!
There are also two main choices for gender neutral pronouns. Those choices are ol and ul. While iel is probably the most commonly used non-traditional singular pronoun, the use of ol and ul are more comfortable for some as it avoids the inherent use of a binary construct (the merging of masculine and feminine) and instead skews more towards a true neutral option.
The alternate possessive pronouns were created in the inclusive vein, merging the feminine ma and the masculine mon to form either mo or man. There does not appear to be a consistently used gender neutral form yet, though it seems likely that eventually one will appear. In the end, consistent use of gender neutral or inclusive pronouns isn’t likely to be of primary concern in our Core French classes as we work to get them to ask and answer simple questions or state preferences; however, introducing them to the concept, and discussing the ongoing evolution of languages in general can offer visibility, awareness, and consideration to our non-binary students and staff and can give you a tangential answer to your students asking you, “teacher, why is the table a girl?”
