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Tag: prescriptivism

UCC Guide to Non-Sexist Language, 1993-4

A l’heure où les autorités politiques et linguistiques françaises rejettent les principes de l’écriture inclusive, pourquoi ne pas jeter un peu de lumière sur le débat avec ces directives officielles de l’Université de Cork (Irlande) datant de l’année universitaire… 1993-1994. Il y a plus de vingt ans déjà, cette institution ne se berçait pas de l’illusion que la langue, dans son état du moment, était intrinsèquement neutre ou respectueuse de l’égalité des sexes, ni que rien ne pouvait y être fait (cliquez sur l’image pour lire le document) :

In the current context of the rejection by political as well as linguistic authorities in France of the principles of écriture inclusive (inclusive, i.e. gender-neutral, writing), why not shed some light on the debate with this official endorsement of a set of rules for non-sexist language by University College Cork in the academic year… 1993-1994. More than twenty years ago already, this institution didn’t live in the illusion that language in its current state was intrinsically neutral or respectful of gender equality, nor that nothing could or should be done about it (click image to read):

 

The prescriptivist candidate (French style)

(This is a translated version of my post ‘Les travers du candidat au prescriptivisme‘.)

Tuesday, March 29th 2016: I’m home from a day of teaching, during which I have endeavoured to initiate students of all levels to the intricacies and subtleties of language and linguistics. While I wait for the kettle to boil, I absentmindedly flip the pages of M, the magazine edition of Le Monde, which has been sitting on the kitchen table since Saturday, waiting for five minutes of quasi idleness. There, Lucien Jedwab’s column catches my eye; the former chief copyeditor of Le Monde has evidently taken over the position of defender of la bonne langue, previously held by journalist Dominique Pourquery. Continue reading

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