French dictionary Le Robert decided in October to add the entry “iel”—a combination of “il” and “elle”, to the online version of its dictionary, which mean “he” and “he” in French, respectively.
It is a “personal subject pronoun third person singular and plural, which refers to a person regardless of gender,” the dictionary entry reads.
With its plural and feminine form, known collectively as “le, le, les, les”, this new addition to the French language has drawn strong opposition from some French politicians.
“Its authors are therefore militant, nothing to do with France: #wokisme,” Jolivet said.
His anger resonated among other French parliamentarians, including Education Minister Jean-Michel Blancar.
“Therefore, even though our students are consolidating their fundamental knowledge, they cannot keep it as a reference.”
CNN has contacted the French Academy, the governing body of the French language, for comment.
French government spokesman Gabriel Attal reiterated the government’s position of “not using inclusive writing in all official documents and administrative documents” in his weekly news conference on Wednesday.
Le Robert responded on Wednesday with a statement that it is only trying to reflect the recent changes to the French language that it has seen.
It acknowledged that the common usage of “IEL” is still low, and dictionary entries seem to indicate that the term is “rare”. But the editorial committee thought it would be useful to include the entry and clarify its meaning for people to decide whether they wanted to use it or reject it.
“The mission of Le Robert is to observe and report on the development of a French language in the movement, diversity,” the statement said.
It also said in the statement that most of the responses it has received are positive.
The outcry came as France was growing uncomfortable with the cultural influence of other countries.
This was put to the test when the French love for secularism – known in French as “lysette” – was questioned by many in the United States.
These observations were made with “social science principles completely imported from the United States” that are not compatible with the history of France, French President Emmanuel Macron said in October 2020.
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