DEI
Lecture on December 11: "10 questions to understand inclusive language"
Although the topic of gender-inclusive language has given rise to heated debates in France, most people are actually unaware of the reasons for the practice and the available tools. In this lecture, Sandrine Zufferey will address 10 questions so that you can make up your own mind about these new writing practices. She will look at the role of societal androcentrism in the current linguistic asymmetry of gender representation and focus on the problems raised by the use of the generic masculine. She will then look at the different approaches to inclusive writing – noting that the interpoint is not the only option –, and present the results of empirical studies showing that these forms of writing help to create more balanced mental representations of gender and that concerns about legibility are unfounded.
Speaker:Sandrine Zufferey, Professor in French Linguistics at the University of Bern, specializing in the field of pragmatics. She has authored several books on French linguistics. She is also co-author of the book "Le cerveau pense-t-il au masculin?" (Does the brain think in the masculine?)
Date: lThursday December 11 at 10am
Venue: Jules Bordet room (on the ground floor of the Metchnikoff building) and via Teams
Language: French
Host and main organizer: Claire Maudet-Crépin
We would remind you that the lecture "Avoiding sexism in our use of language: an achievable goal," with Eliane Viennot (see the newsletter article on November 7, 2025), will take place at 2pm on November 26 in French, in the Agnes Ullmann lecture hall and via Teams.