This neologism halfway between "he" and "she" entered the online version of the Le Robert dictionary in November, even if it is not yet widely used.

So infrequently that the first of the Immortals preferred not to engage her colleagues in the controversy.

“I calmed down the Academy. Some of us thought that it was better not to make a drama out of it, precisely so as not to consolidate the idea that it was important. makes no sense," she told AFP during an interview in the reception room of her office.

At 92, a third of whom at the Academy, this historian has seen many fashions pass that have not remained in the language: ephemeral anglicisms, verlan words quickly forgotten, names of outdated technologies, etc.

But also a groundswell that she wanted to curb: the feminization of the language.

She herself insists on being called "Madame Perpetual Secretary".

Because that was how it was when she was the first woman to take on this role in 1999, and it will remain so as long as she is in office.

The midpoint, "dumb"

So "iel", which makes it possible to avoid a distinction between masculine and feminine genders, inspires him with a certain contempt.

"I think it was a publicity stunt for Robert. Robert has lost Alain Rey [linguist who died in 2020], he is no longer the great Robert. He thought it was a good opportunity to attract attention".

"The + iel +, I wouldn't say it comes from the United States, but there is pressure from minority groups which is an imitation of what is happening in the United States. We are not the United States", she decides.

Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, permanent secretary of the French Academy, on February 21, 2022 in Paris JOEL SAGET AFP

All inclusive writing repels her.

In 2017, the French Academy unanimously adopted a "solemn warning" against an "aberration".

Because of a "confusion which borders on illegibility", lamented the guardian of good usage, "the French language is now in mortal danger", nothing less.

The most controversial emblem of inclusive writing, the midpoint (as in "the authors · rice · s"), seems to Mrs. Carrère d'Encause "stupid".

“I read myself aloud, always, a book that I start, to realize the music of the language. We read in silence, but I think it is good to hear the author. You can't read aloud with the midpoint," she points out.

"Big Hooves"

Better: doubling the masculine with feminine, "those and those" instead of "those" only, according to this scholar "is unbearable".

"The French language is beautiful, quite airy. When you repeat the same things with your big clogs, it's unbearable," she says.

"Honestly what does it bring to women, + those and those +? It does not emancipate anything at all".

And to quote a speech by Emmanuel Macron where the president had abandoned this habit, in Frankfurt in 2017.

"Once he said once + those and those +, that's enough. When it comes back, it spoils his speech. (...) I was fascinated, because there was no + those and those +. That is to say that I am sure that unconsciously, speaking in front of people for whom French was a language that they had chosen to learn, we had to be careful, "recalls the permanent secretary .

According to her, the linguistic assessment of the quinquennium is very mixed.

“What is serious is that you receive letters from ministries with inclusive writing. We had a Prime Minister, whose name was Édouard Philippe, who banned the use of inclusive writing. is a sign of a certain weakening of the sovereign if the Prime Minister says + We must not do it + and that the people who depend on him do it”.

© 2022 AFP