Podcast: Inclusive language, improbable roommates, the Dreyfus affair

Inclusive writing and gender-neutral language divide France. The merits of homesharing across generations. And the trial that started the Dreyfus affair, kicking off a left-right split that's still felt today.

Spotlight on France, episode 65 © RFI

The recent addition of the gender-neutral pronoun 'iel', a contraction of  "il" (he) and "elle" (she), into the Petit Robert's online dictionary became a national drama, fuelling very vocal opposition to inclusive writing. Its opponents present it as a threat not only to the French language, but the country’s core values. French is a gendered language, and the masculine takes precedence, but academics and linguists have been working on how to write in a less gender-biased way. Raphaël Haddad (@raphaelhaddad), author of a guide to inclusive writing and whose company teaches local authorities and corporations how to use it effectively, talks about its development, despite the pushback. And literature “professeuse” Eliane Viennot explains how inclusive language is in fact a French tradition. (Listen @1'45'').

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the downside of living alone – with elderly people on their own and isolated students in small studios especially hard hit during lockdowns. Some housing programmes have brought these two groups of people together through the concept of intergenerational living, matching elderly people with a spare room in their homes with young people looking for accommodation in cities short on affordable student housing. Parisien roommates Jeanne and Brigitte were matched by Pari Solidaire, which has seen a gradual increase in demand for this kind of housing, after a drop last year due to the health crisis. (Listen @18'20'').

Jewish army captain, Alfred Dreyfus, was sentenced to life in prison on 22 December 1894 for allegedly selling military secrets to Germany. It was the start of a decade-long crisis, which came to be known as the Dreyfus affair. It split France politically and brought deep-seated anti-Semitism to the surface. The results of both still resonate in France today. (Listen @14'05'').

This episode was mixed by Cecile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, iTunes (link here), Spotify (link here), Google podcasts (link here), or your favourite podcast app.