LA FEMINISATION DES NOMS DE METIERS DANS LES MEDIAS: APPROCHES CULTURELLE ET LINGUISTIQUE
THE FEMINIZATION OF JOB TITLES: A CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC APPROACH

Summary/Abstract: The theme of our research is aimed at a subject that is not at all new, quite the contrary: the formation of the feminine in the French language. However, we propose to address the most current feminized forms, which have appeared and are used in the media, starting from the hypothesis that the correct naming represents an essential aspect of the identity of each of us. The aim of this article is to create a taxonomy of feminine suffixes (- esse, -euse, -trice, etc.), alongside a tendency towards epicene forms, and to identify their connotations in the media discourse ((de)valuing suffixes, legitimacy/illegitimacy of feminization, etc.), taking into account the fact that in France feminization encounters the most resistance. The starting point will be the reform carried out by the Ministry of National Education to call the names of professions practiced by women in the feminine, Mise au féminin: 1994. Our corpus will be based on French articles taken from online newspapers such as Le Figaro, Le Parisien or Le Monde, in order to identify current feminized forms, and to see to what extent French vocabulary is gendered and sexist.

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