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Écriture inclusive, lisibilité textuelle et représentations mentales

Liénardy, Cyril ; Tibblin, Julia LU orcid ; Gygax, Pascal and Simon, Anne-Catherine (2023) In Discours 33.
Abstract
Since the fall of 2017, when it was brought to the public debate, gender-inclusive writing has sparked passionate reactions. The debates generated by this linguistic practice are divisive and the discussion on certain aspects, such as the so called midpoint, is paralysed. Many arguments are mobilised by opponents, such as the unreadability of gender-inclusive writing, or the absence of ambiguity in the use of the generic masculine and therefore the uselessness of replacing it with other more explicit techniques. In the present study, we measured the effects of some inclusive devices – complete pair forms and midpoint-abbreviated pair forms – on text readability (implicit and explicit) and mental representations. The results show that... (More)
Since the fall of 2017, when it was brought to the public debate, gender-inclusive writing has sparked passionate reactions. The debates generated by this linguistic practice are divisive and the discussion on certain aspects, such as the so called midpoint, is paralysed. Many arguments are mobilised by opponents, such as the unreadability of gender-inclusive writing, or the absence of ambiguity in the use of the generic masculine and therefore the uselessness of replacing it with other more explicit techniques. In the present study, we measured the effects of some inclusive devices – complete pair forms and midpoint-abbreviated pair forms – on text readability (implicit and explicit) and mental representations. The results show that regardless of the inclusive device used (generic masculine, complete doublets or doublets abbreviated by the midpoint), readers quickly get used to the form. The results also reveal that texts mobilising inclusive forms generate more mental representations of women than texts written in the masculine form. We discuss these results in the light of current debates on gender-inclusive writing. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
alternative title
Gender-Inclusive Writing, Textual Readability and Mental Representations
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
French, gender-inclusive language, gender-fair language, stereotypes, mental representations
in
Discours
volume
33
ISSN
1963-1723
DOI
10.4000/discours.12636
language
French
LU publication?
yes
id
d63f992a-467e-4b05-abf4-69f2b7cad893
date added to LUP
2024-09-26 11:55:39
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:28:03
@article{d63f992a-467e-4b05-abf4-69f2b7cad893,
  abstract     = {{Since the fall of 2017, when it was brought to the public debate, gender-inclusive writing has sparked passionate reactions. The debates generated by this linguistic practice are divisive and the discussion on certain aspects, such as the so called midpoint, is paralysed. Many arguments are mobilised by opponents, such as the unreadability of gender-inclusive writing, or the absence of ambiguity in the use of the generic masculine and therefore the uselessness of replacing it with other more explicit techniques. In the present study, we measured the effects of some inclusive devices – complete pair forms and midpoint-abbreviated pair forms – on text readability (implicit and explicit) and mental representations. The results show that regardless of the inclusive device used (generic masculine, complete doublets or doublets abbreviated by the midpoint), readers quickly get used to the form. The results also reveal that texts mobilising inclusive forms generate more mental representations of women than texts written in the masculine form. We discuss these results in the light of current debates on gender-inclusive writing.}},
  author       = {{Liénardy, Cyril and Tibblin, Julia and Gygax, Pascal and Simon, Anne-Catherine}},
  issn         = {{1963-1723}},
  keywords     = {{French; gender-inclusive language; gender-fair language; stereotypes; mental representations}},
  language     = {{fre}},
  month        = {{12}},
  series       = {{Discours}},
  title        = {{Écriture inclusive, lisibilité textuelle et représentations mentales}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/discours.12636}},
  doi          = {{10.4000/discours.12636}},
  volume       = {{33}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}