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Recognized but harder to integrate : An eye-tracking study of French gender-fair forms during reading

Tibblin, Julia LU orcid ; Gygax, Pascal ; van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid and Granfelt, Jonas LU orcid (2026) In Applied Psycholinguistics
Abstract
Over the last decades, linguistic gender-fair forms have become increasingly used by individuals and official institutions. In the French-speaking sphere, this has led to heated discussions among politicians and other stakeholders, some of which claim that these forms render texts illegible and inaccessible to the greater public. However, the processing of gender-fair forms in reading has been the topic of few empirical studies. In the present paper, we add to this small body of research by reporting results from a pre-registered eye-tracking study where 58 native French-speakers read short texts which included a masculine form (voisins), complete double form (voisines et voisins) or contracted double form (voisin·es). Consistent with... (More)
Over the last decades, linguistic gender-fair forms have become increasingly used by individuals and official institutions. In the French-speaking sphere, this has led to heated discussions among politicians and other stakeholders, some of which claim that these forms render texts illegible and inaccessible to the greater public. However, the processing of gender-fair forms in reading has been the topic of few empirical studies. In the present paper, we add to this small body of research by reporting results from a pre-registered eye-tracking study where 58 native French-speakers read short texts which included a masculine form (voisins), complete double form (voisines et voisins) or contracted double form (voisin·es). Consistent with previous findings, the complete double forms were not more costly to process. In contrast, contracted double forms led to increased processing costs in intermediate and late stages of processing, but had no effect on the early stages of processing. Our data also indicate that the processing of contracted double forms becomes easier over time, and that it is facilitated by positive attitudes towards gender-fair language. These findings provide important insights which enlighten the current debate and should therefore be considered in the elaboration of official guidelines regarding gender-fair language. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
gender-fair language, French, processing cost, eye movements, gender-inclusive language
in
Applied Psycholinguistics
publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISSN
1469-1817
project
Gender-fair language in French: Influence on representation of women and on processing cost in reading
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
019d834c-abe3-450e-99e4-44742d83cbcf
date added to LUP
2026-01-26 14:59:44
date last changed
2026-01-29 16:54:19
@article{019d834c-abe3-450e-99e4-44742d83cbcf,
  abstract     = {{Over the last decades, linguistic gender-fair forms have become increasingly used by individuals and official institutions. In the French-speaking sphere, this has led to heated discussions among politicians and other stakeholders, some of which claim that these forms render texts illegible and inaccessible to the greater public. However, the processing of gender-fair forms in reading has been the topic of few empirical studies. In the present paper, we add to this small body of research by reporting results from a pre-registered eye-tracking study where 58 native French-speakers read short texts which included a masculine form (voisins), complete double form (voisines et voisins) or contracted double form (voisin·es). Consistent with previous findings, the complete double forms were not more costly to process. In contrast, contracted double forms led to increased processing costs in intermediate and late stages of processing, but had no effect on the early stages of processing. Our data also indicate that the processing of contracted double forms becomes easier over time, and that it is facilitated by positive attitudes towards gender-fair language. These findings provide important insights which enlighten the current debate and should therefore be considered in the elaboration of official guidelines regarding gender-fair language.}},
  author       = {{Tibblin, Julia and Gygax, Pascal and van de Weijer, Joost and Granfelt, Jonas}},
  issn         = {{1469-1817}},
  keywords     = {{gender-fair language; French; processing cost; eye movements; gender-inclusive language}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Applied Psycholinguistics}},
  title        = {{Recognized but harder to integrate : An eye-tracking study of French gender-fair forms during reading}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}