“Péril mortel,” linguistic fad promoted by a group of “cinglé·es.” Why does the idea of inclusive language meet with such resistance and derision? A project conceived to combat the linguistic erasure of women, inclusive language is meant to work against the political implications of “the masculine prevails over the feminine.” In this talk, Heidi Holst-Knudsen will discuss theories of how the French language was deliberately masculinized and how linguistic revisionists seek to address questions of equality and representation through a rethinking of lexicon and grammar. Heidi Holst-Knudsen, Department of French at Columbia University.

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