Negotiation of lexis on French Wikipedia
Presented on 18 October 2024, at Reies an 18 a vis Hedra 2024, ort Négociations : XXVIe colloque annuel de l’ADEFFI, Maynooth Universitypednscol Maigh Nuad, 18–19 Octobera vis Hedra.
Abstract
Berrscrif
The question of what new lexis should be integrated into French, and how, is traditionally a matter of contention, with bodies such as the Académie française and more recently the Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France and Office québécois de la langue française providing prescriptive advice on language use that is frequently at odds with actual usage, against the backdrop of purism motivated by the perceived threat of influence from English. Recent examples include disagreements over the gender of new lexis (le/la Covid), the replacement of borrowings with officially advised coinages (un hashtag/un mot-dièse or un mot-clic), and the adoption of gender-neutral terms (the pronoun iel).
This paper provides preliminary findings from a project investigating how such debates play out in the specific online space of Wikipedia, the well-known collaborative encyclopedia that, since 2001, has provided a platform for users from around the world to create and edit articles. As a resource that, according to its own slogan, “anyone can edit”, and which provides open access to the history of changes made to each of its articles and users’ associated discussion, Wikipedia is an ideal resource for investigating how contentious lexis is negotiated in this polyphonic, international, and allegedly democratic space. I investigate whether “official” French lexis is legitimated through presence on Wikipedia, and, using discourse analytical techniques and analysis of the Wikipedia interface, how debates over lexis are framed and negotiated. This provides an insight into how speakers of contemporary French adopt and use new lexis, particularly in mainstream online spaces, but also probes the relationship between top-down prescription, online community practices, and the reactions to contentious lexis found in public discourse (e.g. media reporting on gender-neutral language).
Slides
Imajys towlys
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