Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Gender-neutral pronouns are often criticized for diminishing text quality, yet little empirical research has addressed this issue in grammatical gender languages such as French. This study presents the first investigation into the comprehensibility and appreciation of two French gender-neutral neopronouns, iel and al. Using a between-subjects experimental design, 400 participants read a text containing one of four referential strategies: binary pronouns, iel, al, or name repetition. They then responded to measures assessing word difficulty, sentence difficulty, subjective comprehensibility, text appreciation, content question accuracy, and other control variables. Results indicated that texts with iel and al were partially perceived as less comprehensible than those using name repetition and texts with iel were less appreciated than texts with binary pronouns. However, only al negatively impacted content question accuracy. These findings, in line with studies from other languages, suggest that the linguistic system may influence the evaluation of gender-neutral pronouns, while providing little evidence that they impair performance on content questions.
Source: Discourse Processes
Authors: Chloé B. Vincent, Sarah Van Hoof, Pascal M. Gygax, Ute Gabriel, Sofie Decock
Language: English
Topic: Gender Studies in Language
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: WEAVE Project - Do small words make a difference? Investigating the effects of gender-neutral pronouns on mental gender representations and perceptions of text quality in Dutch, French and Norwegian, Do small words make a difference? Investigating the effects of gender-neutral pronouns on mental gender representations and perceptions of text quality in Dutch, French and Norwegian
OpenAlex ID: W7204556844