Le genre altéritaire et la construction d’épicènes

Abstract

In a language structured by the use of feminine as well as masculine forms, the generalizing masculine is characterized by an information deficit. Language then loses some of its essential communicative function. The emergence of the “median point”, as a graphic sign that allows the simultaneous recognition of the two genders in writing, is a beginning of remediation of the problem. This median point, called « point of alterity » because it allows the recognition of the other, opens up new perspectives for oral language. It also generates an « alterity gender », made of feminine-sounding epicene forms which require the introduction of new epicene determiners and pronouns.  This article presents the stages of this research from associative journalistic writing to academic and fictional writing.