The French language has masculine and feminine genders. Somehow this his become confusing when referring to female soccer players and managers. What do you call a female defender?
The language offers at least three options: the masculine form défenseur, the feminine form défenseuse, or another feminine form défenseure, which is pronounced exactly the same as the masculine. And if you follow French coverage of the tournament, you might see all three.
In Le Monde, you would read about a défenseuse or sélectionneuse (the word used for national team managers). A dispatch from Agence France-Presse, meanwhile, will say défenseure and sélectionneure. Television networks TF1 and Canal+, which are broadcasting the tournament here, often use one form in graphics on screen, but let commentators like Mr. Lizarazu employ another during live broadcasts.
Traditionally, you use the masculine form unless you want to explicitly refer to a female. I have no idea where this third, quasi-female gender came from.
When it comes to questions of proper usage, the country has its own ancient authority, the 384-year-old Académie Française. Its 35 members are known as the Immortals. They are charged with sporadically producing the definitive dictionary on usage and cutting through the babble of a constantly evolving tongue. They are even issued swords.
But time moves slowly at the Académie. In 1984, as more French speakers adapted their speech to reflect a growing number of women in the workplace, the Académie felt compelled to weigh in on the topic: It ruled out any changes, preferring to stick to the masculine form, except in cases where usage had already taken root. It was important to remember, the Académie argued at the time, that there was no connection between what it called “natural gender” and “grammatical gender.”
“or another feminine form défenseure, which is pronounced exactly the same as the masculine”
Exactly the same? Joshua hasn’t heard any Gascons. If they said “défenseure” they would emphasize the “r” and say the final “e”, albeit with low emphasis. As they say, they like to get full value for their letters.