The opposition of the mark of gender in the French meta-legal language

Nina Cuciuc[1]

Abstract

In the meta-language of Legal French feminization is undergone by means of an active procedure, which we call “motion”, a term borrowed from the Romanian linguistic terminology. The “motion” procedure signifies the formation of feminine human animated nouns from the masculine ones, as well as of masculine human animated nouns from the feminine ones, by adding motional lexical morphemes (synonyms: motional flexions, motional suffixes).

The motional flexions paradigm includes a series of derivational suffixes used to form, in the French legal vocabulary, motional noun-terms designating feminine instances of professions, functions and qualities. In the case of common gender, la motion sees its derivational productivity diminished. The most resilient, in case of motional feminization, remains the class of epicene noun-terms with the masculine form.

The specialized language of Juridical French is less amenable to motional feminization in the case of noun-terms that designate a criminal quality, such as: agresseur, bandit, escroc, interlope, malfaiteur, pickpocket, etc.

The legal style, conservative and solemn, suppresses the use of feminine nouns attested in lexicographic sources and in the literary language, in accordance with the rules of normative grammar.

Keywords: motion, motional feminization, motional flexions, sexual paradigm, motional term.

[1] Dr. Nina Cuciuc is an Associate Professor at „Mihail Kogălniceanu” University, Iaşi, Romania

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