New darling of the French, actor Raphaël Quenard is everywhere. After obtaining the title of best male revelation to the César, he chained the shoots, released a first novel (Clam in Tataouine, At Flammarion), a documentary, and scrolls on TV sets. His style is recognizable and contrasts in the universe of art: his Isaise gauge, his phrasing and his love of French vocabulary sign an engaging and original personality. However, his way of speaking does not appeal everyone, as he recently opened it.
“”I am taxed by cocaine“”
Sunday, June 1 on RTL against Mohamed Bouhafsi, the 34 -year -old actor, spoke on an unknown but very real subject: glottophobia. A form of discrimination, which targets people because of their regional accent, especially in the media where the Parisian accent dominates and often is a standard.
Originally from Grenoble, Raphaël Quenard is thus regularly attacked because of his pronounced regional phrasing. What earned him an injuring image.
“SOut, it is true that I am taxed either cocainomania, alcoholism for the simple fact of my speech (…) I do not know where these judgments come from. It’s a bit of a kind of differential marker with a media betting and glottophobia “regretted the actor.
Glottophobia, fear of an accent that is not neutral
What is glottophobia? In a video for La Découverte editions, linguist Maria Candéa summed it up “It is the fear or rejection of the other because of his way of speaking or writing.” The phenomenon is insidious: it touches the people who speak as much as those who speak French with a so -called “regional” accent. “”However, as the specialist recallss, there is no “good” accent, just social projections “ she recalls.
Thus, glottophobia reveals an implicit hierarchy between accents: some would be “serious”, other “popular”, “warm” or even “not very credible” – “Judgments without linguistic foundation, but well anchored in mentalities” underlines the linguist.
A sound stereotype without any basis
For Johanna Rozenblum, clinical psychologist, the phenomenon is what she calls “the biases of thought”, this time carried on prosody, that is to say the form of speech used.
“Just as we are going to have a priori on people who wear glasses, on people who have rounder silhouettes, we will lend to those who have a pronounced accent, stereotypes on intelligence, personal qualities, values at work”lists the psychologist. “But these stereotypes are completely arbitrary, based … on nothing!”
He talks like that, so he’s alcoholic. She has glasses, so she must be more studious. “These are mental shortcuts, often unconscious, but very powerful” admits the psychologist. Without knowing it, glottophobia influences our judgments far beyond reason. “And speech becomes a social marker as much as a vector of exclusion” evokes our expert“especially in the world of recruitment”.
The revenge of regional accents?
The actor also targets this opposition between regional accents and Parisian accent. Moreover, in grandes écoles or certain professional circles, it is still common to encourage to “erase” its accent to be taken seriously.
“The accent of Île-de-France is seen as neutral only because it is the accent of power. It is a social construction, not a linguistic reality” Recalls Laélia Véron, also linguist on this subject.
But it is undoubtedly useful to recall: a neutral Frenchman does not exist. As for erasing its regional accent (when it is present), it is also going into uniformity, and we pass from talents that shine by their singularity.