Mock interview

• The Sorbonne is and remains in the eyes of the public a reference for the Humanities. What remains today of this conservatory spirit that characterized its history? 

The question of the positioning of the Sorbonne in the globalized context of higher education is essential. Today, the major training circuits "do not go abroad" and the Sorbonne, in order not to be outdated, must obviously align itself with its most prestigious competitors in California and England...

• Thank you. But then, what about the French language in all this? It's a pillar of the Constitution of the Republic (article 2) no?

Yes, probably. There is a Research Unit at the Sorbonne called the "UFR de Langue française". It was a language conservatory that was created in 1968, at the time when - the height of conservatism - a reactionary but estimable professor (Frederic Deloffre) decided to bring together teachers to create a language conservatory, which has now become a reference for teaching French around the world, but also a dynamic place for research on French linguistics. All the sciences from linguistics are taught there, from modern grammar to stylistics, including morphology and the history of the language. It was the time of a linguistic school called Guillaumism, named after a French linguist renowned who had founded psycholinguistics. But all the schools were somewhat represented there. Late Georges Molinié, president of the Sorbonne at the turn of the century and above all a former student of Frédéric Deloffre, founded a new discipline which is now part of the competitive examinations. Michel Zink taught there before entering the Collège de France. Certainly Molinié had a tendency to teach only in the feminine: but it was a perpetual homage to the eternal feminine. And his work on pornography, to which no one claims filiation, was of a class that one does not find in the post porn studies today.

• It is therefore a high place of thought on linguistic heritage and French-speaking countries. ?

We can doubt it today that the great figures of linguistics have deserted the place. Think for example that the Inclusive French Grammar written by the so-called Alpheratz is a "product in development" linked to the writing of a thesis which is not supported under the direction of one of the members of the UFR of French Language entitled soberly: Gender Neutral in French, since November 2017. 

We can see the speed of the development of this research which in two years has generatedand numerous chronicles press releases and numerous media events but no defense yet. We also note that on the thesis registration site, the work is registered under a pseudonym – which is not in itself objectionable and one has the right to call oneself whatever one wants – which reinforces the feeling of a well-crafted “marketing product”.