How French Media Portray Politicians with “Non-Parisian” Accents

In an article published in the sociolinguistics journal Glottopol (in French), my colleague Alizée Pillod (Université de Montréal) and I examine how French media cover the appointment to political office of individuals with characteristics that can be deemed “atypical” because of their underrepresentation in politics. More specifically, we look at how the print media depict people whose accent departs from the “norm” that currently dominates the French political arena: the “Parisian” accent.

Our analysis focuses on one case in particular: the appointment of Jean Castex as head of the French government. The former mayor of Prades (in the Southwest of France) is, in fact, the only person to have served as France’s prime minister with a “regional” accent (more precisely, a “Gers” accent).

The results of our content analysis underscore that, even though accent has no connection to a person’s ability to serve as prime minister, journalists nonetheless attach significance to it. In the weeks following Jean Castex’s appointment, more than 200 articles (145 of which were distinct pieces) mentioned his accent.

It is also worth noting that the way Jean Castex expresses himself attracted not only the attention of editorialists and columnists, who generally enjoy greater freedom in their work, but also that of reporters writing hard news. In fact, only about 24% of the articles mentioning the former prime minister’s accent were opinion pieces.

Our findings further show that the accent is rarely presented neutrally, and that negative descriptions are frequent—appearing in more than half of the articles (51%). Some pejorative adjectives appear repeatedly, notably “sing-song” (chantant) and “gravelly” (rocailleux). References to rugby—a popular sport in southwestern France—and to the terroir are also common.

Interestingly, we found that negative descriptors are not always used to criticize Jean Castex’s appointment. One example comes from Jean-Lou Charon, president of the French Golf Federation. In an article covering the reaction of the French sports world to the appointment of the new prime minister, journalists reported his comments about Castex:

Beyond his passion for rugby, the new head of government retains other traits of his native region. He is a man from the Southwest, charismatic, with a very gravelly accent that evokes the terroir. (Ouest-France, Rennes, July 4, 2020, translated from French)

Positive descriptions are uncommon in our corpus. When they do appear, they usually emphasize that the accent is a source of pride, or even an integral part of Southwestern identity.

Finally, our results show that accent is frequently used to build a narrative around the individual who has just been elected or appointed: in nearly 90% of the texts in our corpus, it is framed in one way or another. Contrary to what we expected, Jean Castex’s accent is rarely portrayed as evidence that democratic institutions are now more open to individuals with non-“typical” profiles. Instead, it is often associated with the idea of greater closeness between the government and regions outside Île-de-France.

It therefore seems that, in the eyes of some commentators, “non-Parisian” accents remain inseparable from regional or even rural issues.