"Les Mots me Manquent": Naming the Unspeakable

The project 'Les Mots me Manquent' : Nommer l'Indicible" - acronym: PERINAT), coordinated by Giuditta Caliendo, MCF at the University of Lille and member of the STL research laboratory, is led by a multidisciplinary team that includes researchers from France, Belgium, the UK and Italy.

It builds on previous research carried out in 2016-18 by the University of Birmingham under the direction of Jeannette Littlemore and entitled "'Death before Birth' (DbB) project" ("Death before birth: understanding, informing and accompanying the choices of people who have experienced miscarriage, termination and stillbirth"). This research examines the discourse of perinatal death and palliative care for newborns. The suffering endured by a family struck by perinatal bereavement is exacerbated by the silence and isolation that ensues. This taboo remains deeply entrenched in private and public communication, despite the fact that perinatal death is not uncommon. The lack of recognition of perinatal bereavement in society leads parents to feel isolated, and can have long-term detrimental effects on their lives, with negative effects on their personal, professional and social lives. The lack of appropriate words and concepts prevents patients from expressing their grief and making it intelligible to the wider community. The issue of perinatal bereavement is recognized as being of general interest. A motion for a resolution to recognize a word for parents who have lost a child has been put to the National Assembly in 2021. In light of these issues, it seems crucial to increase the social visibility of perinatal loss and improve the communication of bereaved parents.

This research aims to answer these questions linguistically, focusing on two elements of the discourse of perinatal death: metaphor as a resource used to express the inexpressible in the narrative of bereaved parents; and the use of neologisms to designate bereaved parents and their prematurely deceased babies. Indeed, if metaphors reflect the way patients conceptualize their experiences, neologisms are a powerful way of filling the lexical gap and giving shape to new concepts. These two elements are closely linked, as neologisms themselves often have a metaphorical basis. The study is based on interviews and questionnaires submitted to bereaved parents in France and Dutch-speaking Belgium.

The results will be used on the one hand to initiate open and respectful discursive practices that will facilitate these parents' mourning process and their post-traumatic reintegration into society; on the other hand to communicate to health professionals likely to encounter a bereaved parent. The aim is also to raise awareness of these issues among the general public and society in general.