Gender neutral language in Polish

2021-04-12T23:08:33Z

2A02:A317:E140:B480:7056:D1F:755B:B105: /* Gender neutral neologisms */typo

{{Template:Gender neutral language}}
'''Gender neutral language in Polish''' is more difficult than gender neutral language (also called gender inclusive language) in some languages, because grammatical gender is very pervasive in Polish. See the main article on [[gender neutral language]] for general reasons to use neutral language, common problems in using it, and its use for [[nonbinary]] people.

==Pronouns==

In Polish there is no standard non-gendered pronoun like English's [[singular they]]. "Oni" is the third person plural masculine pronoun (used when a group has at least one male in it, or the genders of the group are unknown), while "one" is the third person plural non-masculine pronoun (used when a group has no male members, or for groups like young children, animals, objects, or intangible concepts).<ref name="cloz_Maki">{{Cite web |title=Making Sense of Polish Personal Pronouns |last=Łukasiak |first=Adam |work=Clozemaster Blog |date=20 October 2017 |access-date=25 November 2020 |url= https://www.clozemaster.com/blog/polish-personal-pronouns/}}</ref> Translations of English singular they into Polish sometimes use "oni" despite it being masculine.<ref name="Misiek">{{cite journal|title=Misgendered in Translation?: Genderqueerness in Polish Translations of English-language Television Series |url=https://anglica-journal.com/resources/html/article/details?id=207730|last=Misiek|first=Szymon |journal=Anglica: An International Journal of English Studies|year=2020 |doi=10.7311/0860-5734.29.2.09}}</ref>

There is a neuter singular pronoun "ono/jego" but that can be considered dehumanizing, similar to "it/its" in English.

Some Polish-speaking nonbinary people just use "he/his" ("on/jego") or "she/her" ("ona/jej") – either the same as their [[gender assigned at birth]] or the opposite.<ref name="zaimkipl">{{Cite web |title=An overview of Polish nonbinary pronouns |trans-title= |author= |work=Zaimki.pl |date= |access-date=25 November 2020 |url= https://zaimki.pl/english |language=en }}</ref>

Some neopronoun forms have been proposed, such as<ref name="zaim_Skąd">{{Cite web |title=Skąd potrzeba niebinarnych zaimków? |trans-title=Where is the need for nonbinary pronouns? |author= |work=Zaimki.pl |date= |access-date=25 November 2020 |url= https://zaimki.pl/ |language=pl}}</ref>:

* onu/jenu
* ono/eno
* vono/vego
* ne/nego
* onx/jex
* ony/jegy
* ony/ich
* onø/jenø
* onæ/jæ

For second-person pronouns, it is possible to use the mixed-gender plural "państwo" in place of masculine "pan" or feminine "pani", but using this in reference to a singular person is not well-established.

The reflexive pronoun "się" (equivalent to "myself", "herself", "himself", "one's self", etc.) does not inflect for gender.<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Polish_pronouns#Reflexive_pronoun</ref>

==Other words==

Nouns, verbs, numerals, and adjectives are also gendered in Polish. Some Polish nonbinary people create solutions such as gender-neutral word endings, for example "chciałxm"/"chciałom"/"chciałx" instead of "chciałbym" (masculine) or "chciałabym" (feminine).<ref>{{cite web|title=hi how to use they them in poland. próbuję ale im failing miserably|archive-date=17 June 2020|archive-url=http://archive.is/ZMwts|url=https://urodziwy.tumblr.com/post/187175986471/hi-how-to-use-they-them-in-poland-pr%C3%B3buj%C4%99-ale-im}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Czemu ludzie są Twoim zdaniem dyskryminowani przez swoją orientację seksualną?|archive-url=http://archive.is/k4Xzj|archive-date=17 June 2020|url=https://ask.fm/brainlessxx/answers/162268935811}}</ref> In the 2004 science-fiction novel ''Perfect Imperfection'', author Jacek Dukaj used -um verb endings (e.g. "zobaczyłum" instead of the masculine "zobaczyłem" or feminine "zobaczyłam") for a "post-human" group of beings.<ref name="TransGrysy">{{Cite web |title=TransGrysy wyjaśniają: co robić, a czego nie robić w kontaktach z osobami transpłciowymi? |trans-title=TransGrysy explains: what to do and what not to do when dealing with transgender people? |work=kinkywinky.pl |date= |access-date=1 October 2020 |url= https://www.kinkywinky.pl/blog/poradnik/transplciowosc-savoir-vivre.html |language=pl}}</ref> These have since become known as Dukaisms.<ref name="zaimkipl">{{Cite web |title=An overview of Polish nonbinary pronouns |trans-title= |author= |work=Zaimki.pl |date= |access-date=25 November 2020 |url= https://zaimki.pl/english |language=en }}</ref>

Another gender-neutral way of speaking or writing Polish is rewording phrases to use a non-gendered conjugation of a verb. For example, instead of saying "I saw" in the masculine form "zobaczyłem" or feminine form "zobaczyłam", one could say "Udało mi się zobaczyć" (I was able to see).<ref name="grabieżca">{{Cite web |title=Osoby niebinarne - jakiej są płci? |trans-title= |author=niski_grabieżca |work=transseksualizm.blogspot.com |date=12 June 2019 |access-date=1 October 2020 |url= https://transseksualizm.blogspot.com/2019/06/osoby-niebinarne-jakiej-sa-pci.html |language=pl}}</ref>

For written Polish, it is possible to combine the masculine and feminine forms of a noun, with a space in between the endings to acknowledge other genders. For example instead of the masculine "aktorzy" or the feminine "aktorki", one could write "aktorki_rzy".<ref name="123t_Gend">{{Cite web |title=Gender. Płeć w języku. Feminizm w języku polskim |trans-title=Gender. Gender in language. Feminism in Polish language |last=Tłumaczeń |first=Biuro |work=Ekspresowe tłumaczenia |date=11 December 2015 |access-date=1 October 2020 |url= https://123tlumacz.pl/gender-plec-w-jezyku-feminizm-w-jezyku-polskim/ |language=pl}}</ref>

==Gender neutral neologisms==
This section is an incomplete list of word/phrases that have been created by Polish speakers to render them gender-neutral/gender inclusive. More can be found in [https://zaimki.pl/s%C5%82ownik the dictionary of Zaimki.pl]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Polish
!English
|-
| dziennikarko
| journalist<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| nauczycielko
| teacher<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| elektryczko
| electrician<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| hydrauliczko
| plumber<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| murarzę
| bricklayer<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| kucharzę
| cook<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| bioetyko
| bioethicist<ref name="Misiek" />
|-
| ładnu / ładnya / ładnx
| pretty<ref name="avri_Avri">{{Cite web |title=Genderneutralizacja polszczyzny? |trans-title=Gender-neutralization of the Polish language? |author=Andrea |date=2 February 2020 |access-date=25 November 2020 |url= https://avris.it/blog/genderneutralizacja-polszczyzny |language=pl}}</ref>
|}

== See also ==
* [[Gender neutral language]]
* [[Glossary of Polish gender and sex terminology]]

==External resources/Further reading==
*[https://zaimki.pl/ Zaimki.pl]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gender neutral language]]
{{incomplete}}

Nonbinary Wiki - User contributions [en]

Gender neutral language in Polish