Gender neutral language in German: Difference between revisions

In the second episode (1:02) of the series ''City of Ghosts'', i. e. ''Stadt der Geister'' in German, Thomas states that their pronoun is 'xier'. The blogger Frau Papa Nina tells in an interview from the podcast ''Das gewünschteste Wunschkind'' — hosted by Danielle Graf and Katja Seide — that they use the pronoun 'xier' for themselves.<ref>Frau Papa Nina in conversation (2019): Transsexualität und Diversität. In: Graf, Danielle/Seide, Katja (hosts): ''Das gewünschteste Wunschkind. Der Podcast''. Online at: https://plus.rtl.de/podcast/das-gewuenschteste-wunschkind-3r427sdoc4dw2/transsexualitaet-und-diversitaet-cbin4vimtsr1p (retrieved 09.02.2024).</ref> Several books,<ref name=":4" /> series<ref name=":3">Heger, Illi Anna (2022): ''Xier Pronomen in Texten, Serien, Filmen und Video Games''. Online at: https://www.annaheger.de/pronomentexte/ (retrieved 10.02.2024).</ref> and video games use 'xier' pronouns. For an exhaustive list, see ''Xier Pronomen in Texten, Serien, Filmen und Video Games'' from Illi Anna Heger.<ref name=":3" />

In the German version from ''Kivi & Monsterhund'' from Jesper Lundqvist and Bettina Johansson, the protagonist Kivi, who is referred to with the Swedish gender neutral pronoun 'hen', is referred to with the same pronoun in the German translation from Jochen Barthel.<ref>Lundqvist, Jesper/Johansson, Bettina (2019): ''Kivi & Monsterhund''. Berlin: Maria Benson Verlag.</ref> 'hen' also seems to be used by some bloggers<ref>Annat75pyz (2023): ''Benutzt du das Pronomen "hen"?''. Online at: https://www.gutefrage.net/sprache-literatur-raetsel/deutsche-sprache/grammatik-rechtschreibung/frage/nenutzt-du-das-pronomen-hen (retrieved 09.02.2024).</ref>, instagrammers, and to be currently perceived as popular.<ref>Erhardt, Melissa (2022): Dey, Xier, Hen: Was es mit genderneutralen (Neo-)Pronomen auf sich hat. In: ''radio FM4''. Online at: https://fm4.orf.at/stories/3025024/ (retrieved 09.02,2024).</ref><ref name=":1" />

|+Personal pronouns: dominant usage

!<span style="color:DarkBlue">-</span>

|dero

|'''Dey''' wohnt in '''deren'''&nbsp;eigener Wohnung. Hast du&nbsp;'''demm'''

neulich gesehen?

Wie geht es '''denen'''?

|Ich kenne '''sien''' nicht. Ist '''sier''' hier&nbsp;eingezogen?

Ich habe noch nie mit

'''siem''' gesprochen.

|Mit '''diem''' will ich&nbsp;nichts zu tun&nbsp;haben.&nbsp;'''Dier''' hört mir nie zu!

|Xier, '''dien''' ich um xiesen Fleiß&nbsp;beneide,

ist mit '''diem''' Yuri&nbsp;befreundet.

|Ich rufe '''sin''' später zurück an, wenn ich mit '''sim''' auch entspannt reden kann.

|'''Hen''' wohnt mit '''hem''' in einem Reihenhaus.

|'''Dio''' Hansi, '''dereno''' Geschwister ich noch nie getroffen habe, findet '''dio''' Kayan beim Versteckenspielen nie.

Unlike possessive adjectives ('ein Eis', 'ihr Bleistift', 'unser Löffel'), possessive pronouns ('eins', 'ihrer', 'unserer') stand for the entire possessed object, so they are not followed by a noun or declined. Article pronouns are can both function as articles and pronouns without undergoing any formal changes (ex.: Diesen (Pulli) mag ich nicht.).<ref>Ertl, Martin (2022): ''Kasusauffälligkeiten in Lerntexten''. Bielefeld: wbv Publikation, p. 53.</ref> For that reason, demonstratives that also function as pragmatically marked personal pronouns (see table 'Personal pronouns: dominant usage'), are also considered article pronouns, as they can refer to an entire syntagma on their own, or accompany/precede a noun (ex.: Den (Julian) mag ich nicht). In the De-e-system, however, the declension of the demonstrative personal pronoun is different from the other article pronouns.<ref>Verein für Geschlechtsneutrales Deutsch e. V (2023): ''Demonstrativ-/Relativpronomen''. Online at: https://geschlechtsneutral.net/deklinationstabellen/ (retrieved 28.03.2024).</ref>

|+Inclusive possessive and article pronouns (genderneutral/-inclusive owned subject)

!ex. with 'jede·r·s'

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