Gender neutral language: Difference between revisions

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Gender in language varies widely across the world. Some languages use gendered first-person pronouns; some use gendered verbs; some use gendered pronouns for everything, not just for people; and the politics surrounding gender and gender neutrality in language are different in different cultures.

=== German ===

German is a language that makes use of three genders: the male/masculine gender, denoted by the article ''das''; the female/feminine gender, denoted by the article ''die''; and the neutral/neuter gender, denoted by the article ''das''<ref name=":0">(H. Rindisbacher, personal communication, 2016-2017).</ref>.

==== Gender neutral language ====

Creating gender neutral language in German is complicated by the fact that there are no gender neutral endings for nouns. The suffix ''in'' is attached to words to make them feminine, but there is no corresponding ending to make a word the neutral gender.

There is pressure in Germany to be more inclusive when it comes to gender<ref name=":1">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/germans-get-tongues-around-gender-neutral-language</ref>. However, while this inclusivity includes men and women, it tends to ignore non-binary genders. There is also still much debate over how to create this inclusivity. For instance, the words ''der Student'' refers to a student and implies that the student is a man. ''Die Studentin'' refers to a student who is a woman. In order to include both men and women, some Germans write ''Studenten/nin'', others choose ''Student_in'', and still others prefer ''Studierende''<ref name=":2">http://genderfork.com/2014/question-german-gender-neutral-language/</ref>''.'' Even beyond that, there are many different, competing standards<ref name=":0" />.

Some predict that instead of creating more gender inclusive ways of writing, nouns may just begin to default to the neutral gender. Angela Merkel is now called ''die Bundeskanzlerin,'' which has the feminine ending. Eventually, she might just become ''das Bundeskanzler,'' which is neutral and could refer to any gender<ref name=":1" />.

Others believe that all roles will just begin to default to the feminine article instead of the masculine one. Instead of ''der Polizist,'' people would say ''die Polizist'' to refer to a police-person<ref name=":1" />.

==== Gender neutral pronouns ====

Creating more gender neutral pronouns in German is complicated for a few reasons. First, the English option of using they/them/their/theirs/themself is difficult in German because the word for ''they'' and the word for ''she'' is the same—they are both ''sie''. The difference between ''they'' and ''she'' would only become clear at the verb, which would be conjugated differently depending on the pronoun<ref name=":0" />.

Secondly, while there is a gender neutral article, the accompanying pronouns are the same as the masculine pronouns in all but the nominative and accusative case. In the nominative and accusative, the gender neutral pronoun is ''es,'' which translates to ''it'' in English, although without the negative, inhuman connotations ''it'' sometimes carries in English. In the dative, the gender neutral and masculine pronoun is ''ihm,'' corresponding to ''him'' in English. Finally, in the genitive, the masculine and gender neutral pronoun is ''des,'' corresponding to ''of'' in English<ref name=":0" />.

There are currently a few different options of gender neutral pronouns in Germany, although none are widely accepted. The most common is xier/sier.<ref name=":2" />

== References ==

[[Category:Language]]

[[Category:Gender neutrality]]