Gender neutral language in German
See also: Glossary of German gender and sex terminology
See also: Pronouns#German neutral pronouns
Gender neutral language in German is more difficult than gender neutral language (also called gender inclusive language) in some languages, because German's grammatical gender is pervasive. 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.
Nouns, Adjectives etc.
See also: Geschlechtsneutrale Sprache at Nichtbinär-Wiki
Asterisk, Underscore, Punctuation
Pronounced as a pause or glottal stop. In between "feminine" and "masculine" ending, the most common version:
- mein_e beste*r Freund:in
Either after the stem - or more realistically at the next best place that has nothing to do with feminine/masculine forms but makes sense for pronunciation:
- mei:ne bes_ter Freun*din
At random places:
- mei*ne best:er Freundi_n
Can be used consistently or mixed up like in the example above.
X[1]
Pronounced like iks.[2]
- meinx bestx Freundx
(or e.g. Befreunx to avoid basing it on the masculine form) Or write it as -iks.
- meiniks bestiks Freundiks
Shortened Words and Nonsense Forms [3]
Fairly well known -i words:
- der_die Studi, dix Touri
New words by the same pattern:
- dier Mitbewohni, der*die Kollegi
Use the short -i forms or make up new endings and treat the word as neutrum.
- mein bestes Freundi
- mein liebes Mitbewohnsi
Use -mensch, -menschi, -person:
- das Postmenschi
- meine Liebhabperson
- der liebe Katzenbetreu-Mensch
Or just random words that you think are cute.
- Ich will Fotografierflausch werden.
Pronouns
See main article at German neutral pronouns.
Paradigm | Template:Font colour[4][5][6] | 'sier' Version 2.1[7] | 'xier' Version 3.3[8] | g-Genus[9] | NoNa-System[10] | 'hän'[11][12] | 'hen'2[13] | De-e-System[14] | SYLVAIN-Konventionen[15] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
prosodical features | atone | tonic | atone | tonic | atone | tonic | atone | tonic | atone | tonic | |||||
Nominative | dey/dej | sier [zi:ɐ̯] | dier [di:ɐ̯] | xier | dier [di:ɐ̯] | hen | dio | hen | dai | hän | hen | en | de [de(:)] | nin | din |
Accusative | dey/dej or dem(m) [dɛm] | sien | dien | xien | dien | hen | dio | hen | dai | sin | han | en | de [de(:)] | nin | din |
Dative | denen | siem | diem | xiem | diem | hem | dero | hem | dam | sim | ham | em | derm | nim | dim |
Genitive | derer | sieser | - | xieser | - | - | - | henser | - | sirer | - | enser | - | nimser |
Titles
Instead of Frau/Herr
- Frann[16] - nonstandard
- Ind.[16] von "Individuum", nonstandard
- Mau[16] - nonstandard
- Per - nonstandard
Professional & Academic Titles
- Doctorx[16] - nonstandard
- Professorx[16] - nonstandard
- Professx[17], abgekürzt Prof. oder Profx. - nonstandard
Family terms
See also: Nichtbinäre Wörter at Nichtbinär-Wiki
Parent
- Elter - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be recognised
- Mapa - nonstandard
- Pama - nonstandard
Child
- Enbie, Enby - instead of Mädchen/Junge/Bub, nonstandard
- Großes - standard
- Kind - standard
- Kleines - standard
Aunt/Uncle
- Tankel - nonstandard
Niece/Nephew
- Nibling - nonstandard
Grandparent
- Großelter - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be understood
Sibling
- Bruderin, Bruder*in - nonstandard
- Brüderin, Brüder*in - nonstandard
- das Geschwister - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be understood
- Geschwisterchen - standard, but old fashioned and usually used for very young siblings
- der/mein Schwester - nonstandard
Partner
- Freund*in
- Herzmensch - literally heart person, used as a term of endearment
- Eheherzmensch - married to the heart person
- Eheperson
- Eheherzperson
- Liebschaft
- Partner*in
See also
Resources
- Nichtbinär-Wiki (2024): Geschlechtsneutrale Sprache. Online at: https://nibi.space/geschlechtsneutrale_sprache.
- Pronouns.page (2024): Liste bekannter Pronomen. Neopronomen. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/pronomen.
- Pronouns.page (2024): Wörterbuch für geschlechtsneutrale Sprache. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/substantive.
- Illi Anna Heger (2022): Pronomen wie sier und xier. Online at: https://www.annaheger.de/pronomen/.
- Verein für geschlechtsneutrales Deutsch e. V. (2024): De-e-System. Online at: https://geschlechtsneutral.net/gesamtsystem/.
References
- ↑ http://feministisch-sprachhandeln.org/leitfaden/kapitel2/ Archived on 17 July 2023
- ↑ http://feministisch-sprachhandeln.org/leitfaden/kapitel4/ Archived on 17 July 2023
- ↑ http://nomthecatsaid.tumblr.com/post/124574373381/kennst-du-eine-gute-seite-auf-der-man-sich-%C3%BCber Archived on 17 July 2023
- ↑ Anonym (2017): Q: Ein [...] gegeben. Online at: https://nonbinarytransgermany.tumblr.com/post/148742824641/ein-befreundeter-mensch-von-mir-hat-sich-mal (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Pronouns.page (2024): dey/denen/demm. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/dey/denen/demm?erweitert (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Pronouns.page (2024): dej/denen/dej. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/dej?erweitert (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Illi Anna Heger (2022): Version 2.1: sier Pronomen ohne Geschlecht. Online at: https://www.annaheger.de/pronomen21/ (retreived 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Illi Anna Heger (2022): Version 3.3: xier Pronomen ohne Geschlecht. Online at: https://www.annaheger.de/pronomen33/ (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Dominik Jahre (2018): Das g-Genus. Merkmale des g-Genus. Online at: https://www.geschlechtsneutral.com/index.html (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Pronouns.page (2024): hen/hem. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/hen?erweitert (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ zweisatz (2011): HIGH ON CLICHÉS. Glossar. Online at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230531034450/https://highoncliches.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/glossar/ (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Pronouns.page (2024): hän/sim. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/h%C3%A4n?erweitert (retrieved 02.09.2024).
- ↑ Catboy Jaebeom/Fliederfuchs (2023): ASTRI'FA | THE BEARER OF STARS. Online at: https://catboy-jaebeom.tumblr.com/about (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ Verein für Geschlechtsneutrales Deutsch e. V. (2024): De-e-System. https://geschlechtsneutral.net/gesamtsystem/ (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ de Sylvain, Cabala/Balzer, Carsten (2008): Die SYLVAIN-Konventionen — Versuch einer "geschlechtergerechten" Grammatik-Transformation der deutschen Sprache. Online at: https://www.geschlechtsneutral.com/lit/Liminalis-2008-Sylvain-Balzer.pdf (retrieved 09.02.2024).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Nonbinary Trans Germany, "Language." http://nonbinarytransgermany.tumblr.com/language Archived on 17 July 2023
- ↑ http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/wunderbar/gendertheorie-studierx-lann-hornscheidt-ueber-gerechte-sprache-a-965843.html Archived on 17 July 2023