Gender neutral language: Difference between revisions

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==Hindi==
==Hindi==


''See [[Gender neutral language in Hindi]].''
''See also: [[Gender neutral language in Hindi]].''


Hindi is a gendered language.
=== Pronouns ===
Personal pronouns in Hindi are gender neutral.
=== Verb Conjugations ===
Although in 2014, India, the parent culture of Hindi formally recognized the rights of transgender, non-binary, genderqueer and gender-questioning people to determine their gender identification as going beyond the existing binary classifications of male or female, Hindi has lagged behind in that, in Hindi verbs are still conjugated along traditional binary male-female classifications.
This traditional gendered nature of verb conjugations in Hindi are problematic as they force people with non-binary identities to misgender themselves.
In attempt to address the limitations posed by the gendered nature of verb conjugations in Hindi, and to ensure students are not forced to misgender themselves, in 2016, at the University of Texas at Austin, I shared an avant-garde proposal for a non-binary verb conjugation option that does not currently exist in Hindi. This proposal has largely been well received by colleagues and students alike (with some predictable backlash). We are currently in the process of creating a webpage dedicated to making Hindi pedagogy more inclusive, which will also include details of this proposal.
The proposal in a nutshell:
'''In the gendered binary option:''' - '''''male voice''''' ''conjugations'' end in '''आ ''ā''''' for masculine singular conjugations and '''ए ''e'''''  for masculine plural conjugations. - '''''female voice''''' conjugations end in '''ई ''ī''''' for both, feminine singular and plural conjugations, with '''ई ''ī'''''  sometimes being nasalized to '''ईं ''ī̃'''''  for plural conjugations. For ''a '''non-binary voice''''' option, we suggest conjugations end in '''ओ ''o''''' for both, non-binary singular and plural conjugations,  with '''ओ ''o''''' sometimes being nasalized to '''ओं ''õ''''' for plural conjugations, along principles similar to conjugations for the ''female voice''.
Adopting '''ओ ''o'' / ओं ''õ''''' for a '''''non-binary voice''''' verb conjugation seems to be a straightforward approach without any disruption to the principles of Hindi verb conjugations.
So, for example, in the Imperfective/Habitual tense the verb खाना / khānā “to eat”, would be conjugated as:
[MS = masculine singular, MP = masculine plural, FS= feminine singular, FP = feminine plural, NBS = non-binary singular, NBP = non-binary plural]
Present day binary conjugation:
   MS-Present:   मैं खा'''ता''' हूँ    mãĩ  khā'''tā''' hū̃ (I eat- male voice)                              MS-Past:   मैं खा'''ता''' '''था''' mãĩ khā'''tā thā'''  (I used to eat - male voice)
   MP-Present:   हम खा'''ते''' हैं   ham khā'''te''' hãĩ  (we eat- male voice)                         MP-Past:   हम खा'''ते थे'''  ham khāt'''e the''' (we used to eat - male voice)
   FS-Present:    मैं खा'''ती''' हूँ    mãĩ  khā'''tī''' hū̃  (I eat - female voice)                          FS-Past:    मैं खा'''ती थी''' mãĩ  khā'''tī thī'''   (I used to eat - female voice)
FP-Present:    हम  खा'''ती''' हैं   ham khā'''tī''' hãĩ (we eat - female voice)                     FP-Past:    हम  खा'''ती थीं''' ham khā'''tī thī̃'''  (we used to eat - female voice)
Suggested non-binary conjugation for inclusion:
    '''NBS-Present:''' मैं खा'''तो''' हूँ    mãĩ khā'''to''' hū̃  (I eat - suggested non-binary voice)   '''NBS-Past:''' मैं खा'''तो''' '''थो'''  mãĩ khāt'''o tho'''  (I used to eat - suggested non-binary voice)
   '''NBP-Present:''' हम  खा'''तो''' हैं  ham khā'''to''' hãĩ (I eat - suggested non-binary voice) '''NBP-Past:'''  हम  खा'''तो थों'''   ham khā'''to thõ'''  (we used to eat - suggested non-binary voice)
'''The grassroots non-binary conjugations suggested above, for now would largely apply only to people according to their gender-identification.'''
The same principle of using  '''ओ ''o'' / ओं ''õ''''' for a '''''non-binary voice''''', when transferred on to certain classes of nouns and adjectives, may make one pause to ponder over how it may affect other parts of speech, specifically, possession (particularly the possessive particles in Hindi), the plural oblique case, and in some instances, overlap between the imperative/command construction and the one-time completed action past tense. However, going deeper, one realizes that interference is minimal, if at all. Just as some other aspects of Hindi grammar which on the surface seem the same, being clearly context and/or marker dependent become non-issues, this too, being clearly either context and/or marker dependent would not pose a problem. Also, having the '''ओ ''o''/ओं ''õ''''' sound ending to indicate possession is not alien in Hindi as observed in various varieties like Braj Bhāshā, to name one. Besides, for now this point is quite mute, given that currently there is no class of non-binary nouns in Hindi!
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==Icelandic==
==Icelandic==
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