Gender neutral language
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Gender-neutral language, also called gender-inclusive language, is the practice of using words that don't give an idea of someone being female or male. For example, the word "fireman" gives the idea that a person in that work is male. An offer for a job as a "cleaning lady" gives the idea that only a woman should do the job. The gender-neutral alternatives are to say "fire fighter" and "janitor," respectively. Then it is easier to see that these jobs can be done by a person of any gender. Gender-neutral language is important in feminism, because changing the way that people talk can help make sexist ideas less common. For example, the sexist idea that some jobs should only be done by people of certain genders.
Gender-neutral language is also important to many people who have nonbinary gender identities. For one reason, this kind of talk helps fight against nonbinary erasure, which is the common but wrong and sexist idea that there are only two genders. Since gender-neutral language doesn't give the idea that a person is male or female, it can also apply to people who identify as other genders, outside of the gender binary. Nonbinary people can ask to be talked about in this way.
Gender-neutral language is both useful and necessary grammatically and socially for the situtations in which gender is varied/queer, mixed/diverse in a group, irrelevant/unwanted, secret or unknown.
ArabicEdit
The Washington Post has reported that "Modern standard Arabic, based on Koranic classical Arabic, additionally has a dual option for nouns and verbs that doesn’t imply a specific gender. Some people therefore use the dual of they and you — “huma” (هما) and “intuma” (انتما) — as a gender-neutral alternative. Colloquial Arabic spoken today has largely done away with the dual, so this form can sound very formal to those not in the know."[1]
ChineseEdit
See also: Glossary of Chinese gender and sex terminology.
Pronouns
- tā. Verbally all gendered pronouns sound the same, and so they technically can be gender neutral. In literature, the male form of tā (他) resembles to the female form of tā (她), except for the most-left part. The female character is first used in the late-1950s. The male character is therefore considered 'most' genderneutral, though versions like: X也 ( by using the latin X + 'yě') may as well be used. The pronounciation of the character for "she" has never changed after adding a new character.
Titles
- 先生 (xian sheng). A gender neutral term to refer to a teacher, a new acquaintance with whom you are unfamiliar, or anyone with whom you are not on a first-name basis, though it is usually masculine-based.
- 师傅 (shi fu). A gender neutral term, though it is usually masculine-based, conveying respect to someone if you don't know their name, and it means "master."
- 老师 (lao shi). Standard word for teacher.
- 博士 (bo shi). Standard word for holder of a doctoral degree.
- 教授 (jiao shou). Standard word for professor.
- 老板 (lao ban). Standard term for one's boss (say at work).
- 同学 (tong xue). Standard term for one's classmates
Family Terms
- 孩子 (hai zi). Standard gender neutral term for child.
- 家长 (jia zhang). Standard gender neutral term for parent.
Professions
- 服务员 (fu wu yuan). Standard word for server and/or gender neutral term for waiter/waitress.
Romantic
- 对象 (dui xiang). Term that means one's romantic partner. It is gender neutral.
- 配偶 (pei ou). Term that means one's partner in marriage. It is gender neutral.
CornishEdit
Cornish, like all other modern Celtic languages, has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. Although the way that gender-neutral nouns and non-binary people are referred to in terms of grammatical gender, and the impact that those nouns would have on adjectives, is yet to be determined, Cornish has a complete set of non-binary 3rd person singular pronouns:
| Purpose | Word or element in Cornish | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Personal pronoun | hynn, hydn, hedn | Hynn a wra dos avorow.
They will come tomorrow. |
| Possessive adjective | ho2 (causes soft mutation) | My a wra ho weles avorow.
I will see them tomorrow. |
| Infixed pronoun | 'gh(2/4 if desired by speakers to improve the sound of the sentence) | My a'gh gwel/wel/kwel avorow.
I will see them tomorrow. |
| Emphatic pronoun | hehynn, ehynn, hyhynn, etc. | Ny wra saw hehynn dos avorow.
Only they will come tomorrow. |
| Conjugated prepositions | -m at the end of the masculine form | My a wra mos dhodhom avorow.
I will go to them tomorrow. Ottoma lyver skrifys gansom. Here is a book written by them. Ny aswonnav travyth anodhom. I don't know anything about them. etc. |
DutchEdit
There is more information about this topic here: gender neutral language in Dutch
EnglishEdit
There is more information about this topic here: gender neutral language in English
English is one of the easiest languages to speak in a gender neutral way. One reason for this is it is in the Germanic language family, it originally had three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Another reason is that in the 1200s, English speakers stopped making gender a part of every noun, adjective, and article. Remnants of grammatical gender survived only in personal pronouns and some common nouns.[2] On the other hand, a movement in the 18th century condemned neutral language like singular they, and insisted it sounded more educated to use masculine language like "he" instead, like in Latin. All these changes to English still have effects today, and sometimes create problems. For example, old laws are not clear about whether they use "he" to mean anybody, or men only. Linguists, feminists, and LGBT people have been working on finding the best solutions to the remaining problems with gender exclusive language. Over the past century, they created hundreds of pronouns, out of the lingering belief that "singular they" pronouns will not do. From the 1970s, they have also developed alternatives to gendered words, such as "mail carrier" rather than "mailman."
FrenchEdit
See also: Glossary of French gender and sex terminology and Gender neutral language in French.
French, like other Romance languages (except for Asturian), traditionally has only two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. Additionally, according to the standard language rules, masculine is always treated as the generic gender, meaning that a mixed-gender group will always be referred to in masculine (and not in feminine, unless everyone is a woman). These rules have been established over the centuries by men and male-led institutions like the Académie Française. In 1675, talking about the grammar of the French language, abbot Dominique Bouhours stated "When both genders meet, the most noble must prevail". French inclusive language refuses such rules, and feminist and queer activists work hard to try and rid French of its sexism. They have developed over the last few decades different ways to adapt the French language to be more inclusive of women and gender minorities.
However, there is not one single way to speak inclusively in French, but rather, there are a wide variety of tools and workarounds one can use to adapt one's language.[3] It should also be noted that the "mainstream" inclusive language used by an ever growing number or people, journals and institutions aims at being inclusive of women. These changes, albeit fairly minimal, are still very controversial with certain people. The problem of a language inclusive of the nonbinary community hasn't yet reached the mainstream debate and remains mostly confined within queer and feminist circles.
Finally, as it is not officially recognised, it is important to mention that inclusive French might not be accepted in contexts where formal language is expected; such as exams, language proficiency tests, official documents etc.
Gender neutral pronounsEdit
Singular pronounsEdit
These pronouns are considered neopronouns and are used to refer to nonbinary people or someone whose gender is unknown. They are not formally recognised and are not usually used in what could be called "mainstream inclusive French". Their use is mostly limited to nonbinary people, feminist and queer circles as well as the internet. Because nothing is codified, there are almost no limits on what can be used, and a wide variety of options have been created and adopted by different people. Due to these circumstances, it is common for French gender non-conforming people to accept different sets of pronouns/neopronouns, or any pronouns/neopronouns. The lists below are not exhaustive.
| Subject pronouns | use | Exemples |
|---|---|---|
| iel (can also be spelled ielle, yel or yelle) | The most common spelling is "iel". It is the main gender neutral pronoun used in French and is a contraction of the two binary pronouns "il" and "elle". For that reason some nonbinary people do not find it adequate and prefer to use other neutral alternatives. It is also used to refer to someone whose gender is yet to be determined. | "Iel est non-binaire. Iel n'est ni un garçon, ni une fille".
|
| ille | Just like "iel", "ille" is a contraction of "il" and "elle", and therefore faces the same criticism. Its pronunciation can easily sound like the masculine "il" if the last syllable is not accentuated enough, which could either be considered a problem or an advantage depending on how one looks at it. An alternative pronunciation could be \ij\. | "Ille est arrivé-e hier soir" |
| el | Just like "iel", "el" is a contraction of "il" and "elle", and therefore faces the same criticism. Its pronunciation sounds like the feminine "elle". It could either be considered a problem or an advantage depending on how one looks at it. | |
| ul or ol | These pronouns are usually preferred by those whose gender identity falls mostly or completely outside the gender binary. They are the most common gender neutral pronouns after "iel". | "Ul est parti en vacance. Ol va lu rejoindre dans quelques jours". |
| ael | "Ael" also does not stem from the contraction of "il" and "elle". Although any types of agreement can be used, it is most often paired with "-ae". | "Ael est allae en Australie pendant deux semaines"
‘’Çom’’ a neo pronoun derived from an archaic català pronoun “hom” used as an impersonal/gender neutral subject pronoun. Since Hom is similar to homme, the pronoun variation featured here is based off a similar Occitan pronoun Òm. |
| Object pronouns | use | exemples |
|---|---|---|
| lea | It is the main gender neutral object pronoun. It is used to refer to nonbinary people or someone whose gender is yet unknown. It is often paired with "iel" | "Iel est arrivé-e à la gare, je ne vais pas tarder à aller lea chercher" |
| lo or lu | These neopronouns are usually used to refer to those who chose to go by "ol" or "ul". | "Ol est arrivé-e à la gare, je ne vais pas tarder à aller lo chercher" |
| ellui | "Ellui" is most commonly used as a reflexive pronoun. it is otherwise found to sound clunky or hard to understand when used as a non-reflexive pronoun. | "Iel vient manger à la maison ce soir, je ne mais pas tarder à aller lea chercher à la gare. Nous irons manger chez ellui la semaine prochaine" |
| Possessive pronouns | use | exemple |
|---|---|---|
| mo and man | These result from the merging of the feminine possessive pronoun "ma" and the masculine "mon".
A commonly used alternative to these would be the "alternating approach" where one refers to somebody using "ma" and "mon" alternatively. |
"Iel est man meillleur-e ami-e depuis l'école primaire. Je lea connais depuis mes douze ans" |
plural pronounsEdit
agreementsEdit
GermanEdit
There is more information about this topic here: gender neutral language in German
PronounsEdit
- Zett
- As
- Dey
HindiEdit
See also: Gender neutral language in Hindi.
Hindi is a gendered language.