Before we cross the border, let’s first look at the situation in the Netherlands. Because why do so many people struggle with using gender-neutral language? “You’ve really come up with such questions very early, and we’re still in the development stage,” Ingrid van Alpen begins her story. She is a linguist and member of Taluni’s Advisory Committee on Gender Aware Language Use.
“Language belongs to none and all.” Von Alpen emphasizes that neither she nor linguists decide which words we use. Still, she thinks we got it wrong in the Netherlands. “See, they have it in Norway she (she) and He (He). And there they have itChicken‘ was added as a gender-neutral form, completely equivalent and not yet occupying the grammatical structure. We made the mistake of implementing ‘them’ in Dutch. It has brought suffering,” he said.
Because, Van Alpen explains, the word ‘they’ already exists in Dutch. “If the grammar isn’t right, something innovative can really turn people off.” Van Alpen looks at how many people in the Netherlands do not accept these gender-neutral pronouns. “It would be nice if he, she, and thigh, for example.” Van Alpen says the words ‘it’ and ‘his’ are also good alternatives. “They’re already in our language system, but it’s a very uncontaminated term. It’s a nice, neutral form of reference.”
hen/hun n they/them
While we still struggle with gender-neutral pronouns in the Netherlands, T Pronouns According to reporter Erik Mouthaan, already well established in America. “The crazy thing is that it’s plural, but at the same time it’s a construction that people already know. For example, it’s very common to say something like ‘.Are they traveling alone??’ If you don’t know who that is. It’s about a person though.”
Gender-neutral norms are certainly not universally accepted, although this is less felt in the US than in the Netherlands. “It looks like it got up Right-wing politicians and conservative talk show hosts aren’t participating when you use them. They do the opposite, and you see Ron DeSantis, for example, constantly misleading people.”
By using pronouns that don’t match one’s gender, or mistaking someone, or using someone’s name before they change it, is even seen as an act of aggression in some leftist states. “As a result, there’s a lot of pressure to do well. In America, it’s very important for people to treat each other with care, to talk to each other the way they want without offending each other.” Mouton finds that the debate about gender-neutral language goes far beyond the Netherlands.
Correspondent Anne Saenen in the United Kingdom sees further development underway. “A well-known example is the singer Sam Smith. He mentioned that he was called they/them. As a result, the debate gained a lot of attention. Sam Smith is still successful. Many British people accept his identity change. .”
Man and woman
In Dutch and English you don’t have much to do with feminine and masculine words or grammar rules. It gets a bit more complicated when we look at Germany. For example, if you want to address a group of students that includes both men and women, you say: Students. We are now working to provide a place in the language for people who do not belong to either of these two groups Student of Student: Inside.
“Try to spell it,” says reporter Jeroen Ackermans. German Van Dael therefore likes to talk about itstudent’A way to get around binary norms and address everyone.
In Spain they face a similar problem, but they have found a different solution there. “In Latin you use male address for a group, for example, of 20 women and one man,” explains Richard Hogenkamp. “There’s a lot of discussion about it now. People think it’s antiquated, so they’ve come up with a third option, where you can talk to the whole group as equals.”
For example: You have Children (boys) and Women (Women). According to official grammar rules, children are a group ChildrenBut there will be a new spelling then Nines There are You can use that link for all grammars. This is not (yet) an official spelling, but Hogenkamp regularly sees the form. “It’s become a very heated debate, and it’s also very political. If you talk to someone Nines Asks to use, and then you immediately know the person is leftist and progressive. A conservative Catholic would never say that.”
Italian is similar to Spanish, but reporter Anoch Poon sees little growth in the area of gender-neutral language use. “In Italian, it’s more complicated to use from a practical point of view, for example, they/them for someone who wants to identify themselves as non-binary.”
Because in Italian you don’t really use those pronouns, instead you conjugate other words in a masculine or feminine way, Poon explains. For example, if you want to say that a man is handsome, you use BelloBut a woman Bella. There is no neutral form. “But besides being grammatically complex, there’s also no political mindset to use inclusive language,” Boon says.
Notably, when Meloney was elected as the first female prime minister, she rejected the female form of address. “You see a conservative wind blowing right now that restricts the rights of the queer community. So there’s very little to look at language differently.”
Aunt or uncle
The following example shows that language is not a panacea. “There is no masculine or feminine in grammar in Turkish,” says Turkish reporter Bepijn Nagtsam. “For example, there is only one word for brother and sister. If you want to emphasize which gender it is, you have to add it. But in everyday life, words alone cannot tell whether it is male or female.” The translation sometimes went wrong at the beginning of Nightjam. “Then I thought someone’s aunt would pick me up, but it suddenly said a man. In front of me.”
Nice and easy, you’d think. You don’t have to have a whole discussion about using gender-neutral language. “From a Dutch grammar point of view, the Turkish language is very inclusive, but not social,” says Nagtsam. “In Turkey, non-binary or trans people are not spoken about in terms of language, people are not ready for it. In 2013 we still had great pride here, but in recent years every expression of lhbti has been removed. In the bud.”
Grammatical objections or conservative thinking prevent inclusive language, the debate remains. The linguist van Alpen thinks that gender-neutral pronouns are slowly making their way into the Dutch language. “If you look at young people here, they’ve quietly embraced non-binary terms. And I see that in the progressive world around me.”
But changes in language need time and, above all, goodwill. It’s like learning a new language. If you are motivated to do so and hear the language around you a lot it will go much faster. “Language is contagious. You just hear it and it gets into your system.”
