You may have heard of the Netflix show, Emily in Paris, which stars Lily Collins and explores her experience as an American influencer in the center of Paris. However, my biggest takeaway from this series was the reveal that the French word for “vagina,” or “le vagin” is masculine. As someone who speaks French, I was embarrassed to say I did not even notice that of all words, the one body part that belongs to the female gender and those that identify with the gender, is still possessed by men. This isn’t the only disparity across languages that use feminine and masculine determinants either; in fact, many languages do not have words for they/them or even neutral terms that can be applied to any individual. Some countries even follow a genderless language structure, so what are the differences between each variation?
Genderless languages:
Several languages today have a grammatical structure with genderless pronouns, a benefit to avoiding discrimination and bias within the tongue. Persian, Turkish, various Chinese dialects, Finnish, and Estonian do not refer to nouns as feminine or masculine, but instead use a neutral word to describe he/she/they. For individuals who are non-binary, expressing oneself in a language does not require them to question gender and there is no concern over the social norms or gender stereotypes asscoiated with certain words in the language. This promotes social change and equity between citizens, leaving out room for assumptions too.
Gender-Neutral languages:
Genderless and gender-neutral languages may seem almost the same, however, gender-neutral languages have a word for third-party genders or identification. English is an obvious example of this, with the main pronouns being she/her, he/him, and they/them. English also has gender-neutral pronouns, like ze/hir, ze/zir, and xe/xir. They/them is used to refer to any other party that does not immediately identify with a female or male gender. Other languages that follow this grammar structure are German, which has various nonbinary words like sier, xier, dey, hen, and more. Although some traditional words use different suffixes to distinguish between genders in German, those who speak the language have started to use alternative endings which do not refer to a male or female possession in order to be more inclusive. Other languages, like Norwegian, have also adapted the language to include a nonbinary pronoun “hen” instead of the traditional pronouns for he and she, “han” and “hun.”
NAtural Gender Languages:
Several languages have started to evolve in order to include room for all identities and more nonbinary words. However, not all countries have a language that includes neutral terms. Natural gender languages use words like “he” or “she” to categorize different individuals. Latin-based languages, like French, Spanish, and Italian, and other non Latin-based languages have definite articles (a/an/the) that are either feminine or masculine. When referring to a nonbinary object or a group of individuals, the masculine form always takes precedent, making it difficult for those who don’t identify as male to be represented.
solutions different countries have:
Latin-based language countries are attempting to evolve their grammatical structure to be more inclusive by creating new words and new suffixes to add onto a base word. For example, when using the words “Latina” or Latino” to refer to someone, “Latinx” has started to become more popular as an “x” is used at the ending in order to remain a gender neutral word. Some communities in countries like Italy and France have begun to add different symbols like a “schwa,” or upside-down e, to the end of masculine or feminine words to avoid the more traditional suffixes that pertain to specific genders. Feminists in France have pushed for more feminine words that concern professional careers and creating a gender neutral word as well, yet linguists argue that the perception of language will be difficult to change.
So what can we do to combat gender disparities in language? As we communicate, it is important to recognize how you phrase the way you speak, or write, accordingly and take into consideration the context of the situation. We can also practice using non-discriminatory language and respect the identities of individuals around us, no matter the language.