The
gender-neutral pronoun "hen," which can be used to describe a
transsexual if the gender is unknown, has been added to the Swedish lexicon.
Could the German language see a similar addition?
Deutsche Welle, 16 April 2015
 |
| Male and female symbols |
The Swedish
language previously had to make do with "han" meaning "he"
and "hon" meaning "she." But the new addition to the
Swedish Academic Glossary on Wednesday will now enable Swedish-speakers to
refer to a person using "hen," when the gender of a subject is either
irrelevant to the matter at hand, unknown, or if they are referring people who
are transgender.
"It's
commonly used and fulfills a function: you don't have to say 'she' or 'he' the
entire time," said Chief Editor of the word list, Sven-Göran Malmgren.
"Some
people aren't used to it, but they don't have to use it," he added.
Decades-long
debate
The
introduction of a gender neutral pronoun to the Swedish language has been
debated for almost 60 years, with linguist Rolf Dunas first suggesting its use
in the regional newspaper "Upsala Nya Tidning" in 1966.
"Hen"
made its political debut for the first time in February 2013 when Swedish
Minister for Gender Equality at the time, Maria Arnholm, spontaneously used the
pronoun in a debate in the Swedish parliament.
Neutral 'x'
With the
Swedes leading the way in gender neutrality across a plethora of aspects within
Swedish society, including gender neutral toys and campaigns for gender neutral
toilets, will Germany be the next to neutralize their language?
 |
| Does the German language need a gender-neutral pronoun? |
"We
could introduce 'x' as a pronoun," said Lann Hornscheidt, at the Center
for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Berlin's Humboldt University.
In order to
combat clichés and gender discrimination, Hornscheidt said he too would be
happy to be addressed as "Professx." In German, "Professor"
and "Professorin," are used to differentiate between male and female
professors.
"It's
a new challenge for society to not just depend on two genders,"
Hornscheidt added.
Since
September 2014, German Facebook users can also identify their gender as
"inter-" or "transsexual" on their profile page. At a court
in the German state of Lower Saxony last year, however, a young man tried in
vain, to enforce a third gender option for identification cards.
A long
linguistic process
"I
believe that a neutral pronoun will come," said Hornscheidt.
Rudolf
Hoberg, head of the Society for German Language, believes this could take a
long time, however.
"If it
is accepted by a large proportion of people, then there is a reasonable
solution," said the 79-year-old.
"But
if you try to introduce such a pronoun out of no where, it could be difficult
to implement in language usauge," Hoberg added.
The German
'it'
There is
one point, however, upon which linguists are agreed: the grammatically neutral
German word "es," meaning "it," could under no
circumstances be used as a gender-neutral pronoun, with many transsexuals also
opposing the word.
"People
would interpret that as objectification. The word 'es' has a very strong sense
of neuter," argued Professx Hornscheidt.
"I
think there must be a new form."
ksb/bw (dpa, AFP)
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