Is this for real? I can’t draw no other conclusion than US defaultism in trans activism gives a free pass to TERF politics in Europe. This kind of news from Germany cannot mean anything good.

According to Wikipedia:

In 2019, the German Language Association VDS (Verein Deutsche Sprache; not to be confused with the Association for the German Language Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, GfdS) launched a petition against the use of the gender star, saying it was a “destructive intrusion” into the German language and created “ridiculous linguistic structures”. It was signed by over 100 writers and scholars.[11] Luise F. Pusch, a German feminist linguist, criticises the gender star as it still makes women the ‘second choice’ by the use of the feminine suffix.[12] In 2020, the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache declared Gendersternchen to be one of the 10 German Words of the Year.[13]

In 2023, the state of Saxony banned the use of gender stars and gender gaps in schools and education, which marks students’ use of the gender stars as incorrect.[14][15] In March 2024, Bavaria banned gender-neutral language in schools, universities and several other public authorities.[16][17] In April 2024, Hesse banned the use of gender neutral language, including gender stars, in administrative language.[18]

Here are the original Wikipedia references

  1. “Der Aufruf und seine Erstunterzeichner”. Verein Deutsche Sprache (in German). 6 March 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  2. Schlüter, Nadja (22 April 2019). ““Das Gendersternchen ist nicht die richtige Lösung””. Jetzt.de (in German). Retrieved 5 April 2020. “GfdS Wort des Jahres” (in German). Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  3. Jones, Sam; Willsher, Kim; Oltermann, Philip; Giuffrida, Angela (2023-11-04). “What’s in a word? How less-gendered language is faring across Europe”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  4. “Schools in Saxony are forbidden to use gender language”. cne.news. Retrieved 2024-04-05.

I got into this rabbit hole from this news article

News article in German

Archived

  • Let’s be honest: it looks like shit and interrupts the flow of a sentence. The alternative of writing both words completely also makes sentences way longer than they should be.

    Every gendered language would have to make massive changes to become ungendered and change their grammar too. There’s quite a large list of ungendered languages.

    German, to my knowledge, is like Russian and has cases which change the ending of a noun depending on the purpose in the sentence (subject, direct object, indirect object, possessor, location, time, …). Languages with only male and female would have to add a neutral ending, and languages with 3 grammatical genders would have to either use the neutral ending - if there is one, or make a new one specific to living beings.

    Then of course pronouns would have to be changed too. In English they/them is already confusing enough when talking about a singular person to somebody and the person doesn’t know it’s a single person e.g “I talked to them today” - a group or a person? Until hints are dropped it isn’t clear. The most logical would’ve been “it”, but that’s used for inanimate objects. I’m sure there’s a neutral third person singular pronoun languages could borrow instead of using the second person plural.

    • But aren’t all these technicalities to undermine the inclusion of one or more genders on the basis of some linguistic purism?

      This makes me smirk, because a single course in college linguistics will persuade you there is not bigger amalgamated bastard in town than a human language, which is any non-formal language.

      For example, you say they ambiguity of they/them, isn’t this comparable to the ambiguity between you/you in plural/singular.

      Ambiguity is like, an inherent feature of any language and there are hundreds of languages that resolve ambiguities based on context. Plus, the scholars said that singular them is in usage since the Middle Ages or sth.

      So to me all this is a tension between A and B, where A is either linguistic purism or typographical convenience, and B is always including women/trans/non-binary folks. At the same time most people won’t accept the feminine gender as all-inclusive because of their fears of emasculation.

      It is a deeply laughable situation.

      •  Miaou   ( @Miaou@jlai.lu ) 
        link
        fedilink
        1
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Would be interesting to know what’s your native language, to get an idea of what evolutions are possible.

        Because surely someone with such a stark opinion on the matters speaks a gendered language natively, right?

    • So in German we have different forms of job descriptions depending if the gender of the person. So doctor would be Arzt for a dude and Ärztin for a lass. Now when talking about a mixed gender group of doctors, the plural form of the masculine form would be generally used. This kinda leads to people always thinking about a group of male doctors. To mitigate that, there’s been multiple attempts to make more inclusive forms. For the most time listing both forms was the go to, as in Ärzte und Ärztinnen. The gender star was an attempt to combine it into Ärzt*Innen in which the star was read as a little pause. Other ways to write that pause include ÄrztInnen where you just capitalize the I and my favourite Ärzt:Innen, as the : is read as a pause by screen readers while the star is read as it’s own word by then. My actual favourite form however is gendering after Phettberg which entirely gets rid of the gender and builds a different plural: Ärztis. It also sounds cute and I’m all for more cuteness. That form sadly is used nowhere.

  •  Cpo   ( @Cpo@lemm.ee ) 
    link
    fedilink
    31 month ago

    And why would you care? You are obviously not German (otherwise you would know that the shit you post is BS) and obviously scared about inclusivity (because you worry about how other people call themselves).

    Get a life.

    • Since this vile comment goes against Lemmy etiquette I need not provide a response. But I will.

      how other people call themselves

      You must be another level of stupid to write this out. Perhaps you mean, I shouldn’t care what other “governments” or “majorities” want their citizens to call or not-call themselves. Only a nationalist would say such a thing, that your government has the right to self-define (or …impose?) how its people call themselves. This is some true Orban-level shit you managed to fit in your, well, fit.

      And, yes, this is a politics issue I want to see in the same maps we monitor US gender politics with.

      obviously not German

      Very proudly not so. I cherish the fact that German nationalists tend to end up shot or hang, as one of the few things that provide meaning to my post-WWII life. The historical equivalent of a narcissist man-child demanding attention to himself, a real small-dick energy nation, that enthusiastically voted for a mustached idiot for the job. So, not German, and so happy about it.

      obviously scared about inclusivity

      The fact that you fail to understand this is a pro-inclusivity post means that you are so dump that you would have been euthanized in your own country, less than 100 years ago, unless you enrolled to a specific party of anti-intellectual idiots. Ah I forgot, you already are. Sound survival of the fittest strategy.

      Now, let’s sit around waiting you to ridicule yourself with another one of these comments ROFL

      •  Cpo   ( @Cpo@lemm.ee ) 
        link
        fedilink
        2
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        The “star construct” you mention and hang an entire theory on is just a German language construct. It has to do with gender but not the way you imagine it to be. Just gender as a language construct (German is full of gender constructs).

        Maybe I made the error of explaining your post with the typical US “there is only one gender” stance which is so irritatingly omni present on youtube nowadays.

        But if that was not your intention, it might also be an error to call me nationalist. I am not. I am all for gender inclusivity. If you are as well we have no beef.

        And PS: yes, you are still an asshole.

        • you are still an asshole

          Thank you

          the error of explaining your post with the typical US

          Sure enough going after your colloquotors’ nationality was an ill-chosen angle, since you wanted to criticize the idea of one-gender, reducing it to Americans. Same goes for another asshole who was quick to attribute it to me supposedly being the speaker of a “genderless” language.

          This is a bullshit attitude because you are going for the extra step.

          “You don’t get the nuances of our language to understand what this is about. It is because you are not German / you are the native of a genderless language / you are a US defaultist who wants to impose his own view”

          For one thing I hardly think English is a genderless language, and second has it crossed your mind someone can speak several languages fluently, some of which “gendered”.

          I am not responsible for the lamentable state of internet discussions these days, but next time try to formulate and debunk the opponent idea before spewing several extra thought steps, bringing ad hominem and national origins into the mix, if you don’t want to be spoken to like that.

          an error to call me nationalist. I am not

          Great, Good for you