Chapter Nel nome del neutro. Problemi e soluzioni
Abstract
The only (non-divisive) way to address the representation of linguistic gender identity is to attempt – albeit not without difficulty – a negotiation between the protection of the common linguistic norm and accommodating the progressive proliferation of identities. This process must begin from a specific point, one for which no general consensus yet exists. There is no grammatical sacrilege in feminizing terms such as sindaco or ministro: in Italian, masculine nouns ending in -o typically take -a in their feminine forms, leaving no structural reason to reject sindaca or ministra. However, inclusive forms such as direttorə and pittorə, autorə and lettorə, rather than challenging their masculine equivalents, risk stalling progress. In classical Latin, the feminine form of pictor (pictrix) did not exist; a woman engaged in painting in ancient Rome had to resort to circumlocutions like pingendi artifex («an artist in the field of painting»). It took centuries to “institutionalize” many feminine forms of professional titles, and we are still far from granting them full social recognition. The current wave of advocacy for a neutral gender risks relegating to obscurity precisely those feminine forms (such as direttrice and pittrice, autrice and lettrice) that we must instead promote – and encourage others to promote – without hesitation.
Keywords
Job titles; Linguistic norms; Feminization of languageDOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0484-2.04ISBN
9791221504842, 9791221504842Publisher
Firenze University PressPublisher website
https://www.fupress.com/Publication date and place
Florence, 2024Series
Strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca, 226Classification
Language teaching theory and methods
Biography, Literature and Literary studies