Sexus (language)
The sex [ zɛksʊs ] ( Latin sexus "gender") is a category of linguistics for the biological sex . The sex of living beings can be marked in many languages by a corresponding grammatical gender ( gender ) and specific morphemes . The term Sexus does not apply to words that do not refer to living beings (e.g. the word “table” in German is grammatically masculine, but tables are not “male”). The gender of words, on the other hand, is used to divide words into grammatical classes (in genera), which one language requires for all nouns .
Complications arise with terms for people and animals because there are also generic terms that refer to male and female people or animals. The word “the cat” can include a tomcat (generic term), but it can also refer exclusively to female cats. Generic terms are considered unmarked for sex. One speaks here of generic forms, which can be recognized by the fact that the "wrong" biological gender is semantically included.
For the representatives of the "wrong" sex, there are usually separate words, which can usually be derived from the unmarked generic term using Motion (example: the suffix "-in" is used to semantically mark female teachers in the word "Lehrerin") Suffix “-rich” male animals, e.g. in the word “drake”).
Further examples
The words "Hase" or "Gans" are not sexually marked in German. So when a “hare” or a “goose” is spoken of, it usually remains open whether it is a male or a female animal; on the other hand, the words "Häsin" or "Gänserich" are clearly sexus marked by the motive suffixes "(Häs) -in" or "(Gäns) -erich". If a “ganter” is spoken of, the generic term is replaced by another word ( suppletion ) (even if the reference to the basic word “goose” remains recognizable in the specific case). “Herr” is a word that semantically relates to men, with the motive suffix “-in” it can be referred to women, since the word “Herr” in its basic meaning is not a mere stylistic modification of the word “man”, but rather itself refers to someone who has authority.
Many languages have their own words, at least for some sexes, in order to express the meaning of terms for humans and other animals paired with a sex specification. Thus the word actress, formed through movement , marks female sex, and so the acteur in French is opposed to actrice . In the English language, most words are unmarked because English nouns have no genera. But English also can be an actor in specific than actress designate. However, it is controversial to what extent words like actor or English actor mark male sex. Jacob Grimm and Feminist Linguistics say yes.
Sex-neutral language
In linguistics it is controversial whether there is an equation of sex and gender and whether this is based on social ideas - or whether they can influence them. The part of the feminist linguistics is required that persons appear either both sexes "make language visible" ( "teachers ... teachers ... Lehrer_innen") or remain "gender neutral" to imply without sexuality ( "teachers ... teachers ... teachers"). Individual spellings such as Binnen-I or Gender Gap remain controversial in the public discussion, as does the gender asterisk , which expressly also includes non-binary people (compare Divers , Third Gender ).
In November 2018, the German Spelling Council analyzed the occurrence of these three spellings in text types and existing guidelines, but did not make any recommendations. These forms would not be covered by the official rules on upper and lower case letters. Regarding the gender asterisk, the Council notes: "With the increase in the frequency of the asterisks, the gender-equitable spelling with pair forms goes back."
See also
- generic masculine / generic feminine (masculine / feminine word form used in general terms)
- constructio ad sensum (syntactic construction according to meaning)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martina Werner: On the use of gender-equitable language - the grammatical category gender. Handout for the women's representative at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. 2007 ( PDF: 84 kB, 14 pages on Frauenbeauftragte.uni-muenchen.de ( memento from November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )).
- ^ Robert J. Pittner / Karin Pittner (eds.): Contributions to language and languages. 2. Lectures of the 5th Munich Linguistics Days 1995. Lincom Europa, Munich 1995, p. 153.
- ^ Council for German Spelling (RdR): Report and proposals of the working group "Gender Equitable Spelling" to the meeting of the Council for German Spelling on November 16, 2018 - Revised version ... Mannheim, November 16, 2018, pp. 9-11 ( PDF: 455 kB , 11 pages on Rechtsschreibrat.com).