Page 167 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 167
abstracts ■ povzetki
Mojca Šorli
FEMINISM AND GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE:
BETWEEN SYSTEMS AND EFFECTS
The debate on language and gender in Slovenia raises the issue of gen-
der-sensitive language use, which goes far beyond mere equality and in-
clusiveness in language use. While the establishment of (gender) identity
in language is related to the theoretical question of the social construc-
tion of gender, ensuring gender equality in language is also a matter that
requires social engagement in various fields, especially including various
segments of the education system. As the first public debate on this issue
– organised by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, on 23 October
2018, following attempts to reduce gender inequality in legal documents
adopted by the Faculty – showed, the approach to language and gender
will necessarily be interdisciplinary. Linguistic considerations call for a
shift in emphasis from vocabulary and address code (available resources)
to arguments of morphosyntactic form and, in particular, to the symbol-
ic structure of linguistic signs, taking into account relevant contributions
from other research areas that have understood the attribution of gender
– even sex – as a socially determined decision (e.g. Butler, 2001 /1990/,
1993). Since we are, at this point, particularly interested in the impact of
gender-sensitive language use on the discursive level, we argue that the es-
sence of the effort to make language more inclusive – with an emphasis
on discourse in education – is not to offer, authorise and institutionalise
individual solutions and strategies under the auspices of the language au-
thorities, but to understand gender-sensitive language use as a multiplici-
ty of micro-politics and as a continuous process that leads us to re-exam-
ine linguistic “facts” in relation to a given social context.
Key words: gender-sensitive language use, education, discourse, language
system, masculinity as norm, grammatical gender, gender
FEMINIZEM IN SPOLNA NEVTRALNOST V JEZIKU:
SISTEMI IN UČINKI
Razprava o jeziku in spolu v slovenskem prostoru načenja problematiko
spolno občutljive rabe jezika (SORJ), ki daleč presega zgolj enakopravnost
in inkluzivnost v jezikovni rabi. Vzpostavljanje (spolne) identitete v jeziku
se navezuje tudi na teoretsko vprašanje družbene konstrukcije spola, obe-
nem pa je zagotavljanje enakosti spolov v jeziku povsem operativno vpra-
šanje, ki terja ukrepe na številnih poljih družbenega delovanja, tudi in še
posebej v različnih segmentih izobraževanja. Kot je pokazala prva insti-
tucionalno organizirana javna razprava dne 23. oktobra 2018 na FF UL,
ki je sledila sprejetju strategije za zmanjševanje nesorazmerij po spolu na
165
Mojca Šorli
FEMINISM AND GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE:
BETWEEN SYSTEMS AND EFFECTS
The debate on language and gender in Slovenia raises the issue of gen-
der-sensitive language use, which goes far beyond mere equality and in-
clusiveness in language use. While the establishment of (gender) identity
in language is related to the theoretical question of the social construc-
tion of gender, ensuring gender equality in language is also a matter that
requires social engagement in various fields, especially including various
segments of the education system. As the first public debate on this issue
– organised by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, on 23 October
2018, following attempts to reduce gender inequality in legal documents
adopted by the Faculty – showed, the approach to language and gender
will necessarily be interdisciplinary. Linguistic considerations call for a
shift in emphasis from vocabulary and address code (available resources)
to arguments of morphosyntactic form and, in particular, to the symbol-
ic structure of linguistic signs, taking into account relevant contributions
from other research areas that have understood the attribution of gender
– even sex – as a socially determined decision (e.g. Butler, 2001 /1990/,
1993). Since we are, at this point, particularly interested in the impact of
gender-sensitive language use on the discursive level, we argue that the es-
sence of the effort to make language more inclusive – with an emphasis
on discourse in education – is not to offer, authorise and institutionalise
individual solutions and strategies under the auspices of the language au-
thorities, but to understand gender-sensitive language use as a multiplici-
ty of micro-politics and as a continuous process that leads us to re-exam-
ine linguistic “facts” in relation to a given social context.
Key words: gender-sensitive language use, education, discourse, language
system, masculinity as norm, grammatical gender, gender
FEMINIZEM IN SPOLNA NEVTRALNOST V JEZIKU:
SISTEMI IN UČINKI
Razprava o jeziku in spolu v slovenskem prostoru načenja problematiko
spolno občutljive rabe jezika (SORJ), ki daleč presega zgolj enakopravnost
in inkluzivnost v jezikovni rabi. Vzpostavljanje (spolne) identitete v jeziku
se navezuje tudi na teoretsko vprašanje družbene konstrukcije spola, obe-
nem pa je zagotavljanje enakosti spolov v jeziku povsem operativno vpra-
šanje, ki terja ukrepe na številnih poljih družbenega delovanja, tudi in še
posebej v različnih segmentih izobraževanja. Kot je pokazala prva insti-
tucionalno organizirana javna razprava dne 23. oktobra 2018 na FF UL,
ki je sledila sprejetju strategije za zmanjševanje nesorazmerij po spolu na
165
