[lg policy] Germans try to get their tongues around gender-neutral language

[Dave Sayers]

"Der, die or das? For centuries, the seemingly arbitrary allocation of masculine, 
feminine and neutral gender articles in German has driven non-native speakers to 
despair. "In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has," the American 
writer Mark Twain once complained. "Think what overwrought reverence that shows for 
the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl."

But hope may finally be in sight. Changing attitudes to gender are increasingly 
transforming the German language, and some theorists argue that scrapping the 
gendered articles altogether may be the most logical outcome."

More here: http://goo.gl/h7pH0n

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University, UK
dave.sayers at cantab.net | http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers


_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list