{"id":1247,"date":"2023-07-07T14:38:53","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T12:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.divers2023.ch\/?page_id=1247"},"modified":"2023-10-12T11:27:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T09:27:43","slug":"language","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.divers2023.ch\/en\/language\/","title":{"rendered":"Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Language is communication, knowledge transfer, definition, argumentation, discussion. Its complexity signals the complexity of human being.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Language is closely linked with thinking, identity and our ideas of ourselves and of the world. If we want to change language, we must alter the way we speak, meaning, we must alter ourselves. For this reason, language innovations often give rise to resistance and social debates. However, many changes are also taking place which we scarcely perceive because they comply with our use of language. They come about by themselves, as it were.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u00abUse: discriminatory\u00bb<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The German Duden Dictionary adds this reference to words whose use is discriminatory and derogatry. Well-known English examples are nigger<\/s> or gypsy<\/s>. The German terms for asylum seeker and invalid (Asylant and Behinderter) are marked as derogatory. If we want to speak respectfully, we use other terms and a politically-correct language. This means that we speak about others the same way that we would like them to speak about us. Language usually provides numerous alternatives for the above-mentioned terms, and many of these have long since become established, for example, people of colour or Black people, Roma and Sinti. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Majority \u2013 Minority<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost people are, most people know…\u201d. These turns of phrase, often used with no ill intent, include, and above all, exclude all those who are not, or do not know. Many everyday uses of language have a discriminating impact without us always being aware of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cEquitable language alone is not enough to bring about a just world. By using it, however, we show that we actually want an equitable world.\u201d<\/p>\nAnatol Stefanowitsch, Eine Frage der Moral: Warum wir politisch korrekte Sprache brauchen<\/em>, 2018<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Inclusive Language:
Refers to everyone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In former times, language indicated if a woman was married or not: in English through the use of Mrs. and Miss, in French Madame and Mademoiselle, in Italian Signora and Signorina and in German Frau and Fr\u00e4ulein. What is striking is that most languages use a diminutive form of the word for a married woman when addressing an unmarried woman. For this reason, and above all because the form of address should not always communicate a person\u2019s married status, these terms for unmarried women are gradually disappearing from use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In English, the generic masculine, i.e., the male form, is used for all genders. In other languages, for example French or German, male and female forms are now linked by special characters: conservateur ice, or K\u00fcnstler*innen or K\u00fcnstler:innen. These combined forms are regarded as a gender-conscious use of language. Their aim is to ensure that language reflects all genders. In Englisch gender-consious language means for example humankind instead of mankind, people instead of man\/men or firefighter instead of firemen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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