Conference Summary

Gender-neutral and gender-inclusive language is currently being discussed in the public sphere, and views on the subject have increasingly been voiced by individuals as well as organisations. These include state institutions, private associations, subject specialists such as linguists, and private individuals / laypeople. Views of and attitudes towards gender-neutral language cover a broad spectrum between extreme ends, and even subject specialists hold conflicting views.

Some academic research on attitudes towards gender-neutral language has been conducted and published. However, a multinational/multilingual, comparative perspective is still missing. To address this shortcoming, this international conference will bring together researchers studying attitudes towards gender-neutral language in different languages and countries.

Examples of questions which will be addressed and discussed are: How are attitudes towards gender-neutral language voiced in different countries and languages? What groups or individuals engage in the debate, and what are their views and attitudes? What are the prevailing discourses? Are there clashes between proponents of different varieties of gender-fair language?

The international conference Attitudes towards gender-inclusive language. A multinational perspective was held online on Thursday 8th and Friday 9th September 2022.

The number of submitted proposals was unforeseeable: We received proposals from well over 80 researchers, based in 25 countries. We accepted the top 40% of all proposals, which led to the extension of the conference to a second day.

33 papers were presented by 46 speakers based in 17 countries: Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Pakistan, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA.

In total, 192 participants registered for the conference. They were based in 36 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Congo (DR), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco , Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Ukraine, USA

To ensure fair access, the conference was online and free of charge.

Conference Programme & Archive

Thursday 8th September 2022

07:00 – 07:15 Welcome (Falco PFALZGRAF, QMUL)

Block 1: German specifics [recording]

07:15 – 07:45
Hanna BRUNS (Bonn) & Swantje LEITING (Bonn)
“Gendern nein danke” or “Gendern ist richtig und wichtig”? The impact of attitudes on the use of gender-inclusive language in German.
Abstract [PDF 55KB]      Presentation [PDF 635KB]

07:45 – 08:15
Lisa ZACHARSKI (Freiburg)
Supporting pair forms while criticising the asterisk – A questionnaire to measure potential differences in attitudes towards binary and nonbinary gender-fair language in German.
Abstract [PDF 152KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,672KB]

08:15 – 08:30
15-minute break

Block 2: Guidelines [recording]

08:30 – 09:00 (recording not permitted)
Julija KOROSTENSKIENĖ (Vilnius)
Framing of the gender-sensitive language debate in Lithuanian online newspaper articles: a constructivist perspective.
Abstract [PDF 80KB]      [PPT/PDF of presentation not provided]

09:00 – 09:30
Maria Barbara LANGE (Hannover)
Attitudes towards gender-fair language within German academia. Comparing positions adopted by university guidelines for gender-fair language with attitudes found amongst medical and gender researchers.
Abstract [PDF 64KB]      Presentation [PDF 690KB]

09:30 – 09:45
15-minute break

Block 3: Language associations [recording]

09:45 – 10:15
Christine IVANOV (Hannover)
“Demented suicide attacks” on a “naturally and organically grown German language” and consequential appeals for “life-sustaining defensive actions” – Metaphors employed in the discourse on gender-inclusive language.
Abstract [PDF 63KB]      Presentation [PDF 767KB]

10:15 – 10:45 (recording not permitted)
Ewa TRUTKOWSKI (Berlin)
'Relax (and shut up!)': On a peculiarity in the German debate on gendered language.
Abstract [PDF 77KB]      Presentation [PDF 526KB]

10:45 – 11:15
Falco PFALZGRAF (London)
Attitudes of the purist association 'Verein Deutsche Sprache' towards gender-inclusive language.
Abstract [PDF 83KB]      Presentation [PDF 199KB]

11:15 – 12:00
45-minute break

Block 4: Usage of gender-neutral pronouns [recording]

12:00 – 12:30 (recording not permitted)
Daniel WOJAHN (Södertörn)
Ten years with 'hen'. Public attitudes towards the Swedish gender-neutral pronoun 'hen' (2012–2022).
Abstract [PDF 58KB]      Presentation [PDF 372KB]

12:30 – 13:00
Emma Aurora RENSTRÖM (Kristianstad) & Anna LINDQVIST (Lund) & Marie GUSTAFSSON SENDÉN (Stockholm)
Attitudes to gender-inclusive pronouns.
Abstract [PDF 39KB]      Presentation [PDF 2,008KB]

13:00 – 13:30
Rachna KAUL & Glenda-Alicia LEUNG & Allyson NOLDE & Rebecca ISRAEL & Tim POEPSEL & Rachael BROWNING & Elizabeth MCCULLOUGH & Shawn MCKOWN (all RWS)
Translator attitudes towards gender-neutral language in clinical outcomes assessments.
Abstract [PDF 70KB]      Presentation [PDF 936KB]

13:30 – 13:45
15-minute break

Block 5: Introducing gender-neutral pronouns I [recording]

13:45 – 14:15
Anna M. THORNTON (L'Aquila)
The debate on gender-inclusive language in Italy.
Abstract [PDF 125KB]      Presentation [PDF 2,483KB]

14:15 – 14:45
Rosalba NODARI (Siena)
Attitudes and stereotypes of gender inclusive strategies in Italian.
Abstract [PDF 64KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,245KB]

14:45 – 15:15
Federica FORMATO (Brighton)
Building identities: the case of Inclusive language in Italian.
Abstract [PDF 54KB]      Presentation [PDF 2,416KB]

15:15 – 15:30
15-minute break

Block 6: Introducing gender-neutral pronouns II [recording]

15:30 – 16:00
Ann COADY (Montpellier)
Language ideologies in inclusive language debates in France (2000-2022).
Abstract [PDF 63KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,022KB]

16:30 – 17:00
Fernando GONZALEZ LESNIAK (Minnesota)
Preferred Gender Neutral and Inclusive Language used by Spanish Speakers in the United States.
Abstract [PDF 76KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,622KB]

17:00 – 17:30
Jennifer KAPLAN (Berkeley)
Attitudes Toward Inclusive Writing in the Opinion Pieces of Le Monde, Le Figaro and Libération.
Abstract [PDF 63KB]      Presentation [PDF 2,652KB]

17:30 – 17:45
Falco PFALZGRAF (London, QMUL) Day 1 concluding remarks

Friday 9th September 2022

07:00 – 07:15 Welcome (Falco PFALZGRAF, QMUL)

Block 7: ‘Genderless’ languages [recording]

07:15 – 07:45
Xiaoduan FAN (Essex)
Attitudes toward sexist/nonsexist language in Chinese.
Abstract [PDF 64KB]      Presentation [PDF 723KB]

07:45 – 08:15
Laura HEKANAHO (Helsinki)
Gender exclusive and inclusive language in Finnish: Usage and attitudes.
Abstract [PDF 44KB]      Presentation [PDF 715KB]

08:15 – 08:45
Alexandra PUKÁNSZKY (Debrecen)
Attitudes towards gender-inclusive language in Finland.
Abstract [PDF 50KB]      Presentation [PDF 111KB]

08:45 – 09:00
15-minute break

Block 8: Twitter, fora, etc. [recording]

09:00 – 09:30 (recording not permitted)
Shirin ZUBAIR (Warsaw) & Elisabetta CAMPAGNI (Venice) & Hamna LATIF-KHAN (Lahore)
Sexism and its (dis)content: Contestations and re-appropriation of language and semiotics by women and transgender persons in Pakistan.
Abstract [PDF 58KB]      [PPT/PDF of presentation not provided]

09:30 – 10:00
Paige JOHNSON (Liverpool)
A war on women? The extent to which French and English are presented and perceived as necessitating feminist language reform on social media.
Abstract [PDF 58KB]      Presentation [PDF 343KB]

10:00 – 10:30
Sara RAFAEL-CRUZ (Madrid)
Evaluative discourses in the debate of the feminization of agentives in Spain.
Abstract [PDF 53KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,241KB]

10:30 – 11:00
Justīne BONDARE (Rīga)
Attitudes towards gender-inclusive language: Latvian Twitter and online forum threads.
Abstract [PDF 46KB]      Presentation [PDF 498KB]

11:00 – 11:45b
45-minute break

Block 9: Teachers & students / foreign speakers abroad [recording]

11:45 – 12:15
Mubashira AZIZ (Multan) & Mamona Yasmin KHAN (Multan)
Tracing attitudes of ELT and non-ELT female pakistani teachers towards trans-inclusive English language.
Abstract [PDF 42KB]      Presentation [PDF 911KB]

12:15 – 12:45
Mónica SÁNCHEZ-TORRES (Tampere & Alcalá)
Finnish and Spanish speakers’ attitudes towards (non-) sexist language in English.
Abstract [PDF 45KB]      Presentation [PDF 797KB]

12:45 – 13:15
Naomi TRUAN (Leipzig)
“Using gender-inclusive language is easier in German” or when language ideologies meet multilingualism.
Abstract [PDF 52KB]      Presentation [PDF 5,044KB]

13:15 – 13:30
15-minute break

Block 10: Various media [recording]

13:30 – 14:00
Małgorzata SZAJBEL-KECK (Frankfurt/Oder)
Public debate on gender-fair language in Poland.
Abstract [PDF 65KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,360KB]

14:00 – 14:30
Laura DELALOYE SAILLEN (Lausanne) & Benjamin STORME (Leiden)
Linguists in the media sphere: the role of the public media in the implementation of inclusive language policies in French-speaking Switzerland.
Abstract [PDF 58KB]      Presentation [PDF 3,755KB]

14:30 – 15:00
Paul W. MEULENEERS (Freiburg)
On the "invention" of 'the' gender language.
Abstract [PDF 50KB]      Presentation [PDF 791KB]

15:00 – 15:30
Ruxandra VIȘAN (Bucharest)
English as a model of neutrality?
Abstract [PDF 45KB]      Presentation [PDF 464KB]

15:30 – 15:45
15-minute break

Block 11: Language change [recording]

15:45 – 16:15
Garbiñe BEREZIARTUA (Donostia / San Sebastian) & Beñat MUGURUZA (Portugalete)
In favour of the Basque gendered address form: Why assume the risk of having a sexist language?
Abstract [PDF 44KB]      Presentation [PDF 1,595KB]

16:15 – 16:45
Silvia RIVERA ALFARO (New York) & Ernesto CUBA (New York)
Different approaches to naming gender-inclusive language in Spanish: A data-driven contribution to the transnational debate.
Abstract [PDF 64KB]      Presentation [PDF 4,007KB]

16:45 – 17:15
Meg ROBERTSON (Boulder) & Riki THOMPSON (Seattle)
Shifting attitudes, shifting styles: codifying gender-inclusive language use in style manuals.
Abstract [PDF 52KB]      Presentation [PDF 2,181KB]

17:15 – 17:30
Falco PFALZGRAF (London, QMUL)
Concluding remarks / conference closure

If you should have any questions or comments, please contact the conference Organiser:

Dr Falco Pfalzgraf
f.pfalzgraf@qmul.ac.uk
Queen Mary University of London
School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
Mile End Campus
London E1 4NS
United Kingdom

[This conference was adverstised on the Sociolinguistic Events Calendar]