The academics who have joined the Research Networking Project are specialists on issues related to gender-inclusivity within their respective disciplines and the languages they study. Their research records illustrate that there exists a solid foundation of research on gender-inclusive language in the context of specific languages.
However, cross-linguistic comparative research on this topic is infrequent, not just in Linguistics but also in related fields like Psychology and Translation Studies. Also, there is a lack of the application of mixed approaches and methods to explore gender-inclusive language.
This not only explains the remarkable success of research events such as the international conference onAttitudes Towards Gender-Inclusive Language: A Multinational Perspective, organized by Dr Falco Pfalzgraf, which was held online on 8th and 9th September 2022 and received over 80 proposals from researchers in 25 different countries, and resulted in the presentation of 33 papers by 46 speakers from 17 countries to 192 registered conference participants. It also demonstrates the eagerness of scholars from various related fields, who investigate gender-inclusive language use in their respective languages, to explore the subject through a comparative, cross-disciplinary, and cross-linguistic perspective, applying a range of approaches and methods.
The conference mentioned also attracted a considerable number of non-academic practitioners among its registrants. This indicates a level of interest in attitudes towards gender-inclusive language that extends beyond academia.
Dr Falco Pfalzgraf (QMUL), Organiser of the Research Networking Project