A Linguistic Perspective on Feminisation and Gender-Inclusive Language

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study on the perception of feminisation and gender mismatches in Italian. The study probes the intuition of native Italian speakers through tasks that highlight their linguistic habits. The results point to two separate but interrelated reflections. First, they show that semantic gender can override grammatical gender in partitives. Second, they reveal that the acceptance of feminine profession nouns is not widespread, especially for those nouns that refer to prestigious professions. The work presented here stems from an Italian adaptation of a study originally designed for French and German.

Keywords

• Feminisation. Gender agreement. Gender mismatch. Gender-fair language. Partitive constructions