4 ms·
To get a bit more into detail on this issue: In German, nouns referring to occupations generally are all gendered, where the base word is male, and the suffix "
by Ded7xSEoPKYNsDd 11y ago
To get a bit more into detail on this issue: In German, nouns referring to occupations generally are all gendered, where the base word is male, and the suffix "in" changes that to female. In cases of mixed groups, or where the gender doesn't matter, the suffix is not used:
Singular:
Studentin = student (female)
Student = student (male, or unspecified)
Plural:
Studentinnen = students (all female*)
Studenten = students (at least one male, or unspecified)
Feminists (correctly) identified this imbalance as an issue of sexist language. The problem is, there isn't an easy fix. The common solutions nowadays are to use phrases like "Studenten and Studentinnen" (creating the new issue of which gender to name first) or in written form "StudentInnen". That's kind of clunky, creating a desire to use ungendered words where possible. So then people come up with constructs like this because they happen to be ungendered (but horrible in other ways).
I think in Austria, using the female form even for mixed/unknown groups is relatively common nowadays. But I'm just a very occasional visitor there and I'm not certain about the details. (Do they throw dice to determine which to use? Or did they just switch to the female, which then could be interpreted to be sexist against men.)
- kuschku 11y agoActually, neither Studentinnen nor Studenten nor StudentInnen is used at all anymore. There is an easy fix: Using the plural particip of the verb. Studierende. Geflüchtete. Werdende.
- ben0x539 11y agoDoesn't buy you much in the singular case since you gotta pick a gendered article. :/
- majewsky 11y ago"Studierende" is actually a counterexample, because it means "people who are studying right now". So if you hear of "Studierendenproteste" rather than "Studentenproteste" (student protests), you can picture them reading books during their protest. :)
- gandarojin 11y ago“Student” comes from Latin “studens”, which grammatically is exactly the same as “studierend” (Partizip I in German / Present Active Participle in Latin). The difference in meaning is random.
- Koshkin 11y agoHeh, but German is not Latin, and so 'student' in German, as often happens with borrowed words, has acquired a different meaning, viz. that of a noun in this case.
- gandarojin 11y agoSorry, in Latin every adjective can also be used as a noun. So “studens” (“studierend”) can also mean “Studierende(r)”. Edit: The point is, Latin “studens” also has the concurrency aspect to it, just as German “Studierender”. If you say “studens ambulat”, it means “He/she is taking a walk, while studying.”
- hussong 11y agoI think you might be reading too much "right now" into "-ende". Counterexamples: Tragende Wand, führende Persönlichkeiten, rollende Landstraße etc.