Inclusive language

A starting point for inclusive language

It may seem unnecessary to say this, but in today’s society even obvious things often need spelling out.

Language is only one part, perhaps not even the most important, of showing consideration for others.

Unfortunately, Italian does not make inclusive language easy, but we can try.

English

English is certainly in a better position: it allows gender-neutral they/them pronouns, and sentence structure is independent of gender. This makes inclusive language easier.

If we do not know the person we are referring to and want to be inclusive, we can use a neutral pronoun.

For example:

Someone left his or her backpack behind. → Someone left their backpack behind.

Italian

Italian does not allow the same forms, so various methods have appeared over the years. Each has flaws or limitations that make genuinely inclusive language difficult.

He/she

The first method includes both masculine and feminine pronouns and endings: “caro/a iscritto/a”, meaning “dear member”. It has two limitations, one visual and one substantive.

1. Longer passages become awkward and almost unreadable: “caro/a iscritto/a, invitiamo lei ed il/la suo/sua partner alla festa di premiazione del/della più attivo/a socio.” This invites a member and their partner to an award ceremony, but every gendered form is doubled.
2. By now everyone should know we cannot limit ourselves to a binary system. This method excludes people who identify as neither male nor female.

Asterisks

Italian has gender-dependent articles, verb forms, pronouns and prepositions, so simply inserting asterisks leaves many problems. For example, “la professoressa di matematica ha premiato il suo alunno” becomes “l* professor* di matematica ha premiato *l* suo alunn*”. A simple sentence about a maths teacher rewarding a pupil becomes unclear and impossible to read aloud. The masculine article il becomes la in the feminine; where should the asterisk go? Professore becomes professoressa.

Excessive symbols may also cause problems for people with dyslexia. Trying to include one group risks making things harder for another.

Schwa (ə)

It solves one problem with the asterisk: it has a sound, roughly between “a” and “e”. But the other problems remain, and the sentence is still confusing.

The generic masculine

Another difficulty is the grammatical rule that masculine forms take precedence over feminine ones. A group of a hundred women and one man must be referred to in the masculine. The student body as a whole, for example, is usually simply studenti.

Possible solutions

Are there no solutions? If we insist on conventional grammar, it can seem that way. Fortunately, rather than overturning grammar, I think the best solution is to use paraphrases generously.

Try constructing sentences that do not require gendered forms. Instead of “ciao ragazzi”, roughly “hi guys”, use “ciao gente”, “hi folks”. Alternatives are not always easy: think of the familiar “ladies and gentlemen”, which is no longer particularly inclusive.

One useful trick is the word “person”. It can make a sentence less graceful, but habit helps. Instead of the masculine “un caloroso benvenuto a tutti”, why not “un caloroso benvenuto a tutte le persone presenti”, a warm welcome to all the people present? When referring to someone whose gender identity we do not know, and should not assume from appearance, why not use a formulation with persona, avoiding a gendered personal pronoun?

Job titles present similar difficulties. Instead of looking for “uno sviluppatore software”, a masculine software developer, we could seek “una risorsa che sviluppi software”, someone who develops software.

Conclusions

Respect is shown through actions before words. Someone using the formal Italian “lei” does not necessarily respect us more than someone using “tu”, or even calling us “mate”. If I address a non-binary person or someone with gender dysphoria using the wrong pronoun but otherwise treat them respectfully as a person, I hope they can forgive my lapse. I would welcome a correction so I can avoid repeating it.

For about a year I have tried to phrase things as inclusively as possible. It takes effort and I do not always succeed, as the articles on this site probably show. Still, if my language helps even one person feel included, or prevents a careless phrase from causing discomfort, I believe it is worth it.

Further reading:

• Why they/them cannot simply be translated as “loro” in Italian
• What gender identity is and how it develops