For four decades, controversial (meta-linguistic) discussions about linguistic and socio-political aspects of the topic gender-fair language have been going on, both in the public and in Germanic linguistics. The topic has recently experienced a reactualization and polarization. This is related to social-political developments: E.g. the decision on the 'Third Option' and thus the legal recognition of the diversity of gender in Germany, followed by debates about consequent linguistic change. Also, the contested publication of the Duden on gender-fair language (Diewald/Steinhauer 2017), by which the inofficial German authority on language positioned itself. Accordingly, I see gender-fair language as both, a linguistic and a political issue.
The discussion involves different actors positioning themselves in relation to both, the object and each other – positioning that can be understood as political (Spieß 2018; Dang-Anh/Scholl 2022). Of particular interest are actors who are perceived as experts (linguists, journalists, writers) positioning themselves for or against gender-fair language, to whom the function of authority in the discourse is (self-)attributed (e.g. Bayer et al. 2019). I also investigate the negotiations between the professional identities as linguists and the attributions as opponents or representatives of gender-fair language, along with the positioning-strategies employed (Spitzmüller 2022).
Furthermore, I explore how actors position themselves linguistically (e.g., by using scientific terms) as experts on gender-fair language, but also how they are positioned by others, e.g., through explicit and implicit attributions, e.g. in the address of P. Eisenberg as "the leading German linguist" (Krämer 2020: 2). I am interested in establishing how this is related to language ideologies and power.
The linguistic positioning-practices investigated are found in the journals of three language maintenance associations from the past 30 years. These associations can be understood as ideology brokers: Within this specific communication context and in specific text types, they attempt to establish authority, while suggesting scientific neutrality and objectivity at the same time. From a different angle, this process can be understood as the emergence of an ideology through political positioning (Spitzmüller 2017).
References
Bayer, J. et al. (2019): Die deutsche Sprache und ihre Geschlechter: eine Dokumentation. IFB Verlag, Paderborn.
Dang-Anh, M.; Scholl, S. (2022) Politisches Positionieren in der NS-Zeit: Zur sprachlichen Bearbeitung von Identitätsdilemmata in Eingaben und Zellengesprächen. In: Kämper, H., Plewnia, A. (Eds.): Sprache in Politik und Gesellschaft: Perspektiven und Zugänge. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 123-140.
Diewald, G.; Steinhauer, A. (2017). Richtig Gendern. Berlin: Dudenverlag.
Krämer, W. (2020): Der Vorsitzende meint. In: Sprachnachrichten 1, 2.
Spieß, C. (2018): Selbst- und Fremdpositionierungsaktivitäten in Migrations- und Zuwanderungsdiskursen am Beispiel der Konzepte BURKA und VOLLVERSCHLEIERUNG. In: Wengeler, M., Ziem, A. (Eds.), Diskurs, Wissen, Sprache. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 161-192.
Spitzmüller, J. (2017): Soziale Positionierung: Praxis und Praktik. Einführung in das Themenheft. WLG, 1-18.
Spitzmüller, J. (2022): "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". Positionierungsstrategie der Sprachwissenschaft im Kampf um sprachideologische Deutungshoheit. In: Kämper, H., Plewnia, A. (Eds.): Sprache in Politik und Gesellschaft: Perspektiven und Zugänge. De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 17-33.
