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RESEARCH GUIDES ACC Home Page

World Languages: Gender and Language

A guide for finding resources on World Languages in the ACC Libraries and on the Internet

Gender and Language

Most world languages contain gender specific rules applied throughout. Spanish has the -o and -a endings to their nouns as well as the el, la, los, and las articles. German has the der and die articles. French has the articles le and la.

Gender neutrality, while gaining momentum in the English language, has more gravity in world languages. So, why does an inanimate object need a gender anyway? And what do you do when you identify as non-binary? Read on to find out what's going on in your language of study!

*This Library Guide is ever evolving as this issue evolves. Some of the materials are less than scholarly but may be the only sources available.*

Gender Neutrality

Example of gender pronouns in English

pronouns chart

"Gender Pronouns" by University of Milwaukee LGBTQ+ Resource Center is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Gender Discussion in Korean

From what I could uncover, there's not really a lot of gender rules in the Korean language. The debate over gender neutrality is less about language and more a political/cultural issue.

Gender Discussion in Italian

Gender Discussion in French

The French language is notorious for holding on to strict language standards. However, there's Canada!

Gender Discussion in Japanese

Pronouns are largely gender neutral in Japanese but there is a bit of study if you are interested.

Gender Discussion in Chinese

Pronouns are largely gender neutral in Chinese but here are a few articles about Chinese pronouns.


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