Includere o esprimere? Riflessioni su lingua, sesso genere

Including or expressing? Reflections on language, sex and gender Reflection on how language and other semiotic systems account for gender difference and how they contribute to the construction of gender has been at the centre of public debate for more than a decade. In terms of usage, we have witnessed major innovations that have changed established and codified habits. The record shows us that these changes are neither linear nor unambiguous. This essay examines some examples taken from Italian political communication to show that the issue is not just inclusion, but rather the capacity of each language to welcome and express new meanings from the resources of the system. The category to be evoked is therefore not inclusion: language is by its very nature inclusive, to the extent that the system allows it. Instead, it is about expression, the possibility of allowing historically unprecedented experiences - the entry of women into the public sphere- to access meaning and find a place among the signs of a language. Abstract inglese Including or expressing? Reflections on language, sex and gender Reflection on how language and other semiotic systems account for gender difference and how they contribute to the construction of gender has been at the centre of public debate for more than a decade. In terms of usage, we have witnessed major innovations that have changed established and codified habits. The record shows us that these changes are neither linear nor unambiguous. This essay examines some examples taken from Italian political communication to show that the issue is not just inclusion, but rather the capacity of each language to welcome and express new meanings from the resources of the system. The category to be evoked is therefore not inclusion: language is by its very nature inclusive, to the extent that the system allows it. Instead, it is about expression, the possibility of allowing historically unprecedented experiences - the entry of women into the public sphere- to access meaning and find a place among the signs of a language. Abstract inglese Including or expressing? Reflections on language, sex and gender Reflection on how language and other semiotic systems account for gender difference and how they contribute to the construction of gender has been at the centre of public debate for more than a decade. In terms of usage, we have witnessed major innovations that have changed established and codified habits. The record shows us that these changes are neither linear nor unambiguous. This essay examines some examples taken from Italian political communication to show that the issue is not just inclusion, but rather the capacity of each language to welcome and express new meanings from the resources of the system. The category to be evoked is therefore not inclusion: language is by its very nature inclusive, to the extent that the system allows it. Instead, it is about expression, the possibility of allowing historically unprecedented experiences - the entry of women into the public sphere- to access meaning and find a place among the signs of a language. Abstract inglese Including or expressing? Reflections on language, sex and gender Reflection on how language and other semiotic systems account for gender difference and how they contribute to the construction of gender has been at the centre of public debate for more than a decade. In terms of usage, we have witnessed major innovations that have changed established and codified habits. The record shows us that these changes are neither linear nor unambiguous. This essay examines some examples taken from Italian political communication to show that the issue is not just inclusion, but rather the capacity of each language to welcome and express new meanings from the resources of the system. The category to be evoked is therefore not inclusion: language is by its very nature inclusive, to the extent that the system allows it. Instead, it is about expression, the possibility of allowing historically unprecedented experiences - the entry of women into the public sphere- to access meaning and find a place among the signs of a language.

Includere o esprimere? Riflessioni su lingua, sesso e genere. La riflessione sulle modalità con le quali la lingua e altri sistemi semiotici danno conto della differenza tra i sessi, su come contribuiscono alla costruzione del genere, è al centro della discussione pubblica da più di un decennio. Come qui si proverà a mostrare, i nodi che il rapporto tra la lingua e il genere porta alla luce non chiamano in causa non solo la cultura e la società, ma investono la capacità propria della lingua di accogliere ed esprimere nuovi sensi a partire dalle risorse del sistema. Questa prospettiva consente di comprendere come la categoria da evocare per questi temi non sia solo l’inclusione: la lingua è per sua natura inclusiva nella misura in cui il sistema lo consente. Il punto riguarda invece l’espressione, la possibilità di consentire ad esperienze storicamente inedite di accedere al senso e trovare posto tra i segni di una lingua.