S Doris in däm wisse Fätze.

Abstract

In various Swiss German dialects, the feminine gender is not the sole possibility when referring to women. Under certain circumstances, the article of female first names can also be neuter, e. g. s Doris. The gender assignment of names is determined by linguistic variables such as morphology or semantics, but also by social factors like age and social relationship. Neuter names have been shown to indicate social relations and encode certain concepts of gender roles in society. Based on data from an extensive online survey and fieldwork conducted in different places of Switzerland, the affective function of the neuter gender in the use of female names is explained. The focus lies on the definite article.

Referring to women using feminine and neuter gender

“…The project was conducted from 2015 to 2020 and funded by the German Research Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg (D-A-CH procedure). It resulted in four doctoral theses and various articles in linguistics (Busley & Fritzinger 2018;2020;Martin 2019;Klein & Nübling 2019;Baumgartner 2019;Baumgartner et al 2020;Baumgartner & Christen 2021). The sections that follow offer a brief presentation of the most important findings.…”

“…In recent decades, women have played a more and more important role in public life, so the neuter, which is associated with privacy, domesticity and village life, is not compatible with a changed (self-)perception of women (Christen 1998:276). As a result, using the neuter together with a female name in public contexts has a pejorative, disparaging effect (Baumgartner 2019). In Switzerland, the 'female neuter' phenomenon has been the subject of feminist language criticism, whereas in Germany it was regarded until very recently as a marginal dialect phenomenon.…”