Are gender-fair nouns with a glottal stop ungrammatical? An analysis of the suffix [ʔɪn] as a phonological word

Abstract

So-called gender-neutral nouns like Freund*innen, Redakteur_in or AutorInnen are suspected to not fit into the linguistic system. This paper argues that if these forms are pronounced with a glottal stop (e.g. Freund[?]innen), only small changes in the grammar are needed to integrate them. It is shown that the suffix [?in] in these derivatives can be analysed as a phonological word and therefore could be a new suffix that is added to the grammar. The phonological structure of its derivatives is shown to be just like the phonological structure of many native German derived nouns as many suffixes form a phonological word of their own. Also, the insertion of [?] in these derived wordforms can be explained by the status of the suffix as a phonological word. Hence, it is argued that speakers do not ignore the regularities of the grammar when they use gender-neutral nouns with [?in], but rather work with these rules to create new words with new meanings.

This contribution was originally published by Peter Lang Publishing (https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/plg/jwf/2022/00000006/00000001/art00002)