230679 Contrastive Investigations of (gender-neutral) Pronouns in English and German Novels (S) (SoSe 2026)

In this class we’ll investigate the use of (gender-neutral) pronouns in English and German in novels. In this context we’ll look at the linguistic difficulties pronouns come with both socially and grammatically especially in translations.

I will introduce you to the concept of gender-neutral pronouns, their history and current use, which both have an impact on today’s use of English. I will introduce you to studies which look at the use and implementation of gender-neutral pronouns. These pronouns are reflected, among other things, in novels which use a variety of gender-neutral pronouns or whose authors opt to ignore this development. In a further step you will collect data from novels – English novels using gender-neutral pronouns and their German translations – to see which genre uses these newer and alternative forms and how translators of these books into German choose to realize them in their product.