Beyond Grammar, Beneath the Skin: Affect in German Debates on Gender-Just Language
Vortrag Lindsay Preseau, Iowa State University
Thursday, December 11, 2025, 10.15 – 11.45 am
Lennéstraße 1, room 2.002
This talk examines how affective responses to the visual and auditory aesthetics of gender-inclusive language in German public discourse illuminate broader dynamics of affective polarization in contemporary debates surrounding gender-inclusive language. While academic and policy debates about gender-inclusive language often emphasize rational arguments about grammaticality and ease of use, public reactions frequently hinge on affective, aesthetic, and social judgments. Special characters such as the German gender star, as well as phonological features like the glottal stop, often elicit critiques of typographical or auditory “ugliness.” Similarly, neopronouns are frequently labeled with (psycho-)affectively charged terms such as “cringe,” “narcissistic,” or “unhinged.”
To trace these affective lines of argumentation, I analyze a corpus of texts on gender-inclusive language drawn from German newspapers and opinion pieces and usage guides published by non-profit and political organizations. Thematic and sentiment analysis of the corpus shows that two negative affective registers dominate: minor feelings, including irritation, disgust, and unease, and intensely embodied reactions (“zum Kotzen”). By contrast, positive emotional reactions to gender-inclusive language are less frequent but tend toward “major” feelings of exuberance and radical joy. Drawing on Sianne Ngai’s concept of “ugly feelings,” I demonstrate how these responses illuminate the subtle and physically felt ways in which affect shapes both individual engagement and collective gender-political positioning. This talk highlights how everyday, emotionally charged reactions ranging from mild irritation to visceral disgust drive the aesthetic and political contours of German discourse on gender, underlining that rational linguistic argumentation for gender-inclusive language cannot rest on logic alone.
The talk is sponsored by Studium Universale at University of Bonn.
Lindsay Preseau (PhD, Germanic Linguistics, UC Berkeley) is Assistant Professor of German at Iowa State University. Her research lies at the intersection of sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and language pedagogy, with foci in migration and gender. She is the author of Kiezenglish: Multiethnic German and the Global English Debate. Her work on language and gender includes developing pedagogical materials that incorporate trans and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) language, as well as studying their efficacy and implementation amid divisive concepts legislation in the U.S. She also examines how linguistic structures and political ideologies intersect in debates over gender-inclusive language in grammatically gendered languages.