Shifting social norms as a driving force for linguistic change:
  Struggles about language and gender in the German Bundestag
Carolin Müller-Spitzer Samira Ochs
This paper focuses on language change based on shifting social norms, in
particular with regard to the debate on language and gender. It is a recurring
argument in this debate that language develops "naturally" and that "severe
interventions" - such as gender-inclusive language is often claimed to be - in
the allegedly "organic" language system are inappropriate and even "dangerous".
Such interventions are, however, not unprecedented. Socially motivated
processes of language change are neither unusual nor new. We focus in our
contribution on one important political-social space in Germany, the German
Bundestag. Taking other struggles about language and gender in the plenaries of
the Bundestag as a starting point, our article illustrates that language and
gender has been a recurring issue in the German Bundestag since the 1980s. We
demonstrate how this is reflected in linguistic practices of the Bundestag, by
the use of a) designations for gays and lesbians; b) pair forms such as
B\"urgerinnen und B\"urger (female and male citizens); and c) female forms of
addresses and personal nouns ('Pr\"asidentin' in addition to 'Pr\"asident').
Lastly, we will discuss implications of these earlier language battles for the
currently very heated debate about gender-inclusive language, especially
regarding new forms with gender symbols like the asterisk or the colon
(Lehrer*innen, Lehrer:innen; male*female teachers) which are intended to
encompass all gender identities.