Is Italy Ready for Gender-Inclusive Language?An Attitude and Usage Study among Italian Speakers

This attitude and usage study explores gender-inclusive language in Italy. While gender-neutral pronouns are becoming more popular in English -speaking countries, the ongoing conversation around gender and non-binarism in Romance-language-speaking countries, whose languages feature gender inflectional markers, is leading to a reassessment of the binary structures that are inherent in these languages. In Italy, activists and scholars are working to eliminate gender-discriminatory language, epitomized by its reliance on generic masculine forms. They have proposed various neo-suffixes to address this issue, despite the fact that the Accademia della Crusca—one of Italy’s most influential language institutions—has rejected any changes in this regard. Against this backdrop, the study surveyed 414 Italian speakers aged 19 to 69 to investigate their attitudes towards gender-inclusive language. Participants were asked about their perceptions of comprehensibility, feasibility, and necessity of these forms when addressing mixed-gender groups and groups with both binary and nonbinary individuals. Results suggest that Italians are torn between conservatism and acceptance, with the asterisk suffix gaining momentum in written language, while oral communication still relies on circumlocutions or binary formulae. This reluctance may stem not only from a perceived lack of urgency for change but also from the significant impact that such changes would have on Italian’s inflectional structure.