30 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
30 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
# Why the name “Neutral Language Council”?
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<small>2021-11-25 | [@andrea](/@andrea)</small>
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For Polish speakers the name of our collective is a very clear reference – but not necessarily to anyone else.
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So here's a short explanation, if you're interested:
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_(Polish, more nuanced version, is available [here](https://zaimki.pl/blog/sk%C4%85d-nazwa-kolektywu))_
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There’s an “official language regulating organ” in Poland, and it's called [“Polish Language Council”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Language_Council).
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It was founded by an act of parliament and its members are some of the most well respected linguists and other experts in the country.
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And although its role is _technically_ purely advisory, it’s often being treated by the society as having a decisive role in what’s _allowed_ in Polish and what’s not.
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As much as using “singular they” might still raise some eyebrows,
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English nonbinary and gender neutral language could be called pretty well established when seen in comparison to Polish.
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Trying to come up with, assemble, structure and promote ways for enbies to express themselves in Polish without being forced into a binary
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is quite a linguistic revolution.
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A common criticism of our activism is that “people _can’t_ talk like that, because PLC didn't _allow_ it!”.
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Which is quite a misunderstanding of both what the PLC is _supposed_ to be
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and of how sympathetic towards the nonbinary community some of its members are _in practice_.
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And also of how the process of language evolution works in general 😅
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So… we called ourselves a “language council” too!
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To bring attention to the fact that language is constantly being created and developed by its users.
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To the fact that the changes in a language can, are, and since the dawn of humanity have been happening from the bottom up.
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We're nonbinary users of languages – and we have every right to use our languages to express our nonbinary-ness ✊
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