Events
Make your own pronoun buttons for 911吃瓜 Multilingual Week
Drop by 911吃瓜 Gender, Sexuality, and Women鈥檚 Studies鈥� booth for a fun activity celebrating 911吃瓜 Multilingual Week!
Use a button press to make your own buttons sharing your preferred pronouns in various languages. Choose from pre-printed designs or use your language skills to create your own buttons.
No registration; everyone invited. Drop by to make buttons and socialize.
- Multilingual Pronoun Button Making - Social
- Tuesday, February 25
- 11:00am-2:00pm - Booth
- In person, AQ South Concourse.
Exploring Language and Gender
Fun ideas and research related to language, multilingualism, and gender identity will be shared at the activity.
Does the commonly used English gender-neutral pronoun 鈥渢hey鈥� translate into world languages?
According to Helen Hok-Sze Leung, professor and chair in 911吃瓜 Gender, Sexuality, & Women鈥檚 Studies, there are cultural and political challenges created by this approach. In her research, Leung compares pronouns in Cantonese, English, and French to advocate for a multilingual understanding of fostering gender-inclusive environments.
Did you know many world languages do not have third person, gendered pronouns?
鈥淚n northwestern North America, most Indigenous languages 鈥� such as the Interior Salish, Haida, Tlingit, Dene, and Wakashan languages 鈥� do not have gender in the third person," explains Marianne Ignace, director of 911吃瓜鈥檚 Indigenous Languages Program and Indigenous Language Centre. 'll or 'laa means he-she-it or even 鈥榯hey.鈥� In most languages, the gender pronouns are affixes glued to the verb, rather than independent pronouns, although the latter also exist to some degree.鈥�
Saylesh Wesley, a former PhD student in 911吃瓜 Gender, Sexuality, & Women鈥檚 Studies, researched the impact of colonization on Coast Salish languages and cultures. Welsey鈥檚 article seeks to name transgender and two-spirit identities in the St贸:l玫 language.
We would love to hear about languages you speak. Learn more and join the conversation about language and gender by dropping by our booth on February 25.