In any case, whether you are male, female or non-binary, these languages specifically created by or for women provide an example of how language can be linked to culture.
The Babbel platform looked at the history of languages spoken and invented by women, in conjunction with International Women’s Day last Tuesday.
‘Most gender-specific language’
Let’s head to China, to discover a language read, spoken and written exclusively by women: “Nüshu”. It was developed about 1,000 years ago in the province of Hunan, south China.
This dialect is inspired by the characters of Chinese writing. Why was it not understood by men? The women who practised it passed it on among themselves from generation to generation in the greatest discretion, away from male society.
Discovered by chance in 1984 during an exploration in Jiangyong (Hunan) by professor Gong Zhebing and his students, this language has been studied extensively to the point that scholars were able to decipher it and determine its origins.
The story of this language then made news around the world and was even awarded the Guinness World Record title for the “most gender-specific language”.
“Men played no role in the production or dissemination of its writings, and it was often used to write stories that challenged the conventional male morality,” explains the Guinness website.
Expressing women’s emotions
“Hysterical.” This is a word many feminists dropped from their vocabulary a long time ago.
Considered a disease in the 19th century, hysteria was exclusively associated with women (“hyster” meaning “uterus” in Latin). While hysteria is no longer considered a disease – at least officially – a woman is still often called “hysterical” as soon as she gets angry, or simply dares to raise her voice.
And that’s where “Làadan” comes in, a “language” invented by the American novelist Suzette Haden Elgin in the early 1980s.
Her starting point was the idea that no existing language can authentically express the emotions and sensations experienced by women. In particular “anger with reason, but with no one to blame, which is not futile”.
So, where can one read “Làadan”? In the science-fiction novel “Native Tongue” by Elgin, published in 1984. The pitch? A group of women linguists and feminists in the 22nd century decide to develop a language to protest against a government that wants to take away women’s right to vote.
The feminist author went so far as to learn about linguistic relativity, which theorises that differences between languages inevitably lead to differences in intellectual and emotional structuring, and, therefore, worldview.
From Làadan to ‘mansplaining’
While they may not have created a language of their own as Elgin did, contemporary feminist activists and intellectuals have developed a whole arsenal of vocabulary to describe concepts – such as “female gaze” – or even point out male behaviours with macho tendencies.
In the United States, terms substituting “man” for a part of the word have become mainstream: “mansplaining”, men’s annoying tendency to explain to women how the world works; “manspreading”, referring to males who sit with legs apart and take up unnecessary room; or “manterrupting”, men who constantly cut off other speakers.
These are effective terms that have even become used in other languages.