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dia universitatis her editati, letnik 11 (2023), številk a 1 / volume 11 (2023), number 1 76appeared after the right to vote was extended tonot grammatical in nature, but rather sociolin-
women in 1946).6 On the other hand, the deriva- guistic and related to the linguistic sentiment of
hereditatition with -essa, fully accepted in the nineteenth individual speakers. As Grošelj (2019) correctly
century grammars,7 is today limited to reference points out, the presence of women in tradition-
to women that hold a secondary role, for exam- ally male professions and positions is historical-
ple collaressa (1956), ‘wife of a recipient of an or- ly quite recent and it remains to date scarce. As
der of knighthood’, or to women on the fring- such, it may certainly contribute to a steady and
es of society, for example brigantessa (1955), ‘wife hesitant entry of grammatical female gender to
of a crook’, and in the extended meaning, ‘an refer to those professions and positions.
unscrupulous woman’. Following a troubled se-
mantic development and political intervention,8 In contrast, in Slovene, designations for ti-
and perhaps due to its non-Latin origin, the suf- tles, professions and positions are gender marked
fix -essa has been almost completely replaced by and stylistically unmarked.11 From a research
the ending -a (deputata instead of deputatessa, conducted by Grošelj (2019),12 it emerged that a
‘member of parliament’) and by the use of epi- male form may be used with reference to males,
cene nouns (la presidente instead of presidentes- as well as to referentially mixed or inclusive gen-
sa).9 Only the well-established forms (dottoressa, der reference (sodelovala pa sta tudi dva ministra
profesoressa, studentessa, etc.) and ancient forms iz slovenske vlade, i.e. ‘two ministers’: a male and
that are used to designate noble dignities (baron- a female) and as referentially undetermined gen-
essa, contessa, duchessa, principessa) survive. der (kako bo vsak posamezni sodnik glasoval, i.e.
‘each minister’: either male or female) (Grošelj
The disagreement between grammatical 2019, 308), but never with reference to a female.
and referential gender (i.e. grammatical male and
referential female)10 is, according to Zarra (2017), The use of the feminine form is neutral, it
has no negative or derogative connotation. Even
6 Serianni 1989. in the oldest documents, reference to females
7 Frati (2009) cites Sintassi italiana by Raffaello Fornaciari, holding titles and occupying prestigious pro-
fessions and positions is feminine and neutral
published in 1881. (Štumberger 2021).13 After WW2, under the in-
8 The Italian Government has named bodies for equality
male determinant + female noun (la ministra) and female
and equal opportunities between men and women to pre- determinant + male noun (la ministro). Also syntactical-
pare a comprehensive and detailed overview of gender-bi- ly problematic is the subject-verb agreement (Mariastella
ased language use and guidelines for a non-sexist usage Gelmini, ministro con delega agli Affari Regionali, è inter-
of Italian (Sabatini 1986; Fioritto 1997; Robustelli 2012, venuta/il ministro dell’Interno si dice certa).
2014; Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della 11 An exception to the general use of designations for titles,
Ricerca 2018). professions and positions in Slovene is the term tajnik (m.),
9 The title of Cortelazzo’s article (1995) Perché non si vu- tajnica (f.) (english secretary). The lexical distinction be-
ole la presidentessa?, ‘Why is la presidentessa rejected’, is in tween the feminine tajnica ‘administrative help’ and the
line with the recent debate on the reference to the first fe- masculine tajnik ‘high official’ is still present in the Slo-
male Prime Minister in the history of the Republic of Italy, vene Standard Language Dictionary (Likar 1970–1991)
Giorgia Meloni. The position of the leading research cen- and persists in the language use, although an official de-
tre on Italian, Accademia della Crusca, is favourable to the cree neutralised the distinction between the two gender
use of the feminine form of the epicene noun la presiden- forms (Smolej 2021).
te to avoid suffixation and maintain a coherence between 12 The research was conducted on approximately 100 occur-
the grammatical and referential gender, both female. Fra- rences in the journalistic section of the corpus Kres for the
ti (2009) interprets the suggestion as ‘a good compromise’, following denominations: predsednik/predsednica, min-
in contrast with Cortelazzo’s (1995) observation on the ster/ministrica, senator/senatorica, župan/županja, sodnik/
unjust and fierce opposition to the derivation of female sodnica, poslanec/poslanka, veleposlanik/veleposlanica, svet-
forms by means of the suffix -essa. Utterly discounting the nik/svetnica.
debate, the Prime Minister’s office issued a memo stating 13 As Štumberger (2021, 27) reports, the first Slovene award-
that Giorgia Meloni should be addressed as Il Presidente ed the title of PhD was female, a philosopher Anka Mayer,
del Consiglio dei Ministri, a referential masculine gender. in 1920 and the news reporting the event used stylistically
10 Furthermore, designations of women holding positions unmarked gender marking: ‘First promotions at the Uni-
and professions that were traditionally male appear today versity of Ljubljana will be held tomorrow, July 15, at 11.00
in a variety of forms, some of which are barely accepted by
the norm: male determinant + male noun (il ministro), fe-
women in 1946).6 On the other hand, the deriva- guistic and related to the linguistic sentiment of
hereditatition with -essa, fully accepted in the nineteenth individual speakers. As Grošelj (2019) correctly
century grammars,7 is today limited to reference points out, the presence of women in tradition-
to women that hold a secondary role, for exam- ally male professions and positions is historical-
ple collaressa (1956), ‘wife of a recipient of an or- ly quite recent and it remains to date scarce. As
der of knighthood’, or to women on the fring- such, it may certainly contribute to a steady and
es of society, for example brigantessa (1955), ‘wife hesitant entry of grammatical female gender to
of a crook’, and in the extended meaning, ‘an refer to those professions and positions.
unscrupulous woman’. Following a troubled se-
mantic development and political intervention,8 In contrast, in Slovene, designations for ti-
and perhaps due to its non-Latin origin, the suf- tles, professions and positions are gender marked
fix -essa has been almost completely replaced by and stylistically unmarked.11 From a research
the ending -a (deputata instead of deputatessa, conducted by Grošelj (2019),12 it emerged that a
‘member of parliament’) and by the use of epi- male form may be used with reference to males,
cene nouns (la presidente instead of presidentes- as well as to referentially mixed or inclusive gen-
sa).9 Only the well-established forms (dottoressa, der reference (sodelovala pa sta tudi dva ministra
profesoressa, studentessa, etc.) and ancient forms iz slovenske vlade, i.e. ‘two ministers’: a male and
that are used to designate noble dignities (baron- a female) and as referentially undetermined gen-
essa, contessa, duchessa, principessa) survive. der (kako bo vsak posamezni sodnik glasoval, i.e.
‘each minister’: either male or female) (Grošelj
The disagreement between grammatical 2019, 308), but never with reference to a female.
and referential gender (i.e. grammatical male and
referential female)10 is, according to Zarra (2017), The use of the feminine form is neutral, it
has no negative or derogative connotation. Even
6 Serianni 1989. in the oldest documents, reference to females
7 Frati (2009) cites Sintassi italiana by Raffaello Fornaciari, holding titles and occupying prestigious pro-
fessions and positions is feminine and neutral
published in 1881. (Štumberger 2021).13 After WW2, under the in-
8 The Italian Government has named bodies for equality
male determinant + female noun (la ministra) and female
and equal opportunities between men and women to pre- determinant + male noun (la ministro). Also syntactical-
pare a comprehensive and detailed overview of gender-bi- ly problematic is the subject-verb agreement (Mariastella
ased language use and guidelines for a non-sexist usage Gelmini, ministro con delega agli Affari Regionali, è inter-
of Italian (Sabatini 1986; Fioritto 1997; Robustelli 2012, venuta/il ministro dell’Interno si dice certa).
2014; Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della 11 An exception to the general use of designations for titles,
Ricerca 2018). professions and positions in Slovene is the term tajnik (m.),
9 The title of Cortelazzo’s article (1995) Perché non si vu- tajnica (f.) (english secretary). The lexical distinction be-
ole la presidentessa?, ‘Why is la presidentessa rejected’, is in tween the feminine tajnica ‘administrative help’ and the
line with the recent debate on the reference to the first fe- masculine tajnik ‘high official’ is still present in the Slo-
male Prime Minister in the history of the Republic of Italy, vene Standard Language Dictionary (Likar 1970–1991)
Giorgia Meloni. The position of the leading research cen- and persists in the language use, although an official de-
tre on Italian, Accademia della Crusca, is favourable to the cree neutralised the distinction between the two gender
use of the feminine form of the epicene noun la presiden- forms (Smolej 2021).
te to avoid suffixation and maintain a coherence between 12 The research was conducted on approximately 100 occur-
the grammatical and referential gender, both female. Fra- rences in the journalistic section of the corpus Kres for the
ti (2009) interprets the suggestion as ‘a good compromise’, following denominations: predsednik/predsednica, min-
in contrast with Cortelazzo’s (1995) observation on the ster/ministrica, senator/senatorica, župan/županja, sodnik/
unjust and fierce opposition to the derivation of female sodnica, poslanec/poslanka, veleposlanik/veleposlanica, svet-
forms by means of the suffix -essa. Utterly discounting the nik/svetnica.
debate, the Prime Minister’s office issued a memo stating 13 As Štumberger (2021, 27) reports, the first Slovene award-
that Giorgia Meloni should be addressed as Il Presidente ed the title of PhD was female, a philosopher Anka Mayer,
del Consiglio dei Ministri, a referential masculine gender. in 1920 and the news reporting the event used stylistically
10 Furthermore, designations of women holding positions unmarked gender marking: ‘First promotions at the Uni-
and professions that were traditionally male appear today versity of Ljubljana will be held tomorrow, July 15, at 11.00
in a variety of forms, some of which are barely accepted by
the norm: male determinant + male noun (il ministro), fe-
