Schwa, why a more inclusive keyboard is so important

It schwa it also conquers the keyboard of iPhones after those of smartphones with an Android operating system. For a few days, in fact, with iOS 15, holding down the letter e this previously unknown symbol appears, now more and more familiar, to those who write in Italian: ə. It has been talked about for months, the schwa, also called indistinct vowel, is one of the proposals to make the Italian language more inclusive especially towards those who do not recognize themselves in either of the two traditional genders, male and female.

Although there is no trace of imposition of its use, the schwa has sparked a rather lively debate, which is undoubtedly a symptom of its popularity (the sound that indicates, let us remember, is also present in the oral form of several dialects that are spoken in Italy, including the Neapolitan and the Bari). It is not surprising that such a proposal arouses strong opposition, above all because “it touches the morphology of Italian,” he observes Vera Gheno, sociolinguist of the University of Florence who has identified and promoted some potentialities beyond the possible limits. Morphology, in simple words, includes the mechanisms of word formation, a rather conservative sector of the language, unlike phonetics (the sounds we use) and lexicon.

It thus happens that “people feel it as a threat to one the status quo that the vast majority of Italians have always done very well. I talk about it in one of the chapters of my latest book, The reasons for the doubt (Einaudi). Not because I want to convince anyone, but because I think it is important to know and understand what is happening, from where the need for this linguistic experimentation arises ».

But why can the fact that schwa entered smartphone keyboards be significant? “Because beyond the specialized arguments of linguists – sacrosanct, but often divorced from reality, or felt as such – the fact that technology giants like Google and Apple decide to include it among the alternatives of e on cell phone keyboards is an epochal fact, which indicates that these multinationals have grasped the existence of a ferment, a request. Some say they do it for the money, for a sort of “rainbow washing”; I do not exclude that there is some calculation, for heaven’s sake, but in any case for me this is the sign not only of the size of the question, but also of the fact that these companies believe that schwa is here to stay and is not a fadGheno continues.

Yes, to stay, especially in the future of the youngest who make use of it to a greater extent. «For the younger generation, the communication mediated by electronic devices it is central. For this reason, a modification of this type obviously meets a need expressed precisely by these. Generation X and that of Baby Boomers, with their objections, seem very far from the reality of millennials, genZ and alpha ».

Conversely, exponents of the older generations are more used to questioning it. And a few days ago, the Accademia della Crusca also questioned the functionality of proposals such as the asterisk and the schwa, insisting on the goodness of universal masculine (or overextended) even when addressing a so-called mixed multitude, which includes men and women. “We have thirty years of studies that say the opposite, starting with Recommendations for a non-sexist use of the Italian language by Alma Sabatini. I am of the opinion that the overextended masculine is exactly that, and not a neuter, and as such is decoded by people. It seems to me frankly anachronistic to think that in this moment of emergence of gender differences we can return serenely to the generalized masculine like this, as if nothing had happened, as if a decades-long search for a less unbalanced use of Italian had never happened. I do not exclude that one day rather distant we may, for the sake of simplicity, return to the universal masculine; but this can happen when gender differences (not only male and female, but all other genders) are really irrelevant to a happy and peaceful existence. As long as gender is a factor of discrimination, saying that we must return to the generalized masculine is, in my opinion, a mistake ”concludes Gheno.

Beyond the debate within the scientific community, the schwa takes steps forward in the written communication of different realities. In gallery find some interesting cases.