32 The Linguist Vol/65 No/3
ciol.org.uk/thelinguist
OPINION & COMMENT
When an exam board for England, Wales
and Northern Ireland recently clarified that
students are now permitted to use gender-
inclusive or gender-neutral forms in French,
Spanish and German exams, it marked more
than a technical adjustment to assessment
criteria. These updates highlight an
important fact about the nature of languages.
They are not fixed systems but evolving,
social practices.
The exam board guidance has not been
universally embraced. Allowing references to
diverse gender identities is perceived by
some opponents to be ideologically driven.
It has also been criticised that these novel
forms, such as the French gender-neutral
pronoun iel, are not widely used or endorsed
by authorities (yet). These arguments surface
some common misunderstandings of how
languages work and what language
education is for. Two fundamental insights of
sociolinguistics – the academic discipline that
studies language in its social contexts – are
that languages are as diverse as the people
who use them, and that they are constantly
changing and shifting.
The 'rizz' of languages
Languages are not neatly defined,
unambiguous systems, but rather complex
and dynamic. How we express ourselves is
influenced by a range of factors including
geographical regions, social aspects and
identity, formality, medium and context – as
well as individual preferences. Consider the
differences between varieties of English
spoken around the world, or the way you
speak in a formal work meeting compared
with how you talk to your friends in a café
or pub.
In addition, languages are constantly
evolving and adapting. Youth language and
slang are well-known and frequently
discussed examples of language change. In
2025, I took part in a radio debate about the
decision to include Gen-Z slang words like
'skibidi', 'delulu' and 'rizz' in the latest
edition of the Cambridge Dictionary, a
dictionary for learners of English.
The discussion asked a central question
about the purpose of dictionaries: do
they tell us how languages should work,
or how they actually do work? And which
is it that language learners need? At the
core of this question lies an important
distinction that linguists make: prescriptive
The naysayers have it wrong on gender-neutral language;
pupils should be able to express their identities in exams
SASCHA STOLLHANS
In my opinion…
