Why do many European linguists tend to adopt activist-driven practices, such as the systematic use of feminine personal nouns whenever referring to women, rather than adhering to established theoretical frameworks like the semiotic triangle when analyzing or prescribing linguistic forms? See Article Unveiling the Sociolinguistic Significance of Feminine Perso...
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In Swedish, profession nouns favour gender neutrality (Swedish: professor), whereas in Romance languages gender specification is favoured (French: professeur vs. professeure, Italian: professore vs. professoressa, Spanish: profesor vs. profesora).
In Swedish and French there are gender neutral neopronouns (Swedish: hen, French: iel), corresponding to English they + singular.
Why are there different strategies?
@ Hans Kronning
I am inclined to think that different strategies result from the efforts of gender activists, rather than from linguistic reasons. Perhaps, they were more active in Germany than in Spain. It looks like the Spanish language obeys the semiotic triangle, and the German not. When I studied Spanish in Spain, I was taught to avoid specifying gender when addressing a group of people. The teacher (a feminist herself) has explained that phrases like "queridos amigos y amigas" are used only by the radical party "Podemos".
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