I do not tend to write overtly political columns. Instead, I prefer focusing on the mundane, the vulgar and the common items. This article attempts to discuss both.
Language has power over culture. We know this to be true through numerous proverbs and sayings, one of which is, “If you know a language, you know the world.”
We claim it is impossible to understand a culture without understanding its language. This is an ideal I hold as fact. Through my studies of numerous languages, it is apparent why the literature of a language develops into what is simply based upon the idiosyncrasies of the language.
This summer there was one news story that I followed intently— that of the Iranian election.
The reason for this was two-fold: 1) I spent this summer learning Persian, and 2) this is a story that has the possibility of changing the current political climate and situation of the world.
While a discussion of the Iranian election can focus on various aspects, the main aspect I will focus on is the prominence of females in these protests in Iran.
Persian is an Indo-European language that began highly inflected.
However, the modern language no longer contains inflection. As a matter of fact, the language also contains no gender.
This is a fact worth delving into. When Americans speak about a person using a pronoun, there are two choices: “he” and “she.” When discussing Persian, there is only one (‘u’). There is no differentiation between male and female.
When the news continually reported the importance of women in the protests following the election, this shouldn’t have been a surprise. Equality is inherent in the language.
How does this information relate to the Iranian election?
The Iranian election contained two main contenders for a four-year term as president: the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The two individuals contain little policy differences in their platforms, with one main difference being female rights. Therefore, it is of no surprise the main contenders for change were women.
The distinction between male and female in pronouns is used in our society in both the context of jokes and insults. But, if there is no distinction, the differentiation is neither apparent nor do jokes and insults have any form of validity. Since these jokes and insults typically present the female in a pejorative manner, it helps enforce the male dominance of our society.
Without that distinction, the male dominance must be indicated in a different manner. One of the main methods in the Islamic Republic of Iran is through religion, symbolized by iconic black head-coverings for women.
When a language attempts to promote a form of equality inherent in the culture and the society represses it through another method, there is nothing to do but protest. Since protests come from the repressed and those who endeavor to change the status quo, it is only expected that the masses incorporate a large number of females.
So what do I propose we do to correct this problem in English?
I propose the creation of a new third-person singular pronoun that is gender neutral. Continuing with my inspiration from Persian, I recommend the word ‘kas’ for our new pronoun.
‘Kas’ simply means person in Persian. After the concept of society is deconstructed to the most basic level, we are all human beings, people.
We must change our language to demand the equality we claim to desire.
Until this happens, we can never truly believe in equality.
If we are able to revolutionize our rhetoric, we can revolutionize our minds and our future. Let us create equality; not by assuming equality will arrive with time, but by demanding it now.
Hame kas ensn ast.
Everyone is human.
Reach Norman at norman.shamas@asu.edu.
