Neutral language and grammar

The society and the rules in motion

Abstract

In a world where language, society, and grammar intertwine, emerges the book "There is no neutral language! Gender in Brazilian society and grammar", by linguist Raquel Meister Ko. Freitag. This work provides a comprehensive and critical analysis, highlighting the key points and significance of the arguments for contemporary sociolinguistic studies. Challenging the supposed neutrality both in language and in the normative grammars of Brazilian Portuguese, Freitag exposes the complex construction of gender, revealing the underlying resistances and hierarchies to the gender condition in Brazilian society. In advocating for inclusion in language, she warns of the potential reinforcement of gender stereotypes as she explores the challenges of the movement towards a neutral language, emphasizing the crucial importance of representativity to drive changes in the language. Moreover, in defense of an intrinsic relationship between language and society, Raquel Freitag constructs arguments around the description of linguistic uses as generators of changes in grammar. In her words: more than prescription, it needs to have use.