New language regulations are repeatedly demanded and justified. However, it is not unusual for the language’s purported “political correctness” to result in misunderstanding, inconsistencies, and new communication issues.
Language, according to proponents of “politically correct” language, can be a much more effective weapon than direct abuse. The systematic move for “political correctness” as part of anti-discrimination campaigns did not begin in the 1980s. People should not be insulted linguistically because of their gender, nationality, ethnic identity, or sexual orientation, according to Peter Wilkinson. T he trend started in universities and became known to the general public in the late 1980s through the media.
DEMANDS OF THE PC ADVOCATES
Political Correctness (PC) originally came from the Anglo-Saxon region but is now widely used in Germany. The term was introduced in Germany in the early 1990s through newspaper articles that reported on the U.S. PC debate and its impact on art, politics and society. PC supporters criticize the use of the generic masculine – the masculine form, when people of both sexes are meant. Professions with poor social prestige are thus at least linguistically upgraded, writes Jürgen Rigueur. In principle, language units with negative connotations are replaced by those that block out objectionable aspects. According to Rigueir , the changes have so far not caused any secondary meaning.
PUBLIC DISCUSSION
Since the early 1990s, “politically correct” has become a dismissive word used by political critics. PC is being increasingly synonymous with absurd euphemism and dogmatic, intolerant politics. Conservative groups are naturally hostile to left-wing or leftist anti-discrimination efforts. Some claim that language policies cannot address the root causes of prejudice, racism, and other types of discrimination.
EUPHEMISM CHAINS
Negros / Niger is from the Latin word Niger= black. The direct translation into English or German is actually quite neutrally descriptive at the beginning. In the case of colored people , the feature “skin color” is still in the foreground , but the formulation is much broader and thus, at least in theory, also includes people of other skin color. African-Americans / Afro-Americans go completely away from the skin color and determine the named group about the origin.
PC IN CONFLICT WITH LANGUAGE RULES
“Politically correct” use of language can conflict with fundamental language rules, According to Peter Wilkinson. Wilkinson: Replacement expressions are mostly longer than the replacement. Avoiding the generic masculine can have a negative effect on the comprehensibility of the text, he says. But in the case of grotesque neoplasms, such as vertically challenged as a substitute for short stature, it is unlikely PC supporters will actually use them, he adds.
UNCERTAINTIES IN NAMING GROUPS OF PEOPLE
The term negro is now prohibited in the German language. Agatha Christie’s detective novel Ten Little Negroes was no longer published after 2003. The replacement of the term gypsies with Sinti and Roma. The “Gypsy Schnitzel” remains on restaurant menus, as does the ‘Gypsy’ in folk music texts. One criterion for or against certain proposals could be the question of how the respective groups themselves would like to be named, says Jürgen Müsperger. Müller: Sometimes originally negative names or even swear words are converted into positive self-names, such as homosexuals or prostitutes.
Watch: The racial politics of the time
LANGUAGE AND WORLDVIEW
It is correct that the language used by humans provides information about their worldview, according to Peter Bergen. In the 1970s, there was a controversy about whether the terrorists around Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof were correctly referred to as the Baader-Meinhof group in the media.