The President of the Crusca: “The choice of Venezi is understandable, but I would say the director”

Words are often discussed, they inflame souls especially when they concern identity issues. It is unlikely that it could be otherwise because through language we not only communicate, but also build our identity. These days it is the gender opposition between director e director to fuel a lot of controversy after that in Sanremo Beatrice Venezi said he preferred the male option.

So far nothing wrong because everyone in relation to their profession has the sacrosanct right to be called as they see fit.

But what arouses some perplexity from a linguistic point of view is the motivation that Venezi gave during her speech on the stage of the Ariston theater: “the position, the profession has a precise name and in my case it is that of director of ‘orchestra,’ he says firmly.

Here, this part of his speech is not reflected in our linguistic system because that “one name” insinuates legitimate doubt in the listener – and in the case of Sanremo we are talking about millions of ears – that there is only one (male) way to communicate the profession of a woman conducting an orchestra from the podium. And let’s say it without delay: this is not the case. For several centuries, Italian has had the female version of director. Director therefore, along with the rarer director, is available to all of us and the choice is entrusted to us alone. And the choice of the feminine does not collide or diminish the talent of an artist: there is no relationship of mutual exclusion between these two elements.

That director is not the only solution available in Italian is a fact shared also by the president of the Accademia della Crusca, Claudio Marazzini, which also explains why it is possible that, net of the possible ideological positions, Venezi refuses a feminine foreseen by the Italian.

“An orchestra conductor tends to feel very different from a conductor of another institution, such as a school or public office. A guideline even more because it associates the term with greater force director to the school. It is evident that those who support the modification of gender language respond that within a few years the semantic extension of the word director will ensure that this problem is overcome. And it probably will. But obviously Venezi’s sensitivity makes her a little allergic to this word and I don’t find it strange ».

In the recent history of our language there are after all analogous cases, this too is a fact. It happened for example when Laura Boldrini, then Speaker of the House, asked that he stop using the solo committed for the relative professionalism of the institution he presided over. “Boldrini imposed the distinction between committed / committed and some of the orders were offended”; this is because that word led their minds back to another profession, that of the shop assistant.

Who is more sensitive to the distinction between masculine and feminine in the so-called the names of the agent: he probably felt offended by Venezi’s declaration. A stance that feeds among other things an oppositional dynamic, a polarization of positions on the female question that risks not being productive. There are those who accused her, for example, of bringing the struggles for equal opportunities back decades and those who reproach her for not taking into due account the battles conducted before her and which today make a woman on the podium possible (also if to be honest there have been Italian women on the podium since at least the first half of the twentieth century, if you think of Carmen Bulgarelli Campori).

But we do not want to go into the merits of the ideological clash, which would still be more profitable if it became a dialogue. Marazzini himself complains of excessive vehemence on these issues. “I am fed up with those who prosecute others on the basis of these linguistic elements. I think it’s time to think with a little more tolerance on these topics ».

Of course, the conviction with which Venezi expressed her legitimate position and her erroneous linguistic motivation did not help. But here too there is a possible explanation. “Venezi has radicalized her position as do those who think differently from her. When we begin to use reason and tolerance less, it is typical to erect walls and not understand each other anymore ».

And in the specific case, he also expresses a personal preference (not an official approval, which in fact Crusca rarely expresses): «it would come naturally to me, seeing a woman on the podium, to say that she is an orchestra conductor».

(Photo: unsplash.com).