Gender inclusiveness in a binary language. The rise of the schwa in Italian and the discussion surrounding it

On the matter of inclusive or broad language, a conspicuous part of the discussion in recent years in Italy has been focused on the schwa, a symbol of the international phonetic alphabet that is sometimes used to avoid expressing gender or to refer to a nonbinary person. The use of schwa, born within LGBTQIA+ groups and used freely by anyone who feels the need to do so, has prompted both scholars and speakers of Italian to pronounce themselves in favor, but above all against it, giving rise to an abundance of polarized discussions, which often lose their focus. This contribution traces a small history of the birth and emergence of the schwa as a symbol of gender inclusion in Italy and in Italian.