The allegations of the use of female surnames without faces in the spelling cannot be assessed unequivocally

The Slovenian language has long been the subject of debate regarding the use of feminine forms of male names in grammar. A recent discussion sparked by former Minister for Science, Education, Culture, and Sports Žiga Turk’s post on social media platform X has reignited this issue. On July 19, Turk shared a link to an article titled “Fajonova damo, svojega jezika ne” published on the Siol portal. The article was authored by Peter Jančič, who serves as the editor-in-chief of Siol. In his piece, Jančič defended the use of the feminine form of male names, such as Fajonova, arguing that such usage reflects linguistic evolution rather than deviation. Turk responded to the article with a comment suggesting that the use of non-feminine forms of male names represents an “activist lexicon that is not yet in the dictionary.” This remark has drawn attention to the broader question of whether the feminine forms of male names should be considered standard or merely stylistic variations. The debate has prompted further clarification from experts at the Department of Orthography at the Institute of the Slovenian Language Fran Ramovš at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). According to Helena Dobrovoljc, Manca Černivec, and Tina Lengar Verovnik, the current valid version of the Slovenian Dictionary, the Slovenski pravopis 2001, outlines three methods of using feminine forms of male names. Article 997 specifies that names originally masculine can be declined according to the third feminine declension, particularly when used with a name (e.g., Tanja Fajon, Tanje Fajon). The dictionary notes that names ending in -a can also take the first feminine declension. However, the term “navadno”, meaning “usually”, plays a crucial role in interpreting these rules. The researchers clarified that the limitation imposed by the phrase “navadno le v zvezi z imenom” means that declining names according to the third feminine declension is the most common and least noticeable method when the name appears alongside a given name. They emphasized that this does not imply that other forms are incorrect or unacceptable. Instead, the dictionary limits the absolute validity of the rule, allowing for flexibility in its application. Additionally, the researchers pointed out that since 1994, the dictionary has recognized informal uses of feminine forms of names, such as Kvedrova, which are formed from the surname. These were previously classified as stylistically marked. Furthermore, they noted that there are also colloquial, non-literary, regional, and dialectal usages of feminine forms of names, including suffixes like -ica and -ka (e.g., Groharica, Kocmurka). They concluded that the Slovenski pravopis 2001 allows for the use of such forms, such as Fajon je rekla, and that their use is not prohibited. The researchers also highlighted that the proposed new edition of the dictionary, Pravopis 8.0, currently under public review, does not introduce normative changes regarding the use of feminine forms of names like Kovač and Dolenc. Rather, it aims to more precisely describe and limit existing linguistic practices. According to the draft, names without endings (e.g., Tanja Fajon) typically retain their original form during declination, though exceptions may occur for clarity, grammatical agreement, or stylistic reasons (e.g., profesorica Novak, doktorica Kovač). In Chapter 163 of the Pravopis 8.0 proposal, it is explained that formal feminine forms of names, such as Davidova paired with Davidov, are characteristic of certain Slavic languages but rare in Slovenian. It also notes that some Slovenian women, notably after World War II, adopted informal feminine forms of their names, influenced by neighboring languages like Russian. For example, Mila Kačičeva, Mira Danilova, and Duša Počkajeva used such forms. This practice gained popularity due to the convenience of avoiding repetition of names and surnames in written texts. The draft also emphasizes that modern usage of informal feminine forms, such as Fajonova, is not universally accepted. Some speakers use them, while others do not. Moreover, the use of formal feminine forms of names independently, without a given name or title, is also observed, such as in the case of Besedilo je n...