In chat rooms and Tumblrs across the Internet, new words have started to sprout up. Latin@, Latinx, Chicanx and amig@ have sparked a lot of debate online about a fundamental aspect of the Spanish language: gender. In Spanish, words have gender, like in the case of Latino vs. Latina. Studies suggest that gendered language can reinforce gender stereotypes and some people are pushing back and advocating for a more gender-neutral language.
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Excellent discussion on the un/gendering of the Spanish language. I also wanted to bring to your attention the use of “e” as gender neutral that is taking momentum in some circles because unlike the x, the /e/ is easier to pronounce and already exists in some nouns and adjectives: inteligente, presidente — so it would be les presidentes
Would love to see how this evolves in Spanish and how other langugaes like Arabic could adopt.
German is still very much like Olde English, with male, female, neutral forms (as well as continuing to use archaic – from the English perspective – constructs like four-and-twenty not twenty-four).
You will have a hard time changing an entire language to suit your ignorant political views. It will be interesting to see this futile attempt to reverse a development dating back thousands of years get underway. It’s quite sad to see people confused about their identities seeking to corrupt an entire language.
Gender politics are popular right now but I doubt it will have the staying power to change the structure of an entire language
This is interesting and those folks who poo poo this need only take a class in linguistics or philology. Language is always shifting and transforming. Spanish has changed considerably over the past centuries. We have no prescience to know where it will be in 50 years. Moreover, Spanish is so varied already in Latin America. Anyone who has traveled Latin America will tell you that words used in one region don’t have the same signification. There is a funny YouTube video about this. Qué difícil es el español. In the end, the speakers of the language get to decide. Offering an negative opinion when not a Spanish speaker is energy that could be used elsewhere. Prefereably for good.
‘La radio’ just sounds odd to me.
This is a bit ridiculous. Language evolves over long epochs based on pretty complex factors – not over something contemporaneous and topical.
Gender language had never been a problem for Spanish native speakers, since we learned the language. Actually, Spanish has a neutral article: la (femenine), el (masculine), lo (neutral). I simply refuse to use latinx, amigx, and whatever non-sense it’s being proposed. When you know the language, there’s not need to force any absurd change just because some group feels offended, when somebody says “todos” (everyone), every native Spanish speaker knows this refers to all men and women.
Languages evolve, yes, but languages evolve naturally, not because some pressure groups decided that way.
The ‘x’ is like a visual crossing out of the A or O, as if to say, “this is not good enough.”
Latin-ecs…Lo siento. No. No seria mejor decir latinx o latinekis? Penoso que la escencia de nuestro idioma se tenga que cambiar para que sea “inclusivo”.