16 votes

A showdown is looming between Spain’s conservative language academy and its newly elected socialist government over proposals to rewrite the nation’s constitution using gender-neutral language

Posted by spit-evil-olive-tips
Tags: linguistics, language, spain, constitution, spanish, feminism, gender neutral, equality.gender, author.stephen burgen, source.the guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/gender-neutral-language-battle-spain

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Title
Masculine, feminist or neutral? The language battle that has split Spain
Authors
Stephen Burgen
Published
Jan 19 2020
Word count
717 words

3 comments

  1. [3]
    mrbig
    (edited )
    Link
    Languages such as Spanish and Portuguese (my native language) are so gendered that changes like that are far from trivial. Here are some things that are gendered in Portuguese (and Spanish is very...

    Languages such as Spanish and Portuguese (my native language) are so gendered that changes like that are far from trivial. Here are some things that are gendered in Portuguese (and Spanish is very similar):

    • chairs
    • stools
    • buses
    • cars
    • pencils
    • ovens

    Our entire grammars revolve around gender, so a switch to gender neutral requires a profound change in the idiom. I'm not saying this shouldn't be done, but this will take a lot more work than speakers of less gendered languages might realize.

    2 votes
    1. [2]
      Moonchild
      Link Parent
      Yep. It's the same in hebrew, except even worse: all verbs have to make gender agreement too.

      Yep. It's the same in hebrew, except even worse: all verbs have to make gender agreement too.

      3 votes
      1. mrbig
        Link Parent
        That is interesting. I support making languages gender neutral, but for some it will take a lot more work. And, even if we manage to do so, new generations might lose the ability to understand...

        That is interesting.

        I support making languages gender neutral, but for some it will take a lot more work. And, even if we manage to do so, new generations might lose the ability to understand older texts. It's a complex proposition.

        2 votes