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Zubkova E.V., Kotelnikova A.O., Kilovataya M.A. [Gender-inclusive language in official Spanish discourse] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2021, Vol. 12, No. 4. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/38FLSK421.pdf (in Russian).

Gender-inclusive language in official Spanish discourse

Zubkova Ekaterina Vladimirovna
Perm National Research Polytechnic University, Perm, Russia
E-mail: vvkate@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0353-7191
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=586134

Kotelnikova Anastasiya Olegovna
Perm National Research Polytechnic University, Perm, Russia
E-mail: halle.0750@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3189-3353

Kilovataya Marina Aleksandrovna
Perm National Research Polytechnic University, Perm, Russia
E-mail: marina.kvt@gmail.com

Abstract. The present paper forms part of A.O. Kotelnikova master’s thesis.

The necessity of studying gender-neutral language is explained by the fact that in modern western societies we can observe a dramatic shift in the traditional concept of gender as its social, philosophical and legal aspects are being enlarged. Use of gender-inclusive language has become a criterion for social control of public speech, as any kind of discrimination including sexism is criticized and condemned.

The paper studies some of the strategies of gender-neutral (gender-inclusive) language recommended in the Guía para el uso de un lenguaje inclusivo al género (Guidelines for gender-inclusive language) whose goal is to eradicate sexism in political speeches, laws, regulations and the United Nations publications.

The results show four strategies of gender neutralization in Spanish, including lexical, grammatical and graphical transformations. Gender-exclusive elements can be replaced by gender-inclusive or neutral ones, such as collective nouns, relative, indefinite and negative pronouns, masculine-feminine pairs and special characters.

The paper then focuses on political and legal discourse of Spain, Cuba, Columbia and Venezuela in order to define if and which of these recommendations are respected in political speeches, laws and regulations. It is demonstrated that in Spain, Cuba, and Columbia, most of the gender-inclusive strategies are not respected and traditional non neutral forms are still being used. Venezuela, however, shows a high frequency of gender-inclusive forms, most of which are masculine-feminine pairs. It is stressed that a further statistical analysis will show some patterns of the usage of

gender-inclusive strategies which are probably determined by their readability and convenience.

Keywords: gender-neutral language; inclusive language; legal discourse; sexist language; Spanish language; political correctness; political discourse

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