How does non-binary language work in Spanish? Is non-binary Spanish only used in select circles, or has it been widely adopted?

Image from Unsplash.com.

Gender in Spanish grammar

Spanish is a gendered language. Nouns and adjectives have genders, and the article used with the noun and vowel at the end of words determine its gender. For example, the word for friend, amigo, is a masculine noun, and amiga is the feminine version. The final vowel generally signifies the gender, o for masculine and a for feminine. Grammatically, the masculine form of a word is the default and used to describe groups of persons of multiple genders. Amigos means friends of any gender while amigas is multiple female friends. Note that I have greatly oversimplified Spanish grammar here, but this basic understanding of gender in the language gives you a basic understanding of how gender neutral Spanish works. Learn more about gender in Spanish grammar in this Wikipedia article.¹

For transgender people, gendered languages present a unique challenge, since adjectives used to describe them are also gendered, beyond gendered pronouns and some gendered words. In English, only pronouns and some words like mother/father, brother/sister are gendered. In Spanish, many adjectives used to describe a person are gendered, including old (viejo) and fun (divertido), so a transgender person cannot avoid being gendered (or misgendered) whenever someone, including themself, is talking about them.

Gender neutral language and Spanish

For non-binary people or people who don’t use binary pronouns like he or she, this also means that there is not an “official” grammatical pronoun for them in Spanish.

As a Spanish student in high school, I was told that gender-neutral language did not exist in Spanish. My friend’s professor told her that non-binary gender identities were an “American culture phenomenon” and that there were no translations for gender-neutral pronouns used in English. We know that non-binary genders are not an “American culture phenomenon.” You can learn more about gender identities beyond the binary by reading Jordy’s post on studying gender non-conforming individuals, and check out this Wikipedia article on non-binary gender identities in Spanish.²

Despite these misconceptions about gender-neutral language, activists and academics have used different methods to queer the traditional gendered Spanish grammar rules. The “@” symbol replaces the final vowel of a word, as in Latin@. Originally, this was meant to change from the default male gender of words. An “x” can also replace the final vowel of a word, as in Latinx, making the word gender-neutral. Recently, “e” has been used more generally in place of an “o” or “a” as the final vowel in a word, for its ease in pronunciation and coherence with existing grammatical structures.³ To learn how to use non-binary pronouns in Spanish, check out this article by Maria José.⁴

Adoption of non-binary language

Adoption of non-binary or gender-neutral language in Spanish depends greatly on who you’re talking to. As previously mentioned, many American Spanish teachers do not know about (or refuse to recognize) gender-neutral Spanish. In general, since the “@” and “x” have been used longer, they have more recognition. However, they are more generally used in written form since the “@” and “x” are not easily pronounced in most words in everyday speech.⁵

When I studied in Ecuador in the fall of 2019, most of the Spanish teachers at the local Spanish as a foreign language school were not familiar with gender-neutral Spanish using the “e.” La Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy) officially rejects the use of “x” in place of the “o” or “a.”⁶

#RAEconsultas La letra «x» no forma parte de los morfemas de género del sistema lingüístico del español.

— RAE (@RAEinforma) August 3, 2017

Among native speakers of Spanish, understanding and adoption of gender-neutral language depends on many factors, similar to similar cases in English. Amongst the host families in my study abroad program, I’d estimate that most of the parents would not be familiar with gender-neutral Spanish using the “e.” However, many of the children and young adults would be familiar and maybe know someone who uses the pronoun elle (instead of the masculine él or the feminine ella). When working with Proyecto Transgénero in Quito, Ecuador, I met locals who used elle for their personal pronoun and other people I worked with utilized the “e” ending in their everyday speech.

Argentina: an example of official adoption

Beyond activists, young people, and non-binary people, who is using gender neutral language in Spanish? The New York Times reported in April of 2020 that the Argentinian president used gender neutral language in an official speech to the country.⁷

"CADA ARGENTINE":
Por el término que utilizó Alberto Fernándezpic.twitter.com/0t6VMU6Q84

— ¿Por qué es tendencia? (@porquetendencia) March 22, 2020

Argentina in particular has been recognized for its progressive stance on queer rights, acting as a world leader on many queer issues.

The NYT reports that Argentina is noteworthy for its governmental and academic embrace of gender inclusive language.⁸ When Argentinian judge Elena Liberatori issued a ruling which used gender-neutral language, she received pushback from a group of local lawyers. However, the council overseeing judge norms ruled in favor of Judge Liberatori and gender-neutral language.⁹ Other Argentinian judges such as Leticia Lorenzo use gender-neutral language in their rulings as well.¹⁰ This indicates significant progress for general public adoption of gender-neutral language.

Changing how we speak and how we use a language isn’t a quick process, but we know it can be done. Argentina is a model for other Spanish-speaking countries and people as acceptance of non-binary people and gender-neutral language continues to progress.

Notes