A couple of days ago, a student who took my “Contemporary Debates” class last year—in which one of the modules focuses on the Spanish language—asked me on Twitter for my opinion on the debates surrounding inclusive language. I replied as follows:
"If you think about the approach we took in the course when we covered the module on the Spanish language, you'll see where I'm coming from on this point, even though the topic wasn't addressed last year because it wasn't on the agenda—at least not with the same emphasis it has now."
A language is the product of a millennia-long process of development and, as such, is a product of civilization; in other words, it is part of the long-term historical continuum. It is precisely this collective development—spanning hundreds of generations—that guarantees, or one might say preserves, a structure of such magnitude that it is highly resistant to change, especially if that change is sudden, abrupt, or unexpected.
How often do we talk in class about the criticism from certain purist linguists who occasionally come forward to claim that young people are destroying the language with their abbreviated ways of writing hurried text messages on mobile devices? And that is precisely one of the reasons why I included this module in the course.
I have always believed that a journalist should not be taken in by the supposed erudition of a linguist who espouses such outdated theories. But in order not to be taken in, one must have a conceptual grasp of the turbulent and tumultuous path that language has traveled to reach us in its current form.
This line of argument could be pursued further to detail each of the milestones—not only grammatical, but also political, economic, diplomatic, and even military—that contributed to transforming what was once a provincial dialect derived from Latin into the language of an empire, which has since become the heritage of its 500 million current speakers. There is no need to do so, as it is easy to infer from what has been said what I think of this compulsive frenzy to make urgent changes to the language.
It is clear that these are processes that unfold over very long periods of time, through which society—or rather, societies, since there are 500 million of us spread across dozens of countries—adopts what it deems most appropriate, knowing full well that this is its most powerful communication tool.
"A universal language like ours never changes simply because of passing trends. Collectively—which is to say, deep down—we know that language is not something to be toyed with. Anyone who thinks it’s a game or that they can manipulate language just because they happen to hold a position of power for a moment… is mistaken."
Daniel Mazzone, M.A.
Academic Coordinator of the Bachelor's Degree in Communication, with specializations in Journalism and Digital Content.