Theoretical and empirical basis for gender-fair language use: The case of Spanish

The use of so-called gender-fair language (GFL) strategies has increased in light of a much heated and complex theoretical, social and political debate. However, there is still: (i) a crucial need for clarification of the actual consequences (positive and negative) of the use of diverse GFL strategies, and (ii) a lack of comprehensive analyses that systematically contrast the prejudices, arguments against and in favor, and theoretical assumptions underlying GFL with the results of empirical research on the topic conducted in the last decades. For this reason, this chapter first critically analyses the underlying feminist theories that support GFL use and then comprehensively examines those arguments in favor or against their use, focusing particularly on the case of Spanish, a language with grammatical gender marking where masculine grammatical gender is habitually used for mixed-gender reference. Empirical evidence from several languages serves to categorize those arguments against or in favor of GFL that are empirically grounded from those which are not. Therefore, this chapter helps clarify what appear to be prejudices against a potential language change from actual (linguistic and social) consequences of the choice of one or other strategy to refer to people.