Synonyms or Divergent Terms? On the Concepts of ‘Non-Sexist Language’, ‘Gender-Inclusive Language’ and ‘Inclusive Language’ in Spanish Press

Abstract

This study analyses the use of the terms in the Spanish press ‘inclusive language’, ‘gender-inclusive language’ and ‘non-sexist language’, which are often used imprecisely. Inclusive language seeks to include every person or group regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age, etc.; genderinclusive language aims to include include all gender identities, including non-binary ones, whilst non-sexist language focuses on non-discrimination on the grounds of sex. Through a corpus of articles extracted from the DISMUPREN newspaper archive, we have found a significant discrepancy between the label used in the headline and the content of the text. The most frequently used expression is “inclusive language”, which is primarily employed to refer to “gender-inclusive language” or as a synonym for “non-sexist language”. This lack of terminological rigour, which may be due to the fact that it also exists, as we have found, in the titles of the guides themselves and in some academic works, hinders the understanding and analysis of a linguistic phenomenon of great significance.