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SPAIN-POLITICS-LANGUAGE-OFFBEAT
Spanish bid for gender neutral constitution sparks row
MADRID, July 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Spain’s Socialist government is seeking
to erase gender bias in the constitution but the head of the Royal Spanish
Academy, the custodian of the language, on Monday said the plan was
unworkable.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calcvo asked the Academy to study
updating the 1978 constitution with “inclusive” language.
“We have a constitution in the masculine which dates back to 40 years ago,”
she said, noting that it referred to “ministers and deputies” with the male
form of the noun.
The traditional Spanish use of male pronouns and noun forms to refer to
both genders collectively has raised the hackles of some, who say it makes
women invisible.
But Dario Villaneuva, the head of the Royal Spanish Academy, on Monday
told El Pais newspaper: “The problem is confusing grammar with machismo.”
“Languages are governed by the principle of economy. The systematic use of
duplicate words destroys this.
“Some false solutions have been proposed like replacing the end of a word
with E in place of the (masculine) O and the (feminine) A but this appears to
me to be absurd, ridiculous and absolutely unworkable.”
However one member of the academy, Arturo Perez-Reverte, has already
threatened to resign over the issue.
When a user on Twitter suggested he should storm out in protest if the
proposal went ahead, he replied: “You have my word.”
“The reaction of Arturo Perez-Reverte, who has placed the cart before the
horse, has not helped in easing tensions,” Villanueva said.
BSS/AFP/RY/1840 hrs