Welcome to our second Creative Thinkpiece! Each week we are going to explore different aspects of global life, which we might not think about from a day to day basis. This week we will be discussing the use of "Latinx". Enjoy!
The term Latinx is a gender-neutral English word used to refer to people of Latin America's cultural or ethnic identity. The suffix replaces the ending Latino or Latina that are typical to grammatical gender in Spanish in an attempt to include people who fall outside of the female/male gender binary. For the same reason, the terms latin@ and latine are used.
The term Latinx started growing in popularity around the same time activism for the LGBTQ+ community started taking off. It's been so popular in fact that it’s been added to the Meridian Webster dictionary in 2018.
In support of the use of the term, supporters argue it's inclusivity. Especially in an age of accepting and going against the grain. People are starting to acknowledge what was hidden especially in systems and traditions that no longer serve ALL of the public.
However, surveys show that only 4% of Hispanics in the US have heard of the word Latinx- most of which are those of the younger generation. This is partly because the word is insensitive to the Spanish language and its structure where the pronunciation of the letter x is a lot more different than in English. This makes the word Latinx hard to pronounce for many Hispanics who don’t have some fluency in English. This significantly decreases the use of the word amongst Hispanics of older generations. Many students said they use the term in places of higher education but not at home because it does not translate across generations.
Making latinx an official term in Spanish dictionaries was also a controversial topic since the word was created without the acknowledgement of the roots of the spanish language. This anglicizing of the word is just another example of Americans pushing its influence on Latin America(ns).
Archaeologist Kurly Tlapoyawa, argues that "Latinx" erases people of indigenous and African origin, writing in an essay for Medium that the "Latin" aspect is what's more problematic. Tlapoyawa noted that the idea of "Latin America" is rooted in colonialism and was championed by the French. "If one is serious about non-gendered terminology, why cling to a European language as the basis of one's identity? Why not simply adopt an indigenous term?" Tlapoyawa wrote.
It is also important to acknowledge that just because it isn’t pronounced often, shouldn’t mean it can’t be acknowledged amongst communities. The root of Spanish shouldn't create walls for a person battling their gender identity. "Regardless of what terminology we use, we have to remember that people create terms to express their own realities, and we should not let terms create our realities," Salinas, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who has researched the use of the term "Latinx," says.
Argentina is currently trying to find a way to make a gender-neutral word by combining both the feminine and masculine aspects of the Spanish language. Since then, the word Latine is more commonly used because it's easier to pronounce.
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