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Use in Latin America

A publication by Professors María R. Scharrón-del Río and Alan A. Aja highlights the use of Latinx in authors Beatriz Llenin Figueroa, Jaime Géliga Quiñones, and others. Additionally, their research shows the prevalence of the genderless (x) in scholarly work and teaching materials throughout Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso and Adriana Gallegos Dextre of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú are two notable Latin American scholars who have adopted the term in their writing. Google’s online tracing of the term Latinx as well as the term “lxs” in conjunction with searches in individual Latin American countries raises a variety of blogs, organizations, and newspapers that have adopted the term, contrasting the suggestion that the term is exclusively reserved to usage in the United States. However, its dominance in the United States is evident when comparative analyses are done in the data tracking the term and its introduction into mainstream use. 

Similar and related terms

The word Latinx is not the first attempt by students and activists alike to introduce gender neutrality into the Spanish language. Other terms like latin@ and more recently, latine, have been utilized by some Latinos in order to be more inclusive.

Latin@, /ləˈtinaʊ̯/, /læˈtinaʊ̯/, is an older gender neutral term, in comparison to Latinx, that has been around for two decades. The word first emerged in the 1990s on online blogs and was meant as a way to include both Latinas and Latinos within one word. Although the use of the term is rather popular, it has faced much criticism in recent years because the word Latin@ is viewed by some as not inclusive of those individuals who do not identify with the gender binary. The term Latin@ also becomes more complicated given the fact that there is some confusion over how to pronounce the word. Some chose to either say Latino or Latina when reading the word, while there are instances in which some pronounce it as “Latinow”, “Latinao”, or “Lah-teen-at”.   No singular consensus exists on how to pronounce it correctly. 

Latine is a fairly recent term that has emerged within the last five years. The word functions similarly to Latinx when it comes to gender neutrality, but is seen by some as easier to pronounce in Spanish in comparison to Latinx. The (e) ending is more readily adoptable by Spanish speakers as it is phonetically adaptable to the Spanish language. Thus, Latine subscribes to more commonplace Spanish pronunciations, allowing its use to be more accessible to non native English speakers.

Criticism

Despite its increasing popularity throughout public and academic discussions, the term Latinx and its adoption in the United States is still heavily debated by both those inside and those outside of the community. The deficit of research on the term’s origins and the absence of concrete information regarding its spread throughout contemporary usage is a source of critique. Its increased usage since 2014, as seen in graph 1 above and in the adoption of the term by many academic institutions, magazines, and other forms of media throughout the United States, has subject the term to extensive critiques from Spanish speakers as well those who cite a variety of complications surrounding its adoption into mainstream language. A study done by Latino Decisions Research found that a majority of people of Latino descent polled on the terms used to describe themselves did not feel comfortable using ‘Latinx’, where 64% of persons polled said ‘no’ to the term, 14% said ‘yes’, and 22% said ‘Don’t Know’.  These critiques stem primarily from the confusion and rejection of the pronunciation of the term. The absence of the term’s presence in Latin American speech and research highlights the critique of inaccessibility and incomprehensibility as Gilbert Guerra and Gilbert Orbea of Swarthmore College write, arguing the term as “a blatant form of linguistic imperialism.” 

Orthographically, in English, the letter (x) can be pronounced as a voiceless consonant cluster such as /ks/ whereas in contemporary Spanish speech, the (x) is only retained in some words and its pronunciation varies from [j] (such as “'México' being pronounced as 'Méjico'”) to [ks] (as heard in oxígeno). Additionally, Latinx introduces the -x following a consonant, a linguistic pattern not previously present in Spanish. The difficulty of introducing the -x ending into conjugatable Spanish poses an additional challenge for its use outside of the term Latinx. 

Aside from opposition based on its linguistic incompatibility, some claim that the term would lead to the “destruction of gender, a fundamental part of the Spanish language” and that attempts at removing gender from the Spanish language “advocat[es] for the erasure of Spanish.” 

Similar and related terms

In English, "Latino" is used interchangeably with "Latin American". As an English demonym "Latin" has other meanings:

• an ancient Italic people entering the Italian peninsula around 1200 BCE
• in ancient Rome an inhabitant of Old Latium (Latium vetus), later extended to New Latium (Latium adiectum) as well
• a member of any population of the Roman Empire engaging in Roman culture and speaking Latin, regardless of their ethnicity
• a member of the Latin Church, or Roman Catholic Church.

Attempts have been made to introduce gender neutral language into Spanish by changing the ending of Latino. Terms like Latinx, Latin@, and Latine are just a few examples of the various ways in which members of the Latino community have tried to be more inclusive of women and gender non-binary individuals through language.

Latinx was first introduced in 2004 by members of the queer community online.  The -x at the end is meant to replace the traditional o/a ending of Latino and serves as a way of including all members of the Latino community, in particular those who identify as women, non-binary, and transgender. The term has become incredibly popular within universities and on social media sites. Multiple student-run organizations like Princeton University Latinx Perspectives Organization and The Scholars Latinx Initiative at UNC Chapel Hill have taken to using latinx within the title of their student group. The word has received criticism from many who see Latinx as difficult for non-native English speakers to pronounce.