¿Como cambio mi realidad a través del lenguaje? | Abril Torres | TEDxUNAM
A speaker examines gendered language as a communicative strategy to include women in discourse, arguing that while these efforts are useful, the resulting linguistic complexity impedes the message, suggesting focusing on semantic and pragmatic shifts for change. The core concern is that artificial linguistic structures distract from genuine communication, and change should start by examining how common phrases restrict roles rather than focusing on rigid grammatical forms. ## Speakers & Context - Speaker observes linguistic phenomena daily, noticing details like pronunciation variations (e.g., mother's 'r' sound). - Speaker is studying linguistic phenomena, focusing on gendered language. - Speaker relates the struggle of speaking the foreign, unpronounceable word *x's* to the difficulty of achieving true inclusion. - Speaker references the function of linguistic change: it is not just academic restructuring but an active tool for inclusion. ## Theses & Positions - Gendered language is a communicative strategy aiming to include women in discourse. - The excessive adherence to grammatical gender concordance (e.g., *are pretty* when saying "boys and girls") obstructs the primary message of conversation. - While political/media use of gendered language might be seen as a valid strategy when the message itself is unimportant, its use creates communicative clutter. - Genuine change in society comes not from fixing rigid grammatical structures (morphology/syntax), but from modifying the *meaning and use* (semantics and pragmatics) of everyday language. - Changing language structures signals a change in humanity: ceasing to be sexist, homophobic, or racist will change human behavior and society. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Gendered Language:** A communicative strategy designed to attempt to include women in discourse. - **Internal Layers (of language):** Rigid linguistic structures where change is slow and dependent on many factors; specifically cited as morphology and syntax (form and structure). - **External Layers (of language):** Outer layers where linguistic change can germinate due to environmental or contextual impact; cited as semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (use). - **Discourse:** The act of communicating, encompassing the message being conveyed. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Gender Doubling:** The mechanism requiring agreement or modification of adjectives and articles to correspond to gender when referring to mixed groups (e.g., *boys and girls* requiring *are pretty*). - **Pronunciability Restriction:** The inability to pronounce a written word (like *x's*) restricts its usage to informal written contexts (internet pages, social networks, blogs), creating a gap between online inclusion and real-life conversation. - **Linguistic Subversion:** The active process of finding and implementing new forms of linguistic inclusion, particularly challenging established norms of meaning and use. ## Timeline & Sequence - The speaker first notices linguistic trivialities in daily life (e.g., mother's pronunciation). - The discussion moves from the general concept of gendered language to structural analysis (syntax/morphology). - The pivot occurs when the speaker shifts focus from internal structures to external layers (semantics/pragmatics) as the site of genuine change. - The final point is the call to action: modify current language practices for inclusion now, rather than waiting for structural change over centuries. ## Named Entities - Bibiana (place where the speaker lives). ## Numbers & Data - No specific quantitative data points are provided. ## Examples & Cases - **"Little boys and little girls"**: Early, noted example of a gendered approach in public address. - **"boys and girls who are pretty whose parents pick them up from school are more likely to be successful in life"**: Example illustrating the clunky complexity of gender doubling in complex sentence constructions. - **The foreign word**: Demonstrates inclusion through written convention but fails in oral speech due to pronunciation issues. - **"It was so good, you can get married now!"**: Example of a common, casual phrase that restricts women to a specific social role/obligation. - **"Language isn't sexist, speakers are."**: A direct quotation representing a counterargument to gendered language efforts. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **Facebook**: Platform where the speaker noted daily overuse of difficult-to-pronounce, inclusive language structures. ## References Cited - No specific academic papers, books, or named external sources are cited, beyond the general field of linguistics. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Alternative to Gendered Language:** The proposal is to focus on modifying the *semantics* and *pragmatics* of everyday phrases rather than achieving perfect structural gender concordance. - **Structural vs. Pragmatic Change:** The trade-off between attempting difficult linguistic perfection versus accepting imperfect but meaningful communication. - **The "Language isn't sexist, speakers are" principle:** Adopting this philosophy means that societal change must start with conscious *behavior* (discourse) rather than waiting for the *form* of language to naturally shift. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - **Difficulty of Pronunciation:** The speaker notes that complex, inclusive written constructs (like the example with *x's*) cannot always be accurately reproduced in speech. - **Limited Scope of Change:** Recognizing that the initial proposed changes (semantics/pragmatics) are voluntary acts of "dismantling and reconstructing" common phrases, not guaranteed structural overhauls. ## Methodology - **Linguistic Observation:** The speaker's primary method is attentive observation of how language functions, noting patterns in speech and text. - **Conceptual Mapping:** The speaker employs an "onion" analogy to teach the structural distinction between internal (rigid) and external (changeable) language layers. - **Proposal Formulation:** The process involves proposing a shift of focus from syntax/morphology to semantics/pragmatics to effect social change. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The primary recommendation is to shift focus from the rigid, internal structures of language toward the more mutable external layers of meaning and use. - Speakers—including the speaker—should actively participate in linguistic subversion to achieve inclusion. - The overarching goal is to recognize that changing one's discourse is the prerequisite for changing oneself and society. ## Implications & Consequences - Failure to critically examine common phrases means allowing outdated social roles (like the 'get married now' comment) to continue restricting marginalized groups. - The concept of linguistic change is shown to be a dynamic social process, not merely an academic tracking of grammatical decay. ## Verbatim Moments - *"what is gendered language? Well, simply put, it's a communicative strategy to try to include women in discourse."* - *"this gender doubling gets in the way of what's really important: the message in an everyday conversation."* - *"Language is like an onion, which, like others, has layers."* - *"The internal layers are those rigid ones where it takes a very long time for anything to happen, and it depends on many things for anything to happen in the language. These are morphology and syntax, that is, form and structure."* - *"These outer layers of language are where linguistic change can germinate, where there can be an impact on our environment and our context. These layers are semantics and pragmatics, which are meaning and use."* - *"how many of these stock phrases are in the collective imagination, phrases we say almost automatically to our friends, our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, and we haven't taken the time to dismantle and reconstruct them based on the new meanings that women and other minority groups have in our society?"* - *"Language isn't sexist, speakers are."* - *"today we can modify what we are doing for inclusion."*