Non-binary language in the classroom: the disruption of the social emergency in the face of the power of the norm

Abstract

For some years now, Argentina has been one of the foci of the appearance, in diverse scenarios, of certain linguistic uses sheltered under the name of “inclusive language”. This article focuses on the field of higher studies, while recognizing its circulation and the large group of national universities that approved its use through resolutions of the Superior Council and the Board of Directors. It is based on the hypothesis that it is a challenge for national universities to lay out a descriptive grammar that guides those who wish to use inclusive/non-sexist language and advances in a systematization that recognizes three different positions: on the one hand, a “line of androcentric language”, supported by those who support the existence of a pure language and cling to the norm; on the other, a “binary language line”, made up of those who try to make women visible; finally, a “non-binary language line”, which groups the uses that consider all people not subsumed in the male/female dichotomy. A didactic proposal is offered that allows addressing this problem and provides tools to decide -or not- to use a non-sexist or inclusive language.