Does anyone else find the whole 'Latinx' thing nonsensical? I understand the reasoning, it's about being gender neutral. But why don't they just knock the vowel off the end and just say 'Latin'?
How's it meant to be pronounced? Latinks?
[deleted]
A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
61–70 of 159 posts
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree it is nonsensical, but I'd rather it stay as it used to be. Through the usual meme grapevine I saw a tumblr post on reddit about this. Being gender neutral/genderless in this case is also actively ignoring Spanish linguistics (and arguably culture). Spanish is a gendered language like many others. It's not some patriarchal conspiracy to say Latino instead of Latina or vice versa, it's just how the language wo…
> Being gender neutral/genderless in this case is also actively ignoring Spanish linguistics (and arguably culture). That argument that conflates the Spanish language and Latin American culture (which is not homogenous). Portuguese actually edges out Spanish in terms of European languages in South America, and there are hundreds of indigenous languages spoken there [1]. It's an appeal to the purity of a culture that…
> Portuguese actually edges out Spanish in terms of European languages in South America
We're not in South America, though. In the context of this article, we're talking about a town in the USA with a large number of immigrants from Latin America as a whole, most of whom are Hispanic and comparatively few of whom are Brazilian.
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everything south of the United States except for the French/Dutch settled area of South America is referred to as 'Latin America'
If we're going to be political about gender, shouldn't we be political about the invasion and oppression of the native people by Europeans and Latin culture?
Why not be political about none of it? Is making a word more politically correct really going to have any significant change other than a few high fives at a liberal arts college?
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
LOL, but why aren't french-speakers from Quebec called "latinos" also? It makes no sense.
An American would refer to them as Canadian, French-Canadian, or Québécois if you're feeling fancy. We also have the term Hispanic to refer to folks from Latin America though I'm not quite sure what the underlying difference is.
> We also have the term Hispanic to refer to folks from Latin America
Not quite. Brazil is in Latin America, but Brazilians are not Hispanic.
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#65Does anyone else find the whole 'Latinx' thing nonsensical? I understand the reasoning, it's about being gender neutral. But why don't they just knock the vowel off the end and just say 'Latin'?
I agree it is nonsensical, but I'd rather it stay as it used to be. Through the usual meme grapevine I saw a tumblr post on reddit about this. Being gender neutral/genderless in this case is also actively ignoring Spanish linguistics (and arguably culture). Spanish is a gendered language like many others. It's not some patriarchal conspiracy to say Latino instead of Latina or vice versa, it's just how the language wo…
[deleted]
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure it may be, but physical isolation is certainly not a necessity. E.g. London has several separate recognisable accents ignoring the ones tied to specific ethnic groups. What physical isolation tends to give is much clearer lines - the London accents blur into each other a lot, and people moving around a lot makes it more a game of averages.
I agree. I live in Rhode Island, the smallest state I the US and we have multiple distinct accents that are clear to those who grow up here. Even from adjacent towns! Many people in RI down even travel within the state very far.
I've spent a lot of time in RI myself. Can you say more about the differences you have in mind?
All I can think of is Cranston vs. elsewhere.
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#67Does anyone else find the whole 'Latinx' thing nonsensical? I understand the reasoning, it's about being gender neutral. But why don't they just knock the vowel off the end and just say 'Latin'?
The same reason you use they, them, and their instead of dropping pronouns entirely. It's easier to make language gender-neutral than it is to remove the slot gender occupies entirely. There are probably other reasons.
[deleted]
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#68Interesting. The "spanish influenced" accent described in the video sounds like standard English in southern california.
Yeah, I get the feeling they make a big fuzz out of it. In the video she’s mentioning the different ways an “a” is pronounced. If you look at England, every other towns has a different accent (that’s what I’ve heard) https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/what-is-the-differ...
I'd say the rate at which accents change here as you move is probably higher than the US due to the smaller size of the British Isles. You can see a few videos like this that demonstrate it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8mzWkuOxz8
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Being gender neutral/genderless in this case is also actively ignoring Spanish linguistics (and arguably culture). That argument that conflates the Spanish language and Latin American culture (which is not homogenous). Portuguese actually edges out Spanish in terms of European languages in South America, and there are hundreds of indigenous languages spoken there [1]. It's an appeal to the purity of a culture that…
> Portuguese actually edges out Spanish in terms of European languages in South America We're not in South America, though. In the context of this article, we're talking about a town in the USA with a large number of immigrants from Latin America as a whole, most of whom are Hispanic and comparatively few of whom are Brazilian.
This subthread is an aside on the term "Latinx" in general, outside the context of this article. I'm specifically responding to the meme described by the GP, which ostensibly was not created in response to this article but to address general usage of the term "Latinx".
Re: A New Accent Is Developing in Southwest Kansas
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree it is nonsensical, but I'd rather it stay as it used to be. Through the usual meme grapevine I saw a tumblr post on reddit about this. Being gender neutral/genderless in this case is also actively ignoring Spanish linguistics (and arguably culture). Spanish is a gendered language like many others. It's not some patriarchal conspiracy to say Latino instead of Latina or vice versa, it's just how the language wo…
Isn't the adjective for the Roman "Latin" in Spanish also "Latino"? Do they get confused by this?
Yeah, I don't think that's the part that's confusing them.