Gender neutral language in Portuguese: Difference between revisions

This article will focus on '''gender neutral Portuguese language'''. While, in Portuguese, non-living things are also attributed a gender, that is not meant to change with the use of neutral language. The sentence "my chair is purple" would still be said like "a minha cadeira é roxa," in which ''cadeira'' is still a feminine noun and the article ''a'', the possessive pronoun ''minha'' and the adjective ''roxa'' are also feminine. Moreover, words like ''pessoa'' ("person"), which are gendered but used to refer to anyone regardless of gender, remain the same and gender agreement is still expected in sentences that use them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dezanove.pt/sistema-elu-linguagem-neutra-em-genero-1317469|title=Sistema Elu, Linguagem Neutra em Género|last=Valente|first=Pedro|date=13 April 2020|website=dezanove|language=Portuguese|trans-title=Elu System, Language Neutral in Gender|access-date=23 June 2021}}</ref>

There are two established ways of representing language sets in the Portuguese language. The first one, ''ela/dela'' follows the same format as the English "she/her," however, it is very incomplete. In Portuguese, word endings indicate gender, so the format ''ela/dela/-a'' was suggested as an alternative. Though this format is more complete than the previous one, it has been criticized. Some of the criticisms are that it doesn't take the particularities of the Portuguese language into account; that the other elements in the language that indicate gender, like articles and demonstrative pronouns, should also be declared and that article and word ending choice are unrelated to pronoun choice. For these reasons, the recommended representation is ''a/ela/a'', which follows the format article/pronoun/word ending.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amplifi.casa/~/Asterismos/motivos-para-n%C3%A3o-usar-pronome-d-pronome-como-indica%C3%A7%C3%A3o-de-conjuntos-de-linguagem|title=Motivos para não usar "pronome/d[pronome]" como indicação de conjuntos de linguagem|date=20 September 2019|website=Amplifi.casa|language=Portuguese|trans-title=Reasons not to use "pronoun/d[pronoun]" as an indication of language sets|access-date=21 June 2021}}</ref> An even more complete version of this format would be ''a/uma/da/ela/dela/minha/essa/a''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://forum.orientando.org/thread-225.html|title=expansão do sistema artigo/pronome/final de palavra?|date=23 May 2018|website=Fórum Orientando|access-date=21 June 2021|language=Portuguese|trans-title=expansion of the article/pronoun/word ending system?}}</ref> Note that, because pronouns aren't the only language elements that indicate gender in Portuguese, some people suggest calling these sets '''language sets''' instead of '''pronoun sets'''.

In Portuguese, there are two standard personal pronouns for the third person singular and two for the third person plural. ''Ela'' is equivalent to the English "she" and ''ele'' is equivalent to the English "he," while ''elas'' and ''eles'' are both equivalent to the English plural "they." Portuguese-speaking non-binary people who don't feel comfortable with these have had to come up with their own neopronouns.