When I was studying Philology at the University of Barcelona (UB) in the early 1980s, I had a teacher from Valencia, whose name I don’t remember, who taught Vulgar Latin. The man had political interests and was attached to Aliança Popular, the founding formation of Fraga Iribarne, predecessor of the Popular Party. Even then, this party said that the Valencian language was not the same as the Catalan language. Asked in one of the classes about this issue, the professor said that, within the walls of the university, that statement could not be made. In other words, science is one thing (Valencian and Catalan are the same language) and politics is another (the realm of lies or biased opinions).
Since then it has rained a lot, although not as much as it should, and the UB has seen them in all colors. Among other rubbish, he has maintained for quite some time a book of style that was unbecoming of an alma mater. Now, finally, it has backtracked and restored the generic masculine as an unmarked gender.
Dear Carme Junyent explained that in the program of one of her subjects it had been stated that the works could be presented in any of the languages ??she understood, but that when the text went through correction, applying the book of style until the last consequences, he had been changed from teacher to teacher. In accordance with the law, with that modification his students could present their work in any of the languages ??understood by any member of the teaching staff of the faculty. And since it was Philology, the number of languages ??was quite high. Fortunately, the UB has rectified it and, although perhaps unconsciously, has paid tribute to one of its most distinguished teachers.
Coincidentally, or not, this UB decision coincided with a document from the Philological Section of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans that analyzes the normative limits of inclusive language. The institution that elaborates the regulations of the Catalan language limits itself to saying which solutions of the inclusive language are compatible with the grammar of the Catalan language and which are not.
The IEC has nothing against people using feminine as a generic or inventing imaginative resources like totis. As its president, Nicolau Dols, says, “all these initiatives are very commendable”. However, politics and civic and social movements are one thing, and what linguistic science says is another. And having a pronoun like everyone in Catalan, I find it quite unnecessary to invent a totis or split it into “tots and totes”. But each one where he climbs.
