References to women in the grammatical examples of the 1917 GRAE

Abstract

This work is a continuation of two previous studies (Escudero Paniagua, 2024a and 2024b), which quantified and analyzed the presence of female references in the examples used in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century RAE grammars (GRAE). This study aims to further explore the topic by analyzing the first landmark edition of the academic gramar of the twentieth century, the GRAE 1917, with the goal of determining whether any changes occurred and investigating whether the sociopolitical changes experienced in early twentiethcentury Spain affected (and in what way) the number of references to women in gramatical examples or the image of women projected by the Academy. A methodology similar to that of the previous studies was followed for both the quantification and analysis of references. The study is based on the idea that the sociocultural and political changes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries–particularly the gradual inclusion of women in public life, employment, and education, as well as the rise of suffragist and feminist movements and institutions in Spain– should have led to greater visibility of women in general and, specifically, in the examples used in the GRAE. However, although the overall increase in examples resulted in a higher number of references to women, the percentage data (i.e., in relation to the total number of references to men and women) show little change in this regard compared to nineteenth-century editions of the academic grammar. The conservatism of the institution, therefore, continued to have a decisive impact on the limited renewal of this sociocultural and ideological aspect of exemplification.