Spanish Speakers' Designation of Female Professionals: A Sociolinguistic Study

A sociolinguistic study investigates how native Spaniards designate female professionals across 40 occupations. The field lacks established norms, resulting in variation and uncertainty, even acknowledged by the Royal Spanish Academy. The study aims to quantitatively describe how the use of linguistic variables—feminine forms like "la abogada," common gender forms like "la abogado," and modifying attributes like "la mujer abogado" or "la abogado mujer"—is influenced by social factors such as sex, age, and education level. The research analyzes the preferences of 600 informants, primarily from the Madrid area, to explain why common gender designations are favored for certain professions. The selection of professions considers morphological structure and other factors, encompassing diverse job titles and socioeconomic levels. The quantitative analysis reveals that common gender is preferred for 22 of the 40 professions. Women, older individuals, and those with higher education levels tend to use feminine designations more frequently. Qualitative analysis indicates that phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic, cultural, and social factors shape speakers' attitudes, influencing their variant choices. The study concludes that individual preferences vary, making it difficult to predict future usage due to prevailing idiosyncrasy.