Morphological processing of inclusive language in Spanish: A usage-based account

Abstract

We examine how form and usage shape the processing of the Spanish gender-inclusive morpheme -e. Within usage-based models, repeated exposure strengthens representations, allowing high-frequency forms to be retrieved holistically while infrequent forms remain compositionally demanding. To test these predictions, we compare the processing of the relatively frequent pronominal quantifier tod-e-s (‘everyone-

- ’) with its masculine counterpart tod-o-s (‘everyone- - ’) and plural inclusive adjectives such as content-e-s (‘happy- - ’) with masculine forms such as content-o-s (‘happy- - ’). First-language Spanish speakers completed a word-by-word self-paced reading task in which these forms referred to mixed-gender groups, followed by a sociolinguistic questionnaire. The results showed no reliable processing cost for todes relative to todos at the precritical, critical and postcritical regions. By contrast, inclusive adjectives elicited longer reading times than masculine adjectives at the critical word and spillover region. This cost appeared across most participant groups but was absent among those reporting the highest use of inclusive language. A participant-level bootstrap comparison showed that the processing burden was reliably greater for inclusive adjectives than for todes. These findings indicate that inclusive morphology is not processed uniformly across grammatical contexts. Instead, grammatical categories and individual experience modulate entrenchment, suggesting adult speakers can incorporate emergent morphology into real-time processing routines through exposure.