Decision Algorithm for the Automatic Determination of the Use of Non-Inclusive Terms in Academic Texts

Pedro Orgeira-Crespo, Carla Míguez-Álvarez, Miguel Cuevas-Alonso and María Isabel Doval-Ruiz
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Pedro Orgeira-Crespo: Aerospace Area, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Heat Engines and Machines, and Fluids, Aerospace Engineering School, University of Vigo, Campus Orense, 32004 Orense, Spain
Carla Míguez-Álvarez: Language Variation and Textual Categorization (LVTC), Philology and Translation School, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Miguel Cuevas-Alonso: Language Variation and Textual Categorization (LVTC), Philology and Translation School, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
María Isabel Doval-Ruiz: Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Vigo, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain

Publications, 2020, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-25

Abstract: The use of inclusive language, among many other gender equality initiatives in society, has garnered great attention in recent years. Gender equality offices in universities and public administration cannot cope with the task of manually checking the use of non-inclusive language in the documentation that those institutions generate. In this research, an automated solution for the detection of non-inclusive uses of the Spanish language in doctoral theses generated in Spanish universities is introduced using machine learning techniques. A large dataset has been used to train, validate, and analyze the use of inclusive language; the result is an algorithm that detects, within any Spanish text document, non-inclusive uses of the language with error, false positive, and false negative ratios slightly over 10%, and precision, recall, and F-measure percentages over 86%. Results also show the evolution with time of the ratio of non-inclusive usages per document, having a pronounced reduction in the last years under study.

Keywords: inclusive language; Spanish language; natural language processing; classification algorithm; machine learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A2 D83 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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