We already have here the word of the year 2023 according to FundéuRAE, which could not be other than polarization.
Fundéu RAE (Fundación del Español Urgente) is a foundation created in 2005. In 2020, the Real Academia Española (RAE) and Agencia EFE reached an agreement to relaunch it with the official name of FundéuRAE.
Its main objective is to take care of the proper use of the Spanish language in the media, especially the news media. For the last few years, Fundéu has been choosing the word of the year, which on this occasion has been polarization.
The word chosen does not have to be new, but must have created linguistic interest due to its origin, formation or use. In addition, it must have been a protagonist during the year of its choice.
As we can see, the term polarization meets all these criteria.
Polarization: the word of the year 2023 according to FundéuRAE
Undoubtedly, many areas are applying this type of technology. In 2022, it has been the basis of striking developments and innovations, especially in natural language processing or the generation of images from text instructions.
This word was chosen from a shortlist of 12 candidates. In it, there were other contenders such as:
- amnesty
- ecosilence
- euribor
- FANI
- fediverse
- fentanyl
- war
- humanitarian
- macro-fire
- earthquake
- ultra false
In recent years, the use of this term, which has been included in the academic dictionary since 1884, has become more widespread. It refers to situations in which there are two very defined and distanced opinions or activities. Sometimes, with the implicit ideas of tension and confrontation.
It is common to find examples in the media that point to various forms of polarization, worldwide: society, politics, public opinion, positions in social networks, etc. Both the verb polarize and its corresponding noun, polarization, are frequently used to express the idea of division into two opposing blocks, positions or opinions.
To polarize is, among other things, to orient in two opposing directions. In addition to its linguistic interest, the other reason for choosing this term has been its strong presence in the media in recent months. We have seen it in politics and ideology, in sports, in debates on digital platforms and, in general, in scenarios where there has been disagreement.
Below, we recall what they have been in previous years:
- 2013: escrache
- 2014: selfi
- 2015: refugee
- 2016: populism
- 2017: aporophobia
- 2018: microplastic
- 2019: emojis or emoticons
- 2020: confinement
- 2021: vaccine
- 2022: artificial intelligence
Photo credit: DP
Video credit: FRAE
