From the ArcaMax Publishing, Vocabulary Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/vocabulary/s-628852-561828
subaltern \suhb-OL-tuhrn; SUHB-uhl-tuhrn\ (adjective) - 1 : Ranked or
ranged below; subordinate; inferior. 2 : (Chiefly British) Ranking as
a junior officer; being below the rank of captain. 3 : (Logic)
Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.
(noun) - 1 : A person holding a subordinate position. 2 : (Chiefly
British) A commissioned military officer below the rank of captain. 3
: (Logic) A subaltern proposition.
"Given the existence of many other subaltern epistemologies and
ontologies hidden behind the term 'Third World' alone -- consider
Peru, India, New Guinea -- we approach here the enormity of task of a
transitional movement of the liberation of women." -- Inderpal Grewal,
'Scattered Hegemonies'
Subaltern derives from Late Latin subalternus, "subordinate," from
Latin sub-, "under" + Latin alternus, "alternate," from alter,
"other."