should
investigate the following:

? Are there gender exclusive patterns in the language?
? Are there asymmetries in the lexicon(s) of this language(s)?
? Find expressions that target some of the characteristics of the stereotypes for women and men.
? Interpretations of ambiguous sentences.
? Words that name women from the categories of objects/parts of objects, food, and animals; however, you
may use examples of words from other categories also.
? Words that name men from the categories of objects/parts of objects, food, and animals; however, you
may use examples of words from other categories also.
? Are there aggressive or violent expressions? Do these expressions target both genders?
? Are there pejorative words in the language that are used to put down people?

SBS 318 New Perspectives on Language and Sex

Summer 2014

Notes of the Power Presentation on Language and Gender €¢ Language is part of culture and reflects the attitudes of society. €¢ The sexism, racism, classism of a society

is generally reflected in that society’s language or languages and these prejudices project to the mind and language, which have effects on the individual. €¢ The

following facts of English and English usage, as well as other languages provide data that demonstrate sexist language in the societies and cultures of the world.

Asymmetries in the English Lexicon The lexicon is the mental dictionary where all the words that we know of the language(s) that we speak are stored. The lexicon has

different categories of words. One of these categories is that known as equivalent pairs. In this presentation, equivalent pairs are words that have the same meaning.

One word applies to women and the other to men, for example, princess and prince. The problem is that there are many words that do not have their pair, which indicates

that the asymmetry is due to interaction of prejudicial beliefs and attitudes toward women and not to the internal structure of the language. The following first four

examples show that there are no equivalent words for men and the last example shows that there is no equivalent word for women. WOMEN divorcée old wives’ tale womanish

tears female wiles Ø MEN Ø Ø Ø Ø manly courage

Other areas of asymmetry in the lexicon €“ The other problem is that even if there are pairs, they don’t have the same meaning. Plus the meaning of the word that refers

to women is usually downgraded. The following pairs show that the semantics (meaning) for each word in the pair is not the same, although their meanings are supposed

to be the same: 1. governor/ governess 2. major/ majorette 3. mister/ mistress 4. star/ starlet 5. bachelor/ spinster An attractive bachelor. An attractive spinster.

(?) 6. to father/ to mother To father a child is to be the biological father. To mother a child is to protect or over-protect it. 1

Also, there are more derogatory words for women than there are for men, for example: dish, tomato, piece, piece of ass, chick, piece of tail, bunny, pussycat, bitch,

doll, girl, slut, cow, muffin, etc. Notice that these words come from classes of words that are used to refer to animals, food and toys. Asymmetries in Syntax

(sentence construction): The following examples show that the semantics of the verb or noun is not exactly the same. to bitch (complain) screw/fuck He bitches. She

bitches. He screws her. He fucks her. She screws him. She fucks him.

(sexual) (sexual) (Metaphorical deception) (sexual)

old maid tramp widow/widower

She is an old maid. He is an old maid. (?) He is a tramp. (finances) She is a tramp. (morals) Mary is John’s widow. John is Mary’s widower. (?) Generic He in English

Generic he terms are very common in the world’s languages and this fact also reflects the interaction between language and prejudicial beliefs and attitudes toward

women. Again, prejudicial beliefs and attitudes of societies toward women get reflected on language. Generic he is supposed to include women; however, female forms

never include men; for example, the brotherhood of man includes women, but sisterhood of women does not include men. Examples of generic he terms are: manpower,

mankind, to man (to operate), handyman, chairman, mailman, policeman, fireman. Interestingly, in the sixteen and seventeen centuries, masculine pronouns were not used

as generic terms. The various forms of he were used when referring to males, and she when referring to females. But, this changed in the centuries that followed. In

the sixties and seventies, the use of the generic he’ was partially transformed. 1. Mailman -> mailperson 2. Chairman -> chairperson 3. He should study. -> He/she

should study. One striking fact about the asymmetry between male and female terms in many languages is that when there are female/male pairs, the male form for the

most part is

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unmarked and the female term is created by aIDing a prefix or a suffix or by compounding, for instance: MALE actor author count heir hero host male Paul poet prince

FEMALE actress authoress countess heiress heroine hostess female < femina Latin; fe- fertile < femelle little woman (femme woman) Pauline poetess princess

Women and men think that being gender neutral is to adopt the male form. This is an erroneous approach and it is known as hypercorrection. The fact that women have

entered professions that were exclusively for men has affected possible interpretations of sentences, for example: 1. My neighbor is a doctor. (The word doctor could

refer to a woman or a man, but in the 40’s or 50’s it could only refer to a man.) BUT 2. My neighbor is a blond. (It is still assumed that it refers to a woman.) Thus,

the discussion of obscenities, blasphemies, taboo words, and euphemisms demonstrate that words of a language cannot be intrinsically good or bad but reflect individual

or societal values. Asymmetries in the Lexicon of Spanish Compare the following words and their meanings: Masculine el inocente an innocent person’ hombre público un

reo a criminal’ un doncel a young nobleman’ ser un gallo courage’ zorro attractive, cunning, smart’ Female la inocente a virgin’ mujer pública prostitute’ una

rea an impoverished prostitute una doncella a virgin’ ser una gallina cowardly’ zorra secretive woman’

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Women entering new professions have forced society to change its lexicon also. These changes are slowly taking place and they start by changing the gender of the

article. Notice the change from the article el’ (the-masculine) to the article la (the-feminine). Notice also that some nouns have changed the suffix of the noun

from the suffix €“o which indicates masculine to the female suffix €“a. Masculine el capitán el juez el soldado el médico Female la capitana la juez/la jueza la soldado/

la soldada OR la soldadera la médico/la médica Gloss the captain the judge the soldier the doctor

The true female forms €“ la jueza, la soldada and la médica €“ are still not totally accepted by Spanish speakers. Generic He in Spanish The Spanish language has

been criticized for its sexism. €¢ €¢ A group of people with only one male would be referred to as ellos (theymasculine form’). A group of children with only one boy

would be referred to as niños (childrenmasculine form’).

Generic he’ forms in Spanish are more numerous and more extensive in the Spanish language. Cross-Cultural Studies of Language and Gender Gender-Exclusive Patterns in

Languages of the World €“ Languages with genderexclusive patterns are those in which women and men always use linguistic alternatives appropriate to their own gender.

1. The earliest known documentation of exclusive gender differences in speech is from XVII Century reports of native Carib people living on the Lesser Antilles. Some

of the reported data are gender-specific words that denote kinship relations: Women noukóchili Men youmáan Gloss my father

2. More reliable documentation of gender-exclusive linguistic patterns has been obtained by research beginning in the early XX Century. In the Chukchee language (a

native Siberian language),) consonants ch and r in male speech are replaced by s in

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female speech. Similarly, consonant clusters chh and rk spoken by men are realized as sh by women. Compare the following words (Bogoras 1922:665): Women Shumñáta

sámkishshim Men chumñáta rámkichhim Gloss buy a buck people

Also, consonants appearing in basic women’s speech are omitted between vowels in derived men’s speech, as in the following words that Bogoras did not translate: Women

nitváqenat tírkitir Men nitváqaat tírkiir Gloss ? ?

Gender-exclusive patterns have been also documented in the Koasati language and other languages in the Muskogean family, which are spoken by Native Americans in the

southeastern United States (Haas 1944). Male and female pronunciations contrasted in certain classes of words in various ways. If the female form ends in a nasal

vowel, male forms de-nasalize the vowel and aID -s: Women lakawwã. lakawtakkõ mól Men lakawwa. s lakawtakkos móls Gloss He will lift it. I am not lifting it. He is

peeling it.

Koasati men and women use each other’s speech when quoting a speaker or formerly when correcting a child’s speech in order to reinforce gender-appropriate styles.

Japanese society is stratified in terms of class, gender and age. Class status is marked by deference shown to people of wealth and high position in occupational

settings; men receive greater social respect than do women; and seniority both within households and communities bestows prestige to elders. A major pronunciation

trait of female speech is women’s tendency to omit vowel i and consonant r, as in the following (Shibamoto 1987:27): Men kekkoo de gozaimasu wakaranai Women kekkoo de

gozaamasu wakannai Gloss That’s fine. I don’t understand.

Gender styles also appear in intonational patterns. As in the speech of American women, Japanese women’s intonation is more dynamic than men’s, reflected by sharper

changes in pitch and stress. Japanese women also tend to use rising intonational contours at the ends of sentences. In aIDition to distinctions in pronunciation,

Japanese men and women exclusively employ separate words for some objects, activities, or ideas. Some examples follow:

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Gloss stomach water delicious eat box lunch chopsticks book

Male Forms Female Forms hara onaka mizu ohiya umai oisii kuu taberu bentoo obentoo hasi ohasi hon gohon

Gender inequality within the family is revealed by forms of aIDress employed between spouses and by words used to refer to one’s spouse. Husbands aIDress wives: 1)

first name OR 2) omae/kimi (2nd person pronouns) Omae is the pronoun generally used by status superiors to aIDresses of lower status and kimi is used to

subordinates or intimates, but not to superiors. Wives aIDress husbands: 1) first name + -san (honorific suffix) 2) anata (2nd person pronoun) Lower-status people to

higher-status aIDresses employ anata. Women generally aIDress all interlocutors with anata; thus, symbolizing women’s social subordination. Epithets and other

examples The use of epithets for people of different religions, nationalities, or color is another good example of interaction between language and the prejudicial

beliefs and attitudes toward of a society. Words like kike, wop, nigger, and so forth express prejudicial views of society. If racial and national and religious

bigotry did not exist, then in time these words would either die out or lose their connotations. Prejudice does not always need a particular word. It is sometimes the

context in which words, sentences and expressions are utilized. For example, the word boy is not a taboo word if used generally, but when a twenty-year-old white man

calls a forty-yearblack man boy, the word takes on an aIDitional meaning; it reflects the racist attitude of the speaker. Another example is the following paragraph

from an article written in the graduate school of management: A businessman is aggressive; a businesswoman is pushy. A businessman is good on details; she’s picky. . .

He follows through; she doesn’t know when to quit. He stands firm; she’s hard . . . His judgments are her prejudices. He is a man of the world; she’s been around. He

isn’t afraid to say what is on his mind; she is mouthy. He exercises authority diligently; she’s power mad. He’s close mouthed. She’s secretive, He climbed the laIDer

of success; she slept her way to the top. From How to Tell A Businessman from a Businesswoman, Graduate School of Management, UCLA, The Balloon XXII, (6).

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Language and violence Violence does not have to be physical; it can be verbal. Spanish examples: 1. Yo te traje a este mundo y yo te saco (I brought you to this world

and I’ll take you out’). 2. Te mato (I’ll kill you’). 3. Estás loca/loco (You are crazy’). The female form is loca’ and the masculine is loco’. Other languages

have similar expressions, including English. In English, there is an interesting example in regards to sex and violence. A sterile man is said to be shooting blanks.

In this example, and violence the male organ, penis, is conceptualized as a weapon. There are also expressions that explicitly silence women; for example in Spanish:

Callada te ves más bonita You look prettier when you are quiet. Feminists have criticized sexist language for a long time. Recently, feminists in Mexico staged a

protest in which they strongly argued that sexist language fuels gender violence Conclusion Language affects the identity, self-esteem, and mental health of people. We

must select well our words and never use verbal violence, epithets, hurtful words, or obscene words. Language is a reflection of society. If a language shows patterns

of sexism and verbal violence, it is its society that is sexist and violent and not the language itself. Finally, language also functions as a mechanism that maintains

and reproduces the attitudes and behaviors of a society.