Language and Gender: Feminist Linguistics

How language reflects and reproduces gender inequality

Feminist linguistics (Robin Lakoff, "Language and Woman's Place", 1975) raised the question: does a "women's language" exist? Lakoff described features of women's speech: evasiveness (tag questions — "it's true, isn't it?"), apologetic tone, understatement of confidence, more frequent use of "polite" forms.

Critique: these features are characteristic not of women, but of subordinate positions. Men in subordinate positions speak in the same way. This is not "women's language" — this is "language of power vs. language without power".

Sexism in language: the generic "he" to designate people in general (the English "he" as neutral), words with a masculine suffix as the basic form (president vs. "female president"). Feminist linguistics showed: these conventions are not neutral — they make women the "exception", not the norm.

Language change as politics

Language reforms — and debates about them. In English, "they" as a gender-neutral singular pronoun (already approved by the AP Stylebook). In German — the gender asterisk (Leser*innen). In Russian — a discussion about feminine forms (avtorka, rezhissorka, psikhologinya).

Opponents: this is artificial, it destroys the language, it is politically motivated. Supporters: language has always changed under the influence of social changes; visibility in language is visibility in society; if there is no word — there is no concept (linguistic relativism in action).

De Beauvoir: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one." This becoming happens, among other things, through language: we are called by certain words, certain categories are attributed to us. Language is one of the structures through which gender roles are reproduced.

Question for reflection: How is the professional language of your field changing with regard to gender? What in these changes do you perceive as important, and what as excessive?