These notes explore Language and gender (split into two parts: 'Language is sexist' and 'Men and women use language differently') in relation to AQA's latest specification for English Language (A-level 7702). Other topics are available individually or to purchase as a bundle.
Linguistic reflectionism - The idea that our language reflects our attitudes and values. For example,
words are changing (e.g. coloured = black, half-cast = mixed race).
Linguistic relativity - The idea that our language effects our views of the world.
Marked terms - Term "marked" is a staple of linguistic theory, which refers to the way language alters
the base meaning of a word by adding a linguistic particle that has no meaning on its own (e.g. family
man, male nurse etc.). Therefore, the unmarked form of a word carries the meaning that goes without
saying.
Tautology - Producing redundancy in meaning by saying the same thing twice (e.g. family woman,
female nurse etc.).
Lexical gap - The idea that there are gaps in our language. For example, there is no male equivalent to
the female insult ‘slut’. Whilst there are terms like 'player' for men, these are often laced with humour,
irony, or even considered a compliment.
Lexical asymmetry - When words which originally have the same meaning evolve to mean something
different due to the value judgements made by society (e.g. bachelor and spinster).
Bachelor = approving term.
Spinster = sad thing to be.
Therefore, linguistic reflectionism is a more plausible and realistic explanation of how our language
evolves.
Sex - A biological condition i.e. defined as a set of physical characteristics.
Gender - A social construct:
General usage of the term gender began in the late 1960s and 1970s, increasingly appearing in
the professional literature of the social sciences.
The term helps in distinguishing those aspects of life that are more easily attributed or
understood to be a social construct rather than of biological origin.
Connotation - An idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary
meaning. In terms of gender, the qualitative adjectives 'sweet' and 'slender' have connotations for
women, whereas 'muscular' and 'ripped' have connotations for men.
Collocation - A word or phrase that is often used with another word or phrase, in a way that sounds
correct to people who have spoken the language all their lives (e.g. macho man, rabid feminist etc.).
John Sinclair - Talked of the importance of analysing ‘the company that words keep’ - or in other words
their collocations.
Lexical Priming - Hoey (2005) uses the expression ‘lexical priming’ to describe the way in which words
and phrases come with a kind of undercoat layer built from habitual usage in the same contexts. We are
primed to think in this way due to this.
Dale Spender - 'Only men are allowed to grow up'. We have a man-made language.
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