Page 110 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 110
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 5–6
feminisation
1. an increasing number of women in places of work or various pro-
fessions: feminisation of the teaching profession
2. the acquisition of feminine characteristics: feminisation of men
was also evident in the way they dressed
◆ biol. a change of certain characteristics in the male organism to female
characteristics; ling. a process by which a word or form changes to the fem-
inine form.
However, by gaining a political profile, the “feminisation of lan-
guage” has taken on a more negative connotation (the French Academy
and conservative linguists are strongly against the “feminisation of
French”). By analogy with sense 1 of “feminisation” above concerning pro-
fessions and occupations, where, as corpus data show,6 feminine forms of-
ten acquire a pejorative connotation, such as in tajnica (Eng. secretary)
as opposed to tajnik (Eng. secretary), etc., feminine linguistic forms in
general hold a non-neutral status through evaluative meaning. Therefore,
interventions in traditional nomenclatures and address terms, e.g. gen-
der-specific job titles, do not in themselves bring improvements. As shown
by GNL reforms in some languages, they can even be counterproductive,
such as forms with a feminine grammatical suffix in French (écrivaine,
poetesse) and English (chairwoman, poetess, etc.). The non-neutral, some-
times pejorative meaning of these forms has to do with the way we use lan-
guage in its evaluative function in the existing power relations. Slovenian
is a language with limited possibilities of concealing grammatical gen-
der. However, in languages of this kind as well as in those where it is pos-
sible not to express gender (i.e. where syntax is less gender-marked), one
can note the dilemma between the decision to “feminise” agent nouns, on
the one hand, and to “neutralise” them, on the other. The former makes
women more prominent but often carries pejorative connotations, while
the latter – using the masculine form as the norm – makes women in-
visible. For the purpose of this article, however, the first meaning men-
tioned above is the more interesting one, since empirical data show that
it is the most common in standard language and tends to trigger negative
evaluation.
6 Lexical and discursive analysis of the use of the lexeme “feminisation” (Šorli, 2020) as an ex-
ample of a seemingly neutral language – based on the dictionary entry in the Dictionary of
Standard Slovenian – reveals strong social connotations and gender asymmetries. The word
often appears in contextual environments that portray it as something negative, socially
undesirable or as something associated with events, facts or characteristics that encourage
negative associations.
108
feminisation
1. an increasing number of women in places of work or various pro-
fessions: feminisation of the teaching profession
2. the acquisition of feminine characteristics: feminisation of men
was also evident in the way they dressed
◆ biol. a change of certain characteristics in the male organism to female
characteristics; ling. a process by which a word or form changes to the fem-
inine form.
However, by gaining a political profile, the “feminisation of lan-
guage” has taken on a more negative connotation (the French Academy
and conservative linguists are strongly against the “feminisation of
French”). By analogy with sense 1 of “feminisation” above concerning pro-
fessions and occupations, where, as corpus data show,6 feminine forms of-
ten acquire a pejorative connotation, such as in tajnica (Eng. secretary)
as opposed to tajnik (Eng. secretary), etc., feminine linguistic forms in
general hold a non-neutral status through evaluative meaning. Therefore,
interventions in traditional nomenclatures and address terms, e.g. gen-
der-specific job titles, do not in themselves bring improvements. As shown
by GNL reforms in some languages, they can even be counterproductive,
such as forms with a feminine grammatical suffix in French (écrivaine,
poetesse) and English (chairwoman, poetess, etc.). The non-neutral, some-
times pejorative meaning of these forms has to do with the way we use lan-
guage in its evaluative function in the existing power relations. Slovenian
is a language with limited possibilities of concealing grammatical gen-
der. However, in languages of this kind as well as in those where it is pos-
sible not to express gender (i.e. where syntax is less gender-marked), one
can note the dilemma between the decision to “feminise” agent nouns, on
the one hand, and to “neutralise” them, on the other. The former makes
women more prominent but often carries pejorative connotations, while
the latter – using the masculine form as the norm – makes women in-
visible. For the purpose of this article, however, the first meaning men-
tioned above is the more interesting one, since empirical data show that
it is the most common in standard language and tends to trigger negative
evaluation.
6 Lexical and discursive analysis of the use of the lexeme “feminisation” (Šorli, 2020) as an ex-
ample of a seemingly neutral language – based on the dictionary entry in the Dictionary of
Standard Slovenian – reveals strong social connotations and gender asymmetries. The word
often appears in contextual environments that portray it as something negative, socially
undesirable or as something associated with events, facts or characteristics that encourage
negative associations.
108
