No description available.

The gender-neutral pronoun hen has been added to the Swedish language with the aim to reduce sexism in the language and make language more inclusive. An objection against the implementation of the word is that the word would be cumbersome to read and would take more cognitive capacity to process. The present study examined if that concern is warranted. 209 participants self-paced read five texts with three pronouns each. Participants were randomly distributed to conditions containing only hen, he/she, she, or he as pronouns. No difference was found between reading speed in the condition containing hen as a pronoun in comparison with the conditions using han, hon or han/hon. No overall difference in memory recall was found either. However, sexism was found to be a moderator for memory recall when reading a text including hen, leading to lower memory recall for individuals scoring high on modern sexism.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to map secondary school students’ perception of male andfemale language. The study was performed in two classes in 7th grade and two classesin grade 9. The survey consisted mainly of categorization questions of differentlinguistic behaviours as female or male, but also gave the students the opportunity tofreely describe differences. The responses were then processed through a quantitativeand qualitative analysis.The students perceived the male language as more dominant, curt and offensive, andthought that men took more place through language. Women’s language wasunderstood to be used to seek contact, to be eloquent, to indicate uncertainty and to becorrect and polite.

No description available.

God is not a he, yet “he” is by far the most common pronoun for God. This qualitative study looks at how some priests from the Church of Sweden preach about God in a non-masculine way. The study was done through interviews and analysis of sermons from four priests who all work with non-masculine language concerning God.  Question: How can a non-masculine language about God look like, in sermons and in the preparations of sermons, in the Swedish church today? Sub-questions:  What types of words, pronouns and imagery of God are used in the sermons that were studied?What were the reflections of the priests in the study regarding non-masculine language in the preparation of sermons? From the interviews and sermons, a list has been compiled with words about God that are gender neutral and gender balanced. Although the importance of theological anchoring in the Bible is important there are also forgotten traditions and the congregations of the living folk church to anchor into.

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate if any linguistic differences between the sexes can be found in Swedish students’ compositions in English. My aim was also to investigate what features students perceive to be typically male or female. By studying a number of Swedish students’ English compositions, I was able to detect differences between boys’ and girls’ language and also compare my discoveries with earlier research. I investigated both the features that separate the genders in their writing and also what students identified as female and male language use. In my investigation, I found some linguistic differences between the sexes which were more distinct than others; for example their use of stative and dynamic verbs. But, on the other hand, I found no noticeable difference between boys’ and girls’ use of adjectives; words which are often said to be more commonly used by girls.</p>

The effect of gender-neutral language in a survey designed to measure unwanted sexual experiences was examined. Methodological issues pertaining to survey design and significant variability in prevalence estimates of sexual violence demonstrate that further refinement of self-report instruments is necessary. As a variety of macrolevel forces influence individual behavior, the current study contends that coercive tactics used to obtain sex in mixed-gender interactions are normalized by the traditional heterosex script and conveyed through gender-specific language. Reference to respondents’ sexual partners in gender-neutral, as opposed to gender-specific terms, was hypothesized to result in more disclosure of sexually coercive victimization and perpetration experiences. Logistic regression analyses revealed no statistically significant differences in disclosure between language conditions. Null findings are interpreted with reference to the broader gender-neutral language literature and implications for future research are suggested.

I denna uppsats undersöks om, och i så fall hur, man översätter könsneutralt på Europaparlamentet. Man kan översätta könsneutralt genom att till exempel skriva han eller hon, använda passiv eller plural. För att kunna undersöka hur man översätter könsneutralt, redogörs för vad genus och könsneutralt språk är, vilken roll genus spelar för denna typ av översättning, vilka olika genusaspekter som är viktiga för tyska och svenska, och terminologiska aspekter. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten bygger på feministisk lingvistisk och översättningsteoretisk litteratur som Simon, Thüne och Leonardi, Jobin och von Flotow. Material och metod baseras på interna dokument som Europaparlamentet gett ut. Jag har använt mig av Europaparlamentets arbetsordning som material och två rekommendationshäften om könsneutralt språk i Europaparlamentet som utgångspunkt. Därutöver gjorde jag intervjuer med två tyska och två svenska översättare på Europaparlamentet i Luxemburg. Resultaten visar att alla rekommendationer om könsneutralt språk faktiskt inte används, utan att man har valt olika strategier på tyska och svenska. I båda språken används passiv form och plural, medan användningen av pronomen skiljer sig mycket mellan de båda språken. Vidare ansågs omskrivning med substantivering som mycket tveksam och förekom inte heller i arbetsordningsanalysen. Det som undersöktes var adjektivböjningen och användningen av pronomen vad gäller funktionsbeteckningar i Europaparlamentets arbetsordning. Det visade sig vara lättare att översätta könsneutralt på svenska än på tyska. Han eller hon används inte på tyska, inte heller den så kallade Binnen-I med vilkens hjälp man kan markera båda könen på tyska. Sammanfattningsvis kan man säga att översättarna, med hjälp av rekommendationerna i de ovan nämnda häftena och sin egen språkkänsla försöker att formulera sina översättningar könsneutralt, och att könsneutralt språk i stort sett också återspeglas i Europaparlamentets arbetsordning. / This thesis is an empirical study on gender neutral translation at the European Parliament. In order to translate gender neutraly, the translator can write he or she, use passive-constructions or plural. In order to be able to analyze how a translator translates gender neutraly, I will first present how gender and gender neutral language is defined, how gender affects translation, which aspects are of importance for Swedish and German, as well as terminological aspects. The theoretical background is based on feminist linguistic and translation theory such as Simon, Thüne and Leonardi, Jobin and von Flotow. The research material and method are based on internal documents of the European Parliament, videlicet the Rules of Procedure and a broschure on gender neutral language. In addition, I interviewed translators of the European Parliament in Luxembourg, two of them being German and two of them being Swedish. It can be said that not all of the given recommendations for gender neutral language are used and that the usage differs in German and Swedish. Recommendations such as passive-constructions and plural are applied in both languages, while nominalization was considered to be questionable. Furthermore, the usage of functions, pronouns and adjectives in the Rules of Procedure was analyzed. In Swedish translations, the use of he and she is quite common, while it is not recommended for German, nor is the usage of Binnen-I for that matter. Summing up, it can be said that it is easier to translate and write gender neutraly in Swedish as in German and that all translators pay attention to the given recommendations and translate as gender neutral as possible, which is also reflected in the translation of the Rules of Procedure.

<p>Abstract</p><p>In English usages such as mankind and job titles ending in -man (fireman, chairman) when referring to people in general are considered sexist. Sexist language makes a distinction between women and men and it can exclude, trivialize or diminish women. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to study the sexist or non-sexist use of occupational terms in The San Diego Union Tribune and The Daily Aztec. The questions that were investigated were how the newspapers used affixed terms ending in –man and -woman, if they added female/woman/lady to refer to women, but also how they referred to traditional female professions (nurse, midwife). The study was conducted by hand by using a textual analysis, which was both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The study showed that the newspapers primarily use non-sexist occupational terms and avoid using female markings, even when reference is being made to women who have traditional male professions. The sexist usage that was most common was the affixed terms ending in –man and –woman. One conclusion that could be drawn was that The San Diego Union Tribune follows The Associated Press Stylebook’s policy about the usage of coined words such as chairperson and spokesperson.</p>