This paper focuses on the use of English epicene pronouns in discourse which most individuals are exposed to on an everyday basis. Gender-based linguistic reforms have been implemented since the beginning of the 1970s, to achieve a more non-sexist language. In the present study Corpus linguistics has been applied to investigate the use of personal pronoun he and the personal pronoun singular they in relationship with these linguistic reforms. The present study uses data from both written and spoken English between the 1930s and 2019. The data is collected from corpora COHA and COCA to diachronically study patterns of the use of generic he and singular they when used as anaphoric reference to an antecedent of unknown gender. To narrow the searches in corpora, indefinite compound pronouns are used in collocation with the epicene pronouns as linguistic features. Systematic sampling and mapping of the data lay the ground for the analysis that determines if patterns in the language can be related to the gender-based linguistic reforms. The evidence from the data collected for the present study shows that there are changes in use of male biased pronouns before and after the gender-based linguistic reforms. From the data conducted for the present study the evidence shows trends in the figures that the neutralization strategy can be related to the changes, to some extent. The diachronic development is discussed in connection with reforms, guidelines and previous conducted studies in more detail and suggestion on further studies are presented.

Submitted by secretaria pós-letras repositorio (secretaria.repositorio@gmail.com) on 2017-09-25T20:28:05Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) dissertação Gabriel Perez.pdf: 2520774 bytes, checksum: 8d237221f377fc5cb39c0d149e892a38 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jussara Moore (jussaramoore@id.uff.br) on 2017-11-06T12:46:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) dissertação Gabriel Perez.pdf: 2520774 bytes, checksum: 8d237221f377fc5cb39c0d149e892a38 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-06T12:46:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) dissertação Gabriel Perez.pdf: 2520774 bytes, checksum: 8d237221f377fc5cb39c0d149e892a38 (MD5) / Faperj / Colégio Cruzeiro, CRUZEIRO, Brasil / A imigração de brasileiros no Suriname é um fenômeno relativamente recente que começou a ser percebido em meados dos anos 80, quando as primeiras modestas ondas de migração, formadas sobretudo por garimpeiros e prostitutas, se instalaram principalmente no interior do país. Estima-se que atualmente vivam na antiga Guiana Holandesa cerca de 16.000 brasileiros, concentrados particularmente na zona norte da capital Paramaribo, onde exercem atividades diversas nos setores de mineração, prestação de serviços, comércio e prostituição. Esta pesquisa se propõe a analisar as práticas e representações linguísticas de imigrantes brasileiros residentes na capital do Suriname, país onde coexistem cerca de 20 línguas faladas por distintas etnias, sendo o holandês a única com status de idioma oficial. Por entender, assim como Calvet ([1999] 2004), que as práticas linguísticas e as representações, ou seja, as imagens que os sujeitos constroem em torno das línguas, são não só interdependentes, mas se relacionam com os contextos sociais, ideologias e relações de poder nas quais estão inseridas, discuto neste trabalho os conceitos de mercado linguístico e violência simbólica conforme Bourdieu ([1982] 1996) e, naturalmente, contextualizo a imigração brasileira e apresento o panorama sociolinguístico observado no país, com ênfase na capital Paramaribo. A pesquisa in loco que constitui o corpus desta investigação demonstrou ainda que o gênero dos falantes exerce forte influência sobre as práticas e, sobretudo, sobre as representações linguísticas dos sujeitos, o que apontou para a necessidade de se discutir as interações entre linguagem e essas duas categorias. Assim, o presente trabalho apresenta ainda uma revisão bibliográfica das pesquisas sociolinguísticas mais relevantes que se dispuseram a analisar tais relações, como as pioneiras contribuições variacionistas de Labov (1966, 1990), Trudgill (1972) e Eckert (1989), os estudos centrados em contato linguístico de Piller & Pavlenko (2001, 2006) e, ainda, as desconstruções de um emergente campo dos estudos da linguagem, a linguística queer (LIVIA. A; HALL, K, 1997; BORBA, 2015). A reflexão teórica aqui proposta visará a discutir não só como esses dois fatores afetam as escolhas dos falantes, mas como os indivíduos constroem e afirmam seu gênero e outras identidades através da linguagem. / The Brazilian immigration in Suriname is a relatively recent phenomenon that came into prominence in the mid-80's, when the first modest waves of immigrants, most of them miners and prostitutes, settled mainly in the countryside. Around 16,000 Brazilians are currently living in the former Dutch Guiana, particularly in the northern part of the capital Paramaribo, where they work mostly in retail, the service industry, mining and prostitution. This research aims to analyze the language practices and representations of Brazilian immigrants living in the capital of Suriname, where about 20 languages are spoken by different ethnic groups and Dutch remains the only one with an official status. In our understanding, language representations, that means, the images that speakers have about languages, and language practices are, as defined by Calvet ([1999] 2004) not only interdependent, but are also related to social contexts, ideologies and power relationships. Thus, we discuss in this work the concepts of linguistic market and symbolic violence according to Bourdieu ([1982] 1996) and contextualize the Brazilian immigration and the current sociolinguistic panorama observed in the country, with an emphasis on the capital Paramaribo. The data collected in the field research also demonstrated that the gender of the speakers exerts a strong influence on their language practices and, above all, on their language representations. These observations led to the discussion on the relationships between language and gender. Thus, this work presents a bibliographical review of the most relevant sociolinguistic researches that discussed these relations, such as the first contributions of Labov (1966, 1990), Trudgill (1972) and Eckert (1989), the studies based on language contact by Piller & Pavlenko (2001, 2006) and the deconstructions of an emerging field of language studies: the Queer Linguistics (LIVIA. A; HALL, K, 1997; BORBA, 2015). The reflection on the theories presented in this work aims to discuss not only how gender affects the speakers' choices, but also how individuals construct and affirm their gender and other identities through language. / De immigratie van Brazilianen in Suriname is een vrij recent fenomeen en verscheen halfweg de jaren 80. De eerste golf van migranten bestonden voornamelijk uit mijnwerkers en prostituees die zich vestigden op het platteland in Suriname. Ongeveer 16.000 Brazilianen leven momenteel in het voormalige nederlanstalige Guyana, hoofdzakelijk in het noordelijke deel van de hoofdstad Paramaribo, waar ze voornamelijk werken in de kleinhandel, dienstensector, de mijnindustrie en prostitutie. Dit onderzoek richt zich op het analyseren van de taalgebruiken en representaties van Braziliaanse immigranten die leven in de hoofdstad van Suriname, waar ongeveer 20 talen gesproken worden door verschillende etnische groepen waarvan het Nederlands de enige taal is met een officiële status. Taalrepresentaties, d.i. het beeld dat sprekers hebben over een taal, en taalgebruiken worden door Calvet (1999, 2004) gedefinieerd als niet alleen onderling afhankelijk, maar gerelateerd tot de sociale context, ideologieën en krachtige relaties. Om deze reden onderzoeken we in dit werk de concepten van de taalkundige markt en het symbolisch geweld dat daarmee gepaard gaat volgens Bourdieu ([1982] 1996). Verder onderzoeken we ook de Braziliaanse immigratie en het huidig sociolinguistisch panorama dat geobserveerd wordt in het land, met de nadruk op de hoofdstad Paramaribo. De data dat werd verworven door het veldwerk toont ons dat de gender van de spreker een sterke invloed uitoefent op de taalgebruiken en bovenal op de taalrepresentatie. Deze observaties brengen ons naar de discussie van de relatie tussen taal en gender. Omwille van die reden focust dit werk zich op een bibliografische kijk op de meest relevante, sociolinguïstieke onderzoeken die deze relaties reeds aangehaald hebben. We kijken naar de eerste bijdragen van Labov (1966, 1990), Trudgill (1972) en Eckert (1989) en alsook de studies die gebaseerd zijn op taal contact door Piller en Pavlenko (2001,2006) en ook de bijdragen van een opkomend gebied van taalstudies: Queer linguistics (LIVIA. A; HALL, K, 1997; BORBA, 2015). De theorieën die we aanhalen in dit werk brengen ons naar de discussie hoe het geslacht van de spreker zijn keuzes beïnvloedt, maar ook hoe individuen hun geslacht en andere identiteiten vormen en bevestigen door middel van taal.

I den stora hen-debatten under 2012 saknades barnens perspektiv. Syftet med denna uppsats är att belysa det genom att ta reda på vilka pronomen förskolebarn använder i sitt samtalande om barnboken Kivi och monsterhund som endast innehåller könsneutrala pronomen. Materialinsamlingen gjordes genom barnintervjuer i fokusgrupper där fyra- och femåriga förskolebarn fick samtala om boken och som analyseringsmetod har en mestadels kvantitativ metod använts för att ta reda på pronomenens frekvens. Resultaten visar att barnen inte reagerade nämnvärt på hen och använde det inte heller själva. Kivi omnämndes av barnen som han medan monsterhunden refererades till som den eller han.  Hypotesen att barnen skulle tillskriva Kivi sitt eget kön visade sig inte stämma då skillnaderna i pronomenanvändning pojkar och flickor emellan var minimala. Resultaten kan bero på att mannen ses som norm och kvinnor som ”det Andra” (de Beauvoir 2002) samt att barnlitteraturen domineras av pojkar. Resultaten överensstämmer också med tidigare forskning av Merrit & Kok (1995) som visar att karaktärer med könsneutrala namn tenderar att tillskrivas manligt kön. / In the great debate over the gender-neutral pronoun hen in 2012, the perspective of the children was missing. The aim of this bachelor essay is to shed light on that perspective by investigating which pronouns pre-school children use in conversation about the children’s book Kivi och monsterhund which contains only gender-neutral pronouns. The material was obtained through children’s interviews in focus groups where four- and five-year-old pre-school children talked about the book and the material was analyzed by using a mostly quantitative method to find out the frequency of the used pronouns. The results show that the children scarcely reacted to hen nor did they use it themselves. Kivi was referred to by the children as he while monsterhunden (the monster dog) was referred to as it or he. The hypothesis that the children would ascribe Kivi their own gender proved to be incorrect as the differences in use of pronouns between boys and girls were minimal. The results may be an effect of the man being viewed as the norm and women as “the Other” (de Beauvoir 2002) and the dominance of boys in children’s literature. The results also correlate to previous research by Merrit & Kok (1995) that show that characters with gender-neutral names tend to be ascribed male gender.

Studies carried out by different scholars have shown that the social roles society assigns to women and men create differences in how the genders use language. However, there is little previous research in the domain of gender and topic shift or initiation. This essay aims to investigate possible gender differences in topic shift and initiation in multiparty conversation among second language learners of English in upper secondary school. The three group discussions were recorded in a classroom setting and the data collected was transcribed. The topical shifts in the transcripts were coded using the Topical Episode Analysis (TEA) and the episode shifts in each conversation were analyzed on the basis of gender distribution and type of shift. In addition, the findings of the three groups were compared and discussed. The main result of this study was that the boys initiated 100 percent more shifts than the girls. The boys took up more linguistic space and dominated the topical shifts in the conversation which indicates that gender differences in topic shift and initiation exists, a finding that is consistent with previous research within the field of gender and language. In conclusion, gender differences were found between how the girls and the boys participating in this study shifted and initiated topics. The boys initiated more shifts than the girls in the multiparty conversations.

Language and culture are deeply intertwined. Language reflects and influences the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of its users. Therefore, the use of non-sexist language can contribute to achieving gender equality in society. This study focuses on the perceptions of a group of Mexican teenagers towards inclusive language. In particular, their acceptance degree towards various gender morphemes are studied and compared to the generic use of the masculine gender. The results of the survey show a clear preference for the alternatives that are easy to pronounce, so called, normative gender morphemes, including the generic use of the masculine compared to new, non-normative gender morphemes that are inclusive but difficult to pronounce. Women prefer the splitting strategy (“desdoblamiento”) to a larger degree than men do. Men have a more conservative posture and prefer the generic use of the masculine and reject non-normative gender morphemes. The differences among informants of different socioeconomic levels are smaller. Still, it seems that informants of a higher socioeconomic level have a more conservative attitude towards inclusive language than informants of a lower socioeconomic level.

Användningen av en istället för man som nominativform för det svenska generiska pronomenet har varit en av den feministiska språkpolitikens stora frågor under det senaste decenniet. Den här studien har undersökt hur användningen faktiskt ser ut på nätet, både genom en diakron delstudie på bloggar under perioden 1998-2017 och genom en synkron jämförelse mellan olika texttyper. Därtill har studien undersökt ifall andelen nominativt en ökar i relation till dess motsvarighet man. Resultatet av dessa undersökningar är att användningen ökar, både över tid och i andelar, men att det går långsamt och att användningen av man fortfarande uppgår till omkring 99% av alla förekomster av det generiska pronomenet i subjektsposition. Olika argument har föreslagits av olika forksare angående hur nominativt en faktiskt kan användas, med begränsningar till vissa kontexter eller till vissa referenter. Resultaten från den sista delstudien i den här uppsatsen visar att en kan användas i samma kontexter och med samma referenter som man. Sedan diskuteras resultaten i relation till tidigare studier vad det gäller hur en och man kan användas.

The aim of this essay is to find out how well Swedish adolescents understand concrete and abstract English proverbs, if concrete proverbs are easier to understand than abstracts ones, if there are differences between boys’ and girls’ and between monolinguals’ and bilinguals’ understanding of these. In a multiple-choice questionnaire, Swedish 7th to 9th graders read 15 short stories followed by three choices. They were then asked to mark the alternative they thought best described the proverb in each sentence. The results in this study show that, generally, concrete proverbs are easier to understand than abstract ones and that proverb understanding steadily increases in adolescence. Furthermore, the difference between boys and girls as a whole was not significant, nor between monolinguals and bilinguals. However, differences between different language groups were immense.

No description available.

This paper investigated the use of sexist language in English vocabulary by examininggender asymmetry and sexism in contemporary written discourse. The traditional sexistlanguage often reinforces gender stereotypes and inequalities. In English, the masculineterms are considered the unmarked form (the norm) while the feminine terms are marked.This paper discussed different types of gender asymmetry in languages in relation to themarkedness theory, and introduced the gender-inclusive alternatives to traditional sexistlanguage, such as using gender-neutral pronoun, using gender-neutral title Ms., usinggender-neutral working titles such as Police officer, Firefighter and Spokesman. In orderto evaluate how gender-inclusive language is actually used in the US, this paperconducted a diachronic research of sexist and gender-neutral terms in news articles fromthe New York Times (NYT) from 1965 to 2015, uncovering a gradual increase in the useof gender-inclusive language over time. The findings are compared with two prior studiesof sexist language in British written discourse. The results indicated that masculinepronouns and social titles continue to be prevalent in the NYT, along with the UK.However, the feminine title Ms. is more commonly used in the US as opposed to the UK.Additionally, certain gender-neutral working titles such as police officer and firefighterhave become the most frequently used terms. In contrast, terms such as spokesman arestill very unpopular in the UK and the US. This paper concluded with a future vision ofthe application of gender-neutral vocabulary in written discourse.

La langue française ne possède que deux genres: le masculin et le féminin. Grammaticalement, le genre masculin l’emporte sur le féminin, par exemple en accordantles adjectifs en genre et en nombre. L’écriture inclusive vise à neutraliser la langue pour la rendre non discriminante envers les femmes mais aussi envers les personnes non binaires. Le langage inclusif suscite des débats importants en France depuis la formation d’une commission de terminologie en 1984, chargée de la féminisation des noms de métiers et de titres. En 2017, le premier manuel scolaire rédigé en écriture inclusive est publié enflammant cette question rendue publique. Par cette étude, nous avons l’intention de comprendre dans quelle mesure le débat dans la presse sur l’écriture inclusive est construit sur les mêmes arguments que ceux développés par les chercheurs dans ce domaine. Dans cette optique, nous avons créé et étudié un corpus basé sur six articles scientifiques traitant de l’écriture inclusive, ainsi qu’un corpus d’étude composé de vingt-et-un articles de presse datant de 2017 à 2022. Nous avons ensuite analysé, catégorisé et comparé les arguments favorables et défavorables concernant l’écriture inclusive développés dans le corpus de presse avec ceux avancés dans les articles scientifiques. Nos données montrent que quasiment les mêmes sujets autour du langage inclusif sont traités par les journalistes de presse et par les chercheurs. Cependant, les angles d’approche diffèrent naturellement : les scientifiques creusent plus en profondeur le sujet afin d’étayer leurs arguments tandis que l’objectif des journalistes reste d’expliquer et de commenter une question d’actualité. Finalement, nous avons pu constater qu’il existe bien une symétrie entre les arguments avancés par les chercheurs et ceux présentés dans les articles de presse même si les perspectives sont relativement éloignées. / The French language has only two genders: the masculine and the feminine. Grammatically  speaking, the masculine gender prevails over the feminine gender, for example in the agreement of adjectives in gender and in number. Inclusive writing aims to neutralize the language as to make it non-discriminating towards women and, to a certain extent, towards non-binary people. The debate over the gender-neutralized language has been going on in France since the establishment of a terminology commission in 1984, in charge of the feminization of job names and titles. In 2017 the first textbook using inclusive writing was published, stirring up a hot public debate. Our intention with this study is to understand to what extent the debate in the press about inclusive writing is based on the same arguments as the ones developed by researchers in this field. To this end, we created and studied a reference-based corpus including six scientific articles dealing with inclusive language as well as a study corpus composed of twenty-one newspaper articles from 2017 to 2022. We then analysed, categorised, and compared the for and against inclusive writing developed in the press corpus with those put forward in the scientific articles. Our data show that practically the same topics around inclusive writing are discussed by press journalists and by researchers. However, the approaches are naturally different as the researchers go deeper into the subjects in order to support their arguments, whereas the purpose of the journalists is to explain and comment on current issues. Finally, we could see that there is a symmetry between the arguments put forward by the researchers and those presented in the newspaper articles even though their perspectives are relatively distant from one another.