TITLE: The Generic Masculine in Educational Communication ABSTRACT: The thesis deals with the use of generic masculine in educational communication. The use of masculine nouns to refer to a group of people of both sexes is a target of frequent criticism from proponents of gender-neutral language. The theoretical part of my paper discusses and explains in general the importance of language for cognitive development of an individual and the principle of gender-sensitive expression. The empirical part of my paper is based on qualitative research that was conducted at a selected secondary school in order to verify the influence of language attributions of the generic masculine form on the mental representation of reality. The main technique of data collection was a survey inspired by the psycholinguistics association experiments. Attitudes and opinions of students on the subject of research were identified during group discussions. The results of my study among respondents points at the generic masculine to be significantly more often associated with mental representation of a male than to be perceived as gender-neutral. These findings thus correspond with some of the current theses of gender linguistics.

(in English): As the title itself indicates, the topic of this thesis is the linguistic sexism in contemporary Spanish. The theoretical part offers a critical perspective on the phenomenon of so called sexism in language and defines terms such as linguistic sexism, androcentrism or invisibilization of women in the language. It also provides a brief outline of the development of gender linguistics with an emphasis on Spanish-speaking countries and provides an overview of important works on the topic. The thesis also deals with the contrast between linguistic sexism and sexism as a social issue, as well as with the question whether language can be sexist, or whether the sexism is caused by the way the speakers use the language. Particular attention is paid to the issue of gender in language and phenomena that are considered as sexist, especially the generic masculine. The practical part is mainly dedicated to lexical issues: denoting women in professions that were traditionally male and idioms and set phrases that can be examples of sexist use of language or a possible reflection of social sexism in language. It also analyses the asymmetry in addressing women and men in a polite way, inadequate pairs, apparently dual forms and missing lexical units as well as insults and profanities that can be...

The goal of this master's thesis, "The usage of generic masculines in Czech text," is to present aspects of Czech generic masculines and the concept of gender-correct communication. First, the theoretical portion of the thesis presents the historic background of the concept of gender and the category of grammatical gender with a view to the theory of reference. The research part probes the relationships between the grammatical gender of an expression denoting person or group of people and its reference. There is also a questionnaire illustrating the attitudes of a group of Czech native speakers towards the necessity of gender correctness.

El propósito de esta investigación es descubrir lo que piensa el alumnado sueco en las clases de ELE (Español como Lengua Extranjera) sobre el lenguaje inclusivo en el mundo hispanohablante. El interés aquí se encuentra en descubrir las percepciones y las actitudes hacia el lenguaje inclusivo en esta área. En adición, queremos investigar cuáles variables influirán la frecuencia de uso del lenguaje inclusivo. La razón de este estudio es agregar datos a este nuevo campo dentro de los estudios lingüísticos, al igual que hallar cómo sienten les alumnes de Suecia sobre el tema viniendo de un país donde no existe un genérico masculino en la lengua y donde tratan de ser inclusivos a través de usar un pronombre neutro (hen). Les alumnes participando en este estudio estudian español en los niveles de 3 a 5 en diferentes Bachilleratos en el sur de Suecia y tienen entre 15 y 18 años. La mayoría de les alumnes identifican como mujeres, y esto se puede explicar en que la mayoría de les alumnes de una lengua moderna en el bachillerato sueco son mujeres (Statistikmyndigheten SCB, 2018). La investigación se hizo usando un método cuantitativo y para recibir los datos necesarios para la investigación mandamos una encuesta, hecho por el internet, a les profesores que a su vez la enseñaron a sus alumnes. La encuesta en sí está basada en varias preguntas, empezando con información básica sobre les alumnes y también una autocompletación de su conocimiento en español. Después preguntamos a les alumnes diferentes preguntas sobre la percepción del lenguaje inclusivo en el mundo hispanohablante, su actitud hacia ello, y finalmente, cuáles variables podrían influir la frecuencia de uso de un lenguaje inclusivo. En cuanto a los resultados, pudimos identificar algunos hallazgos importantes. Por ejemplo, hallamos que existe una correlación estadísticamente significativa entre algunas variables: género y actitud, competencia y actitud, y conocimiento y actitud. Aparte de eso, generalmente, nuestra hipótesis fue verificada en el sentido de que la percepción del alumnado sueco hacia el lenguaje inclusivo en el mundo hispanohablante es algo necesario en el mundo en que vivimos al igual que hay una actitud abierta hacia ello, significando que quieren que todes serán incluides cuando se dirige a una identidad desconocida. Con respecto a las variables que podrían influir el uso del lenguaje inclusivo y aumentarlo, son la generación, grado de aceptación y el impacto de las figuras públicas las que tiene mucha importancia. / The purpose of this investigation is to find out what the Swedish students in the SSL (Spanish as a foreign language) classes think about the inclusive language in the Spanish-speaking world. The interest here lies in finding out how they perceive the use of the inclusive language in said area, and also their attitude towards it. In addition to this, we wanted to investigate which variables would influence the frequency of use of the inclusive language. The reason for this study is to add data to a new area within the linguistic studies, as well as discover how Swedish students feel about the subject, coming from a country where there does not exist a generic masculine in the spoken language and they try to be inclusive by using a gender-neutral pronoun (hen). The students participating in this investigation study Spanish on the levels between 3 to 5 in different upper secondary schools in the south of Sweden and they are between the ages of 15 and 18. Most of the informants identify themselves as women, and this can be explained by the fact that the majority of students of a modern language in the Swedish upper secondary school are women (Statistikmyndigheten SCB, 2018). The investigation was made using a quantitative method and in order to receive the data necessary for the investigation we sent out a survey, made on the internet, to the teachers who in turn presented it to their students. The survey itself was based on numerous questions, beginning with some basic information about the students and also an autocompletion of their knowledge in Spanish. Afterwards we asked the students different questions concerning the perception of the inclusive language in the Spanish speaking world, their attitude towards it and, finally, which variables could influence the frequency of use of an inclusive language. As far as the results go, we could identify some important findings. For example, we found out there exists a statistically significant correlation between a few variables: gender and attitude, competence and attitude, and knowledge and attitude. Apart from that, generally speaking, our hypothesis was proved in the sense that the perception of the Swedish student towards the inclusive language in the Spanish speaking world is something necessary in the world we live in as well as that they have an open minded attitude towards it, meaning they want everyone to be included when addressing an unknown identity. Concerning the possible variables that could influence the use of the inclusive language and make it increase, the generation, degree of acceptance and the impact from public figures are of high importance.