Специфика гендерного аспекта в словообразовательных гнездах

Abstract

Much has been said and written about the gender aspect in linguistics. But there are still open questions concerning the specifics of the gender factor in word-forming nests. Therefore, we see the purpose of our research in the need to more accurately determine the presence and uniqueness of the semantic category of gender in the families of words with ‘young — old’ and their equivalents in the English and German languages. The article reveals various ways of expressing the meaning of the female and male genders, clarifies the problem of studying the gender aspect, and actualizes attention to the peculiarity of the gender factor in families of words. The analysis is based on three gender markers: morphological, lexical, and thematic. Each of these markers is considered on the example of lexical units identified by gender in the named word-forming nests. The morphological gender marker made it possible to identify gender-oriented lexemes formed by such methods of word production as conversion, suffix derivation, and word composition. The lexical marker determined the presence of five groups of words of different gender semantics. And, finally, using a thematic marker, gender formations associated with stereotypically ‘male’ and ‘female’ topics that take place in a certain period of development of society and the country as a whole were identified. Thus, as a result, it was proved that the ways of expressing semantic gender in the families of words under consideration are different and are due to both morphological and extra-linguistic reasons related to the specifics of the language picture of the world.