Гендерно диференційовані антропоніми англійської мові та їхні структурні особливості

Abstract

At the present stage of the development of linguistics, there is no single definition of the status of the genus category in English. The revision of the status of the category of the genus in English took place after the introduction of the concept of «gender» into linguistics, which contributed to the emergence of linguistic science – genderology. Thus, the grammatical category of the genus has been transformed into the linguistic and sociocultural category of gender. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the tendency of the development of anthroponymic systems, it is necessary to analyze the gender differences of personal names, considering separately and comparing the male and female anthroponymicon of language. Determining the status of the genus category is still problematic at the present stage of the development of linguistics in English language, as the grammatical category of the genus in English remains not accepted by many scholars. The article identifies and examines the gender indicators that were characteristic at different stages of the development of the anthroponymicon in English language. The research findings show that gender differentiation of personal names in English language was formed from the very beginning of the development of this system; therefore, it reflects the different ways of marking the gender affiliation of names that were characteristic at different stages of development of the anthroponymicon. In addition to the common anthroponymic suffixes, gender-particular indicators specific to English language only were identified. The results of the analysis revealed that the female anthroponymicon is more diverse than the male. Besides, in the article with the help analysis of gender differences in personal names was revealed the factors that have an impact on neutralization in the anthroponymic sphere in today's society. The analysis showed that in the anthroponymic system of English, the number of gender-indifferent personal names is 12 % of the total number of names analyzed. This result is quite natural and understandable from the point of view of the morphological structure of the language units and the absence of the category of the genus in English. The above material indicates that the genus of a personal name can be determined by correlating that name with its carrier and his or her biological article, although there are also a number of features by which its genus can be established. At the present stage of development of language and culture, there is a tendency to neutralize the gender differences of personal names. This is a testament to the exacerbation of gender equality importance and the erasure of gender frameworks and differences.