FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY IN LANGUAGE (BASED ON SLAVIC AND NON-SLAVIC LANGUAGES)

Abstract

Men and women use language differently. Gender differences in language use in the course of the historical development of human society have been reflected in the language structure. This problem is supported by the feminist movement and is being actively researched in the USA, Japan and Europe. Modern Slavic languages have been researched in this aspect too. Gender asymmetry in language and communication has been traced in Slavic and non-Slavic languages. This article deals with femininity and masculinity as socio-cultural categories inseparable from language and communication. Special attention is paid to gender asymmetry and disproportionate representation оf gender-marked speakers in language, gender stereotyping and prospects of ist overcoming. Gender asymmetry and stereotyping is reflected in a set of proverbs describing women in reference to dichotomy “femininity – masculinity”, elaborated on cognitive basis, which reflects characteristic features of men and women communication. Suggestions developed by gender linguistics in reference to supporting the equal status of feminine and masculine gender in language are not always reflected in speech strategies at present. It is important to attract attention of speakers of both genders to this issue as it can provide the possibility of in-depth understanding of speech behavior of people representing different worldviews – masculine and feminine.