Gender Specific Features in the Speech of Russian Germans in Kirov Region

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of gender differences in the speech of Russian Germans living in the territory of the Kirov region. The relevance of this study is due to the sociolinguistic significance of island dialectology associated with the study of the German ethnic community speech behavior, which exists in isolation from the main ethnic massif. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it was carried out in the context of gender studies, which complement socio-demographic factors affecting the speech behavior of Russian Germans in the above-mentioned region. This article discusses the impact of gender on the linguistic competence of the older generation of Russian Germans in the Kirov region on the example of the analyzed stories of eleven respondents, Russian Germans of the first subgroup of the older age group (6 women and 5 men aged 70 to 95 years) on the topic “Deportation of Volga and Ukraine Germans in the Kirov region”. Methods of direct observation, audio speech recording, and also qualitative methods (a content and functional analysis of male and female speech) were adopted to carry out the study. As a result of the analysis of monologues, it was found out that the speech of each gender group is characterized by its linguistic and extra-linguistic features. Among the linguistic characteristics of men’s and women’s speech, it is necessary to mention, first of all, differences in the grammatical structure. As for extra-linguistic features, these include psychological differences in speech characteristic of a particular gender group, communication style, as well as the goal that men and women pursue when entering into a conversation. This article will be of interest to researchers involved in studying the characteristics of male and female speech.