Linguistic means of reflecting gender-related changes in modern society (exemplified by English-language newspapers advertisements)

Abstract

Language means play a crucial role in the shaping stereotypes within cultural groups. The present study addresses the issues of gender neutralization in English-language advertising and newspaper texts. The paper investigates linguistic means involved in the creation of genderneutral advertising texts. The analysis of gender-unmarked advertising texts was conducted on the material of English-language newspaper texts from the rubrics "Lifestyle", "Health", "Sports", "Culture" of The Guardian edition. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that the main features of gender-neutral advertising texts are the absence of lexical units that would refer advertising to male or female; the use of scientific terms, numbers in the description of the goods; the use of imperative sentences. Gender neutralization in advertising occurs due to the use of impersonal sentences, defining pronouns and euphemisms. Gender neutralization is a relatively new trend in advertising and has a huge impact on the use of language in modern advertising texts.