Markedness of language signifiers as a gender sensitivity indicator

Abstract

We are used to perceive the unmarked forms as primary and dominant ones due to their generality and bigger presence within a corpus. That is why we understand them as natural and neutral, while the marked forms are present within a concrete and specific meaning. The use of masculine gender as generic (unmarked) in names of professions is a realisation of dominant social attitudes during the past and of dominant values in a society. Social movements against the discrimination had the tendency of linguistic discrimination effacement as a direct result, especially in English. Related to that, the high number of neologism appears. They find their way to the broader public through the media, while the public is the one who choose whether to accept or reject them. Reasons for this can be intralingual and extra lingual. We can assume that the societies with higher level of socio-economic development will be more sensitive with regard to political correctness in language and that they willrecord a bigger number of specific, marked terms. Although the use of each of them can be accepted by broader public, their use do not necessarily have to be registered in dictionaries. We decided to analyse the corpus of 50 „common“ profession names to see whether the feminine genderforms used by public will be registered in dictionaries. The analysis has shown that Croatian recognises more specific forms for professions and functions in feminine gender in comparison to French in regard to their presence in dictionaries.