Markers Of Femininity Research Articles

Templates, markers and syntactic structure in Tashlhiyt Berber

One of the puzzling aspects of the Berber languages is the nature of the construct state and the cooccurrence restrictions it undergoes with certain grammatical morphemes. In particular, the reason why the construct state marker w- never occurs with the gender marker t- remains unclear, despite of several studies mostly syntactic. This paper argues that the construct state marker w- and the feminine marker t- compete for the same templatic position. Within the standard DP projection, it is proposed that a templatic CV site hosts gender t- under the nP. When raised to D, this site has no C position available for the construct state w-, yielding forms where only the feminine marker is realized. The same reasoning holds in the causative imperfective formations. The association of the causative prefix with the templatic site under the vP explains the absence of aspect markers in the verb. Extended to the case of Classical Arabic verb conjugation, the competition hypothesis allows us to explain why reflexive n- never cooccurs with medial consonant gemination; though semantically viable, nkassara ⿿it shuttered⿿ is ruled out because reflexive n-, generated lower in the structure than intensive gemination, fills the only C position provided by the derivational CV. The advocated analysis has implications for the way syntax, morphology and phonology interact: templates are indeed argued to mediate the interaction between components of Grammar. Handled in syntactic structure, templates allow unifying standard phonological, morphological and syntactic accounts of the cooccurrence restrictions examined in this paper.

The Suspicious Figure of the Female Forensic Pathologist Investigator in Crime Fiction

The Suspicious Figure of the Female Forensic Pathologist Investigator in Crime Fiction

Cheerleading: not just for the sidelines anymore

For decades, female athletes were relegated to the sidelines – physically and metaphorically speaking. The cheerleader, the girl who looked pretty and cheered for the boys, became a symbol for many women's sports activists and second-wave feminists of the place athletically inclined females occupied in the sport world. As access to sports, teams and funding increased for women's sports beginning in the 1970s and exploding in the 1990s, the cheerleader seemed to be an athletic anachronism. But the third-wave generation of cheerleaders had different ideas. Marginalized again, this time by fellow female athletes, cheerleaders have challenged the negative stereotypes by making cheerleading a sport on their own terms. Through personal agency, these girls embrace a powerful image of the cheerleader – one that fuses identities of femininity and athleticism. For these girls, it is not a choice between being a cheerleader or jock, girlie or athletic. Instead, they create a blended identity by keeping the feminine markers of a cheerleader while focusing on a competitive role rather than a supportive one.

THE AJ K'UHUN TITLE

The God C title, found in numerous hieroglyphic texts, refers to junior members of the royal court and is therefore crucial to our understanding of Classic Maya political structure. Over the past two decades, the amount of epigraphic work on the God C title has been significant. A consensus on its reading and meaning, however, has yet to be reached. In this article, we build on earlier research to suggest new ideas for reading this glyph, based on semantic and grammatical re-evaluations of the title. Our proposed readings are Ajk'uhulhun, which might be read as “he of the holy paper” (expanding on previous interpretations), or, alternatively, Ajk'uhun, “one who obeys, venerates” or “one who keeps,” based on a grammatical reassessment. In addition, we suggest a new understanding of the aj- and ix- agentive prefixes, traditionally understood as masculine and feminine markers, respectively. We examine these possible readings in archaeological and iconographic context, using subsidiary nobles of ancient Copan as a case study. Through our discussion we aim to illuminate the meaning and significance of the God C title, and in doing so to highlight the evolution of the methodologies employed in Maya hieroglyphic decipherment over the past two decades.

Preferences, quantities and concerns: socio-cultural perspectives on the gendered consumption of foods.

A review of the sociological research regarding the gendered features of food consumption is presented. The focus is upon differences between women and men in regard to their preferences for particular foods and types of meals, seen in relation to the cultural function of foods as symbolic markers of femininity or masculinity, assessments of the quantities of food consumed by women and men respectively, and differences between women and men in regard to concerns with food safety, health, weight reduction and fitness. Some methodological limitations of this research are discussed with particular reference to the need for interdisciplinary cooperation between sociologists and nutritionists in the design and analysis of dietary surveys. Suggestions are made in regard to future directions for sociological research in this field, with particular reference to the issue that dietary recommendations appear to focus upon increasing the consumption of foods that are markers of femininity and decreasing the consumption of foods that are markers of masculinity in Western food culture.