Key Explanatory Variable: Gender Intensity Here, the concept of interest is the gender intensity of a language. Specifically, how easy is it for a speaker of a given language to make a statement without referencing the gender of the subject? The statement of interest here is: He is my friend. While this statement is most certainly neither the most representative nor the most important in any language, it is a commonly stated sentence by individuals across all languages. In the English language, the use of the word “he” indicates gender. So from this conversation, it becomes clear from the onset that the individual of interest is a man. Some languages do not make such gender distinctions. For example, in Chinese, the statement ta shì wŏ de péngyŏu indicates nothing regarding the gender of the friend. The word ta simply refers to a third-person singular nominative pronoun. Likewise, in Hungarian, ő a barátom translates into [a gender non-descriptive third person] is my friend. The same is true in Indonesian (dia adalah teman saya). The word dia makes no reference to whether the person is a man or a woman. In contrast to Chinese, Hungarian, and Indonesian, some languages do make a distinction in the gender of the third-person. English is one example of such a language. Another example is French. If the friend is a man, the correct statement is il est mon ami; but if the friend is a woman, then the statement becomes elle est mon amie. Note the distinction between il (masculine) and elle (feminine). Moreover, note that the word for friend (ami) takes on a different spelling if the subject is feminine (amie). Similarly, in Russian, on moy drug is a male friend, but ona moya podruga is a female friend. These languages force the speaker to indicate whether the subject is a man or a woman. While the three aforementioned languages do impose gender on the subject, it is also important to note that some languages such as English and Russian do have gender “escape clauses.” An English speaker, for example, can say it is a friend or they are a friend to convey the information sans gender. The same cannot be said for French. There is no equivalent of a
Key Explanatory Variable: Gender Intensity Here, the concept of interest is the gender intensity of a language. Specifically, how easy is it for a speaker of a given language to make a statement without referencing the gender of the subject? The statement of interest here is: He is my friend. While this statement is most certainly neither the most representative nor the most important in any language, it is a commonly stated sentence by individuals across all languages. In the English language, the use of the word “he” indicates gender. So from this conversation, it becomes clear from the onset that the individual of interest is a man. Some languages do not make such gender distinctions. For example, in Chinese, the statement ta shì wŏ de péngyŏu indicates nothing regarding the gender of the friend. The word ta simply refers to a third-person singular nominative pronoun. Likewise, in Hungarian, ő a barátom translates into [a gender non-descriptive third person] is my friend. The same is true in Indonesian (dia adalah teman saya). The word dia makes no reference to whether the person is a man or a woman. In contrast to Chinese, Hungarian, and Indonesian, some languages do make a distinction in the gender of the third-person. English is one example of such a language. Another example is French. If the friend is a man, the correct statement is il est mon ami; but if the friend is a woman, then the statement becomes elle est mon amie. Note the distinction between il (masculine) and elle (feminine). Moreover, note that the word for friend (ami) takes on a different spelling if the subject is feminine (amie). Similarly, in Russian, on moy drug is a male friend, but ona moya podruga is a female friend. These languages force the speaker to indicate whether the subject is a man or a woman. While the three aforementioned languages do impose gender on the subject, it is also important to note that some languages such as English and Russian do have gender “escape clauses.” An English speaker, for example, can say it is a friend or they are a friend to convey the information sans gender. The same cannot be said for French. There is no equivalent of a
Politics%20of%20gendered%20languages.docx