SPANISH Article 1

spanish language

-VO language; considered a synthetic language

sexual terminology

-few words exist today that show men may also be regarded as a sexual object

dictionaries

-higher ranked jobs: masculine term was registered lower ranked jobs: feminine form used -latest dictionary: still has sexist language, 60 synonyms for word "prostitute"

hombre

-most women and men interpret hombre as specifically male (points to generic masculine)

hombre vs mujer

-mujer often has a derogatory connotation, ranges from sexual object to prostitute -mujer can also mean wife, while hombre does not mean husband - although the word esposa is often used for wife as well but in more formal settings. While mujer can mean wife in one context, it can mean wh ore or mistress in another context, depending on the sentence.

sexism in school books

-sexist and stereotypical examples frequently encountered - in texts and also in illustrations -women appeared only in 3%, men 97%

occupational titles

-the use of a feminine form of an occupational title is favored now in the Spanish language, whereas before the titles might've been just 'la ministro' instead of 'la ministra'. And according to the guidelines for nonsexist language, it is preferred that people use the feminine term. However, the dictionary is still not up to date on the feminizations of these titles. -process of giving women academics their diploma with masculine titles is disappearing -occupational titles for men who take over jobs traditionally held by women (new lexme is introduced and the occupation is even upgraded) ex) modiste turning into modisto (seamstress -> fashion designer)

grammatical gender in spanish

-there are technically three genders in Spanish grammar: masculine, feminine; all nouns are either masculine or feminine, but there is also a class of nouns that do not denote the gender and can be considered neutral (end in -ista). -double-gender nouns, comun; depending on subject, the ending may change to agree with the subject la policia, el policio (could be two genders) ex) -a ending is feminine, -ending is masculine (these endings serve as markers of maleness and femaleness are involved) -if you do not osier epicene nouns and generic references, then feminine and masculine nouns refer to humans reflect distinction between men and women in most cases (abogado vs abogada lawyer, profesor vs profesora professor) -many suffixes such as -ista,-iz, -sa, all are feminine but no masculine derivational counterpart -gender distinction is prominent in kinship terms

problems with the guidelines

-yes the guidelines promote feminization of occupational titles but their use and acceptance by spanish speakers vary considerably -recommend an inversion of variation of order (women proceed men in word order) -despite their good intentions, the guidelines themselves still use generic masculine! (pushing change is difficult) -splitting to avoid masculine form has been criticized

guidelines for non-sexist use of spanish

1. Propagation of the feminization of words that refer specifically to women 2. Replacement of the masculine form for generic reference by epicene words or by splitted constructions 3. Avoidance of certain asymmetrical words (e.g. señorita should be replaced by señora and hombre should be replaced by humanidad or ser humano).

bierbach vs kahler's study

Bierbach's study was examining a working class community in neighborhood organization in Barcelona. He looked at conversational styles (i.e. turn taking, interrupting, overlap). Bierbach's study found (broadly) that women talked to one another more than men did in mixed-gender conversation situations and in situations when women and men had equal access to speak publically, women were more apt to take that opportunity. Kähler's study found that men are significantly more dominant in conversation and are treated as the expert. The contrast in these studies indicates that we must not generalize or universalize findings based on examinations of one group.

female and male discourse

The author stated that most of the vulgar swearing came from the men and the women would often modify the swear to soften it. But now, women seem to be using more vulgar swear words in addition to feminizing some of the expressions men used (examples on p. 267). Men, when using religious swears, often made them blasphemous, while women tended to stay more positive. The language women use to address their other female friends is also typically loving, while men tend to call their male friends bloke or chief.

asymmetrical representations of women and men in spanish

a) different designations for men and women b)semantic differences of same lexical item (hombre publico...man in public eye...versus mujer publica...who re) c) lexical gaps (no housewife equivalent for men)

study with masculine, epicene forms, splitting

ex)los niños (masculine) ex)la poblacion finanticil (epicene) ex) los niños y niñas (boys and girls) -provokes a stronger generic thinking in comparison to the masculine form -aim is to make women more visible -the masculine and epicene forms are slightly male-biased ***alternative forms to the masculine increase visibility of women

epicene nouns

nouns with only one grammatical gender (such as la personas (f) or padres (m) or individual (m))...both of which can refer to men and women semantically ex: el ratón (mouse) no female equivalent *should only be used when no counterpart of the opposite gender exists (because if you're using a masculine noun where there is a feminine equivalent, then you cannot be referring to women alone) *concept of markedness is irrelevant (since masculine is unmarked)

consequence of the masculine form being unmarked

one single man in an audience will be sufficient for speaker to address listeners in masculine term

verb for intercourse

only accepts a) male as subject b) male and female there are no exclusively female subjects ex) cogieron (they fuc ed...male and female) ex) el la cogio (he fu k ed her) *coger with female subject does not exist

conclusion

publications about gender issues has been on the rise

masculine is unmarked

this means that el obrero (m) is supposed to include female workers as well, this is the case for plural and also singular

generic masculine

words that refer to both men and women, and also men alone, but are in the masculine form *concept of markedness is relevant since the masculine is used