The ‘Grammar’ of Gender. From a Robust Grammatical Category to a Fluid Discourse Construct
The ‘Grammar’ of Gender. From a Robust Grammatical Category to a Fluid Discourse Construct

Summary/Abstract: Gender has been investigated from a variety of perspectives, each offering unique insights into how it functions in language, in society, or at the level of individual identity. According to the definition of gender that is used most widely in literature, grammatical gender is a characteristic of nouns, reflected on elements that agree with them. In nouns, gender is an invariable functional category that may or may not be overtly marked. The determining criterion for gender is agreement, namely, “the behavior of associated words” (Hockett, 1958:231). From the perspective of discourse analysis, gender is understood as something that is constructed, negotiated, and performed in communication. Our aim is to tackle the concept of gender as a mature multifaceted phenomenon which tends to leave its traditional robust linguistic interpretation for a fluid, nuanced sociocultural one. We shall focus upon English, Romanian and Russian, all Indo-European languages, but belonging to different branches within the Indo-European language family, and considering Hockett’s definition, we examine gender agreement in the behaviour of nine such instances of “associated words”.

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