is the english language sexist

?
View mindmap
  • Is the English Language inherently sexist?
    • Dale Spender
      • Book 'Man Made Language' 1980 claims English language is very man-centric
        • reflects men's historical dominance over all areas of public and private life
        • evidence for this comes from the language rules created by English grammarians from 16th to 18th century
        • evidence centres round the idea that the male term should always come before the female term, and the male term should be the generic ones and used as the 'norm'
    • Word Order
      • it is custom in English to mention males first      - syntax
      • Addressing an envelope - using the mans name only was the traditional way, although this practice has mainly died out
      • common pairings - e.g. men and women, husband and wife
    • Generic Terms
      • there is evidence that the word 'man' naturally includes 'women' from as early as 1533
      • man / mankind has always been a generic term. it has been criticised due to implication that men are more important
    • Researchers show that children don't process the term 'he' or 'man' as referring to both sexes, but only males
    • Sweden has 'han' for 'he' and 'hon' for 'she'. Additionally they have a non-gendered pronoun 'hen'
    • Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
      • the idea that our language, the linguistic system, imposes a way of thinking that becomes natural to us

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Language resources:

See all English Language resources »See all Language and gender resources »