Open AccessGENDER MARKING IN SLOVENE AND RUSSIAN ADDRESSING CONSTRUCTIONS
Author(s) -
Blaž Šoba
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
phlological studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1857-6060
DOI - 10.17072/1857-6060-2020-18-2-273-295
Subject(s) - attributive , phrase , linguistics , suffix , subject (documents) , possessive , meaning (existential) , sentence , context (archaeology) , psychology , computer science , history , philosophy , archaeology , library science , psychotherapist
The article discusses the problematic use of the male gender forms, referring to the biological female gender subject. In the Russian language, the usage is standardized, when anoun in a clause carries the attributive function and is, as such, universal. On the other hand, the female gender formis used for the actual referential subject. In Slovene forms of addressing, a male gender form is used when referring to a female subject –the »antiagreeing« phrases Mrs professor and Mrs doctorcoexist with the matching (systematical) phrases, where the headword of each nominal phrase ends with a derivational suffix, denoting female gender. The difference between »antiagreement« and thematching phrases lies in the context of addressing and is mainly of stylistic nature. The article shows some options for either strategy and later on focuses on the comparison with a strategy of addressing in the Russian language: the equivalents of the Slovene phrases (Mrs professor, Mrs doctor, and their matching phrases, where the headword of each nominal phrase ends with a derivational suffix, denoting female gender), addressing by the first name and patronym, addressing by the combination Mrs/mr + last/first name and addressing by general terms, aiming for a neutral meaning.