Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie (Sep 2024)

Gender Stereotypes in Explanatory and Translation Dictionaries of the Russian Language in the Aspect of Categories of Social Exclusion, Inclusion

  • Marina V. Milovanova

DOI
https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2024.4.2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 4
pp. 16 – 30

Abstract

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The article is devoted to the consideration of gender stereotypes objectification in the Russian language of various chronological periods, which occurs within the categories of social exclusion and social inclusion and is exemplified by the concepts “man” and “woman”. The study was carried out based on lexicographic sources. The corresponding lexemes: man, woman and the units that identify the attribute of the designated concept: male, female are considered as key representatives of these concepts. Regarding the period of the 11th – 17th centuries, the lexemes husband, wife are also considered. As a result of a definitional analysis of key lexemes denoting these concepts, changes within the “man – woman” opposition are identified, namely its specification and addition of new features. It has been established that in the period of the 11th – 14th centuries, the concept “woman” used to reveal the ambivalence within the framework of reflecting gender stereotyping. Up to the 19th century, this concept objectified the category of social exclusion, while in illustrating contexts a shift in the axiological parameter was revealed: from negative characteristics to the positive ones. The concept “man” consistently demonstrates the representation of positive characteristics and objectifies the category of social inclusion. It has been determined that in the materials of dictionaries of the modern Russian language, the most significant markers of the “man – woman” opposition are not social differences, but the natural ones. The conclusion is made about the peculiarities of gender stereotyping processes in the semantics of the lexemes man and woman, which can be socially- and nature-oriented.

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