Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Article

Language Policies and In-group Favoritism

The Malleability of the Interpretation of Generically Intended Masculine Forms

Published Online:May 23, 2008https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335.39.2.103

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of sex of respondent, context valence, and type of generic on the naming of female personalities in Norway where the feminine suffixing has dropped away in reaction to the problem of linguistic sexism. A total of 162 participants were asked to name either their most- or least-liked personalities. The survey employed either the generic form only or the generic form together with the obsolete feminine forms. Adding the feminine forms led to a significant increase in the number of female personalities named, suggesting that the Norwegian policy of gender neutralization has not (yet) been successful. Furthermore, the sex of respondent was positively related to the naming of same-sex personalities in the positive but not in the negative valence condition, thus documenting malleability in the interpretation of generics.

References

  • Braun, F. , Gottburgsen, A. , Sczesny, S. , Stahlberg, D. (1998). Können Geophysiker Frauen sein? Generische Personenbezeichnungen im Deutschen [Can geophysicians be women? Generic terms in German]. Zeitschrift für germanistische Linguistik, 26, 265–283. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Braun, F. , Sczesny, S. , Stahlberg, D. (2005). Cognitive effects of masculine generics in German. An overview of empirical findings. Communications, 30, 1–21. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bull, T. , Swan, T. (2002). The representation of gender in Norwegian. In M. Hellinger, H. Bußmann, (Eds.), Gender across languages (Vol. 2, pp. 219–249). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Fleiss, J.L. (1994). Measures of effect size for categorical data. In H. Cooper, L.V. Hedges, (Eds.), The handbook of research synthesis (pp. 245–260). New York: Russell Sage. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Gabriel, U. , Mellenberger, F. (2004). Exchanging the generic masculine for gender-balanced forms: The impact of context valence. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 63, 273–278. First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Heise, E. (2000). Sind Frauen mitgemeint? Eine empirische Untersuchung zum Verständnis des generischen Maskulinums und seiner Alternativen [Are women included? An empirical study of the generic masculine and its alternatives]. Sprache & Kognition, 19(1–2), 3–13. First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Heise, E. (2003). Auch einfühlsame Studenten sind Männer: Das generische Maskulinum und die mentale Repräsentation von Personen [Sensitive students are men too: The generic masculine and the mental representation of persons]. Verhaltenstherapie und psychosoziale Praxis, 35, 285–291. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Lopez-Claros, A. , Zahidi, S. (2005). Women’s empowerment: Measuring the global gender gap. Geneva: World Economic Forum. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mummendey, A. , Otten, S. (1998). Positive-negative asymmetry in social discrimination. In W. Stroebe, M. Hewstone, (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 9, pp. 107–143). Chichester, UK: Wiley. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Norsk Språkråd (Ed.). (1997). Kjönn, språk, likestilling. Retningslinjer for kjönnsbalansert språkebruk [Gender, language, equality of status. Directives for gender balanced language use.] Oslo: Author. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Peyer, A. , Wyss, E.L. (1998). “JazzmusikerInnen – weder Asketen noch Müesli-Fifis.” Feministische Sprachkritik in der Schweiz, ein Überblick [“Jazz-musicians – neither ascetics nor cereal-pickers” – Feministic language critic in Switzerland, a review]. Germanistische Linguistik, 139–140, 117–154. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Stahlberg, D. , Sczesny, S. (2001). Effekte des generischen Maskulinums und alternativer Sprachformen auf den gedanklichen Einbezug von Frauen [Effects of the generic use of the masculine pronoun and alternative forms of speech on the cognitive visibility of women]. Psychologische Rundschau, 52, 131–140. First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Stahlberg, D. , Braun, F. , Irmen, L. , Sczesny, S. (2007). Representation of the sexes in language. In K. Fiedler, (Ed.), Social communication (pp. 163–187). New York: Psychology Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Stahlberg, D. , Sczesny, S. , Braun, F. (2001). Name your favorite musician: Effects of masculine generics and of their alternatives in German. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 20, 464–469. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Swan, T. (1992). All about Eve: Women in Norwegian newspapers in the 20th century. Working Papers on Language, Gender and Sexism, 2, 37–54. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Tabachnik, B.G. , Fidell, L.S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar