The Use of Gender Markers in Animals

171 Pages·2016·2.344 MB·English

by  Ludmila Zemková

112
This book is a contribution to the study of the linguistic concept of gender. It Ludmila Zemková
focuses on the problem of assigning gender to animal nouns. This problem
is topical in view of the fact that in present-day English, gender is a marginal
The Use of Gender Markers
grammatical category and therefore recedes into the background in descriptions
of today’s English. Grammatical gender is a rare topic of research, scientific
discussions or papers. The detailed analysis of gender assignment to animal in Animals
names is based on two subcorpora: the English edition of National Geographic
and the English edition of the Journal of Zoology. The book closes with a con-
trastive analysis of gender markers.
As Demonstrated by Issues
of National Geographic
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UND KULTURWISSENSCHAFT
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e DUISBURG PAPERS ON RESEARCH
Ludmila Zemková is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Z
the Faculty of Education, University of South Bohemia, Cˇeské Budeˇjovice. She a IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
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i
studied at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno. Her research inter- m
Band / Volume 112
ests include the linguistic concept of gender and gender in present-day English. d
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www.peterlang.com ISBN 978-3-631-67457-4
DASK 112_267457_Zemkova_ak_A5HCk PLE neue Maße.indd 1 25.01.16 KW 04 12:06
Rüze=12pt
112
This book is a contribution to the study of the linguistic concept of gender. It Ludmila Zemková
focuses on the problem of assigning gender to animal nouns. This problem
is topical in view of the fact that in present-day English, gender is a marginal
The Use of Gender Markers
grammatical category and therefore recedes into the background in descriptions
of today’s English. Grammatical gender is a rare topic of research, scientific
discussions or papers. The detailed analysis of gender assignment to animal in Animals
names is based on two subcorpora: the English edition of National Geographic
and the English edition of the Journal of Zoology. The book closes with a con-
trastive analysis of gender markers.
As Demonstrated by Issues
of National Geographic
s
l
a
m
i
n
A

n
i

s
r
e
k
r
a
M

r
e
d
n
e
G

f
o

e
s
U

e
h
T

·

á DUISBURGER ARBEITEN ZUR SPRACH-
v
o
UND KULTURWISSENSCHAFT
k
m
e DUISBURG PAPERS ON RESEARCH
Ludmila Zemková is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Z
the Faculty of Education, University of South Bohemia, Cˇeské Budeˇjovice. She a IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
l
i
studied at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno. Her research inter- m
Band/Volume 112
ests include the linguistic concept of gender and gender in present-day English. d
u
L
www.peterlang.com
DASK 112_267457_Zemkova_ak_A5HCk PLE neue Maße.indd 1 25.01.16 KW 04 12:06
Rüze=12pt
The Use of Gender Markers in Animals
DUISBURGER ARBEITEN ZUR SPRACH-
UND KULTURWISSENSCHAFT

DUISBURG PAPERS ON RESEARC H
IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Herausgegeben von/edited by
Ulrich Ammon, René Dirven und/and Martin Pütz

Band/Volume 112

Zu Qualitätssicherung und Peer Review Notes on the quality assurance and peer
der vorliegenden Publikation review of this publication

Die Qualität der in dieser Reihe Prior to publication, the quality of the
erscheinenden Arbeiten wird vor der work published in this series is re-
Publikation durch einen Herausgeber viewed by one of the editors
der Reihe geprüft. of the series.
Ludmila Zemková

The Use of Gender Markers
in Animals
As Demonstrated by Issues of National Geographic
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-
nb.de.

ISSN 0934-3709
ISBN 978-3-631-67457-4 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-06623-4 (E-Book)
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-06623-4
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2015
All rights reserved.

Peter Lang Edition is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH.

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utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
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prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
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This publication has been peer reviewed.
www.peterlang.com
Contents
1. Introduction .....................................................................................................9
2. Theoretical background ............................................................................11
2.1 The History of Gender................................................................................11
2.2 An Overview of Gender in English ..........................................................12
2.2.1 History ..........................................................................................................12
3. Gender Assignment in Animal Nouns ...............................................15
3.1 Gender in Present-Day English .................................................................15
3.2 An overview of gender in animals in modern reference grammars .......20
3.3 Gender in animals in the world’s languages ............................................26
3.3.1 Basic types of assigning gender to animal nouns in
languages with strict semantic or predominantly semantic
systems ....................................................................................................27
3.3.2 Assigning gender to animal nouns in languages with
formal assignment systems ..............................................................29
4. Material Analysis ..........................................................................................33
4.1 Introductory information ..........................................................................33
4.2 The analysis of gender of animals based on
National Geographic articles ......................................................................34
4.2.1 Insect........................................................................................................36
4.2.2 Sea Species ..............................................................................................42
4.2.3 Reptiles and Amphibians .....................................................................57
4.2.4 Birds .........................................................................................................62
4.2.5 Big cats ....................................................................................................67
4.2.6 Bear ..........................................................................................................78
4.2.7 Elephant ..................................................................................................81
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4.2.8 Apes .........................................................................................................84
4.2.9 Final chart and material analysis .......................................................86
4.3 The analysis of gender markers in animals based on
Journal of Zoology ........................................................................................88
4.3.1 Journal of Zoology............................................................................88
4.4 The comparison of gender markers in animals included in the
corpora of National Geographic and Journal of Zoology ........................97
4.4.1 Praying Mantis .......................................................................................98
4.4.2 Cricket ...............................................................................................99
4.4.3 Spider .....................................................................................................101
4.4.4 Crab .......................................................................................................102
4.4.5 Turtle .....................................................................................................104
4.4.6 Lizard .....................................................................................................105
4.4.7 Snake ......................................................................................................107
4.4.8 Bat ..........................................................................................................108
4.4.9 Albatross ...............................................................................................109
4.4.10 Seal .........................................................................................................111
4.4.11 Wild dog ...............................................................................................112
4.4.12 Wolf ........................................................................................................114
4.4.13 Fox ..........................................................................................................115
4.4.14 Lynx .......................................................................................................117
4.4.15 Bear ........................................................................................................118
4.4.16 Horse......................................................................................................120
4.4.17 Crayfish, Possum, Mongoose ............................................................121
4.4.18 Final charts and material analysis....................................................122
4.5 The analysis of gender in juvenile animals ..............................................124
4.5.1 Youngsters in National Geographic ................................................125
4.5.2 Youngsters in Journal of Zoology ....................................................126
4.5.3 Material analysis of gender in juvenile animals ............................128
4.6 The Comparative analysis of the use of gender markers by
Czech students and native speakers ..........................................................133
4.6.1 The use of gender markers by Czech students ..............................138
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4.6.2 The use of gender markers by native speakers ..............................147
4.6.3 The use of gender markers by Czech students and
native speakers .....................................................................................150
5. Summary .............................................................................................................153
List of Figures ...........................................................................................................161
List of Tables..............................................................................................................163
Bibliography ..............................................................................................................165
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