Gender marking and the feminine imaginary in Arabic
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Mariem Guellouz
Abstract
In classical and dialectal Arabic syntax, linguists identify two opposite genders: masculine and feminine. The latter is linguistically marked by the morpheme a(t) (called fatha) while the former is considered unmarked and there is no neuter. The morphosyntactical rule of feminine marking seems to be obvious: it consists of adding a feminine inflection. Yet, this morphosyntactic marking does not apply systematically. Some adjectives do not have any feminine inflections despite describing physiological and psychological female phenomena for instance, hamel ‘pregnant’, taliq ‘repudiated’, thaib ‘widow’, mourdhi ‘breast feeder’, tamich ‘postmenopausal woman’. This chapter addresses the following two questions: Why does the gender marker disappear in such typical cases relating specifically to female biological states? If we suppose these lexical units are masculinized, what does this say about the social imaginary regarding gender and especially, the feminine?
Abstract
In classical and dialectal Arabic syntax, linguists identify two opposite genders: masculine and feminine. The latter is linguistically marked by the morpheme a(t) (called fatha) while the former is considered unmarked and there is no neuter. The morphosyntactical rule of feminine marking seems to be obvious: it consists of adding a feminine inflection. Yet, this morphosyntactic marking does not apply systematically. Some adjectives do not have any feminine inflections despite describing physiological and psychological female phenomena for instance, hamel ‘pregnant’, taliq ‘repudiated’, thaib ‘widow’, mourdhi ‘breast feeder’, tamich ‘postmenopausal woman’. This chapter addresses the following two questions: Why does the gender marker disappear in such typical cases relating specifically to female biological states? If we suppose these lexical units are masculinized, what does this say about the social imaginary regarding gender and especially, the feminine?
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Periphery, gender, language 1
-
I. Undoing grammatical gender
- Trying to change a gender-marked language 25
- Gender marking and the feminine imaginary in Arabic 47
- A poststructuralist approach to structural gender linguistics 65
- A hermeneutical approach to gender linguistic materiality 89
- Gender bias in Bantu languages 129
- The representation of gender in Bajjika grammar and discourse 165
- The lexical paradigm based on sex distinction and the semantics of its constituents in English and Belarusian 195
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II. Intersectional peripheries
- When She and He become It 227
- Lakota men’s and women’s speech 257
- “Moldovan” and feminist language politics 285
- Eastern boys and girls! Comparative linguistic anthropologies of lesbian and gay communities, Kuala Lumpur and Sorwool 323
- Harlots and whores but not lovers 353
- About the contributors 381
- Language index 387
- Name index 389
- Subject index 395
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Periphery, gender, language 1
-
I. Undoing grammatical gender
- Trying to change a gender-marked language 25
- Gender marking and the feminine imaginary in Arabic 47
- A poststructuralist approach to structural gender linguistics 65
- A hermeneutical approach to gender linguistic materiality 89
- Gender bias in Bantu languages 129
- The representation of gender in Bajjika grammar and discourse 165
- The lexical paradigm based on sex distinction and the semantics of its constituents in English and Belarusian 195
-
II. Intersectional peripheries
- When She and He become It 227
- Lakota men’s and women’s speech 257
- “Moldovan” and feminist language politics 285
- Eastern boys and girls! Comparative linguistic anthropologies of lesbian and gay communities, Kuala Lumpur and Sorwool 323
- Harlots and whores but not lovers 353
- About the contributors 381
- Language index 387
- Name index 389
- Subject index 395
