Lakota men’s and women’s speech
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Jessica Fae Nelson
Abstract
Although most words in Lakota [a Siouan language] do not indicate gender, some can be used by speakers to mark their own gender. Recently perceptions of the use of gender-indexing words have shifted, altering the ranges of sociolinguistic expression available to speakers. Scholars have argued that speakers are able to take advantage of shared understandings about norms for gender-indexing words in order to construct alternative social meanings (see Trechter 1995; Agha 2005). I compare metapragmatic discourse about Lakota gender-indexing assertion enclitics from two different time periods in order to analyze changes in perception about this kind of gendering speech. I argue that in the current context of Lakota language shift and revitalization, metapragmatic discourses are erasing some of the indirect indexical links of gender-indexing words, and attributing other meanings that limit the potential that speakers have to use such words to communicate a broader range of social meanings in Lakota.
Abstract
Although most words in Lakota [a Siouan language] do not indicate gender, some can be used by speakers to mark their own gender. Recently perceptions of the use of gender-indexing words have shifted, altering the ranges of sociolinguistic expression available to speakers. Scholars have argued that speakers are able to take advantage of shared understandings about norms for gender-indexing words in order to construct alternative social meanings (see Trechter 1995; Agha 2005). I compare metapragmatic discourse about Lakota gender-indexing assertion enclitics from two different time periods in order to analyze changes in perception about this kind of gendering speech. I argue that in the current context of Lakota language shift and revitalization, metapragmatic discourses are erasing some of the indirect indexical links of gender-indexing words, and attributing other meanings that limit the potential that speakers have to use such words to communicate a broader range of social meanings in Lakota.
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
