Lexical System of the Bashkir Language: Representing Gender
https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2020-49-3-766-778
Abstract
Introduction. The Bashkir language ― like other Turkic languages ― contains no category of grammatical gender explicitly associated with the gender of animate nouns. There are only lexical means of gender designation. Goals. In this regard, the article attempts to study features of the lexical means employed to represent sex (gender) in the Bashkir language. Materials and Methods. The insight into specifics of gender in the Bashkir language includes the use of certain research methods, such as the method of continuous sampling, the comparative one, and that of statistical analysis. Results. The linguistic analysis reveals that the meaning of sex (gender) in the Bashkir language is manifested by lexical-semantic (gender-marked lexemes, with qualifier words) and derivational means. Semantics of male and female gender in Bashkir discourse is to be traced in such lexical and semantic groups as terms of kinship, family relations, names of professions, anthroponyms. Basically, gender in the Bashkir language is represented by separate multi-root lexemes. However, there are also some kinship terms and anthroponyms denoting females which are derived from masculine names. The same phenomenon is observed in borrowed names of professions when a female specialty term derives from a masculine form with the aid of the affix -ә. In the original vocabulary, there is no gender differentiation according to professional affiliation. Here, to concretize a person’s gender qualifier words that contain gender semantics ― qatyn ‘woman’, ir ‘man’, apaj ‘sister, aunt’, qyδ ‘girl’, and others ― are used. The study emphasizes there are obvious gender asymmetries in the Bashkir language since resulting from the prevalence of words to express the concepts ‘man’ and ‘masculine’, and the lack of lexemes representing the concepts ‘woman’ and ‘feminine’. This attests to androcentricity of the Bashkir language.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The reported study was granted by the President of the Russian Federation (Young Scientists Support Program), project no. MK-323.2020.6 ‘Ethnocultural Specifics of Gender Vocabulary: Comparative Analysis of Russian and Bashkir Languages’.
About the Author
Linara K. Ishkildina
Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Federal Research Centre of the RAS
Russian Federation
Cand. Sc. (Philology), Senior Research Associate
Russian Federation
Cand. Sc. (Philology), Senior Research Associate
References
1. Belyaeva A. Yu. Men and Women. Essentials of Speech Behavior: A Case Study of Spoken Russian. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis. Saratov, 2002. 177 p. (In Russ.)
2. Bogoslovsky S. M. Professional Classification System. Moscow: Moscow Governorate Zemstvo, 1913. 747 p. (In Russ.)
3. Bondarko A. V. Theory of Morphological Categories. Leningrad: Nauka, 1976. 255 p. (In Russ.)
4. Bragina A. A. Russian language: observing the category of gender. Voprosy Jazykoznanija. 1981. No. 5. Pp. 68–78. (In Russ.)
5. Buskunbaeva L. A. Gender stereotypes in Bashkir proverbs and sayings revisited. In: Uluslararasi Nevruz Zirvesi. Symposium Proceedings (Antaliya; March 20–23, 2019). Antalya: Iksad
6. Yayinevi, 2019. Pp. 75–78. (In Bash.)
7. Denisova A. A. (ed.) Dictionary of Gender Terms. Moscow: Informatsiya XXI Vek, 2002. 256 p. (In Russ.)
8. Fatykhova F. F. Gender aspect of age categories in the Bashkir language. In: Gender: Language, Culture, Communication. Conference Proceedings (Moscow; November 26–25, 1999). Moscow: Moscow State Linguistic University, 2001. Pp. 347–351. (In Eng.)
9. Grishina N. A. Category Feature of Gender in Language Semantics. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis abstract. Voronezh, 1996. 16 p. (In Russ.)
10. Khakimyanova A. M. Gender research of the concepts ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the Bashkir folk lyrical songs. Philological Sciences. Issues of Theory and Practice (Philology. Theory & Practice). 2015. No. 6–2 (48). Pp. 180–184. (In Russ.)
11. Khisamitdinova F. G. (ed.) Academic Dictionary of the Bashkir Language. Vol. I. Ufa: Kitap, 2011. 432 p. (In Bash.)
12. Kirilina A. V. Gender: Linguistic Aspects. Moscow: Institute of Sociology (RAS), 1999. 189 p. (In Russ.)
13. Kirilina A. V., Tomskaya M. V. Linguistic gender studies. Otechestvennye zapiski. 2005. No. 2 (23). Pp. 112–132. (In Russ.)
14. Krylov S. A. Category of gender in the semantic perspective. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2010. Vol. VI. No. 2. Pp. 341–357. (In Russ.)
15. Kusimova T. Kh., Bikkulova S. A. Bashkir Names. Ufa: Kitap, 2000. 176 p. (In Bash.)
16. Moiseev A. I. Naming individuals by profession: semantic essentials. Vestnik LGU. 1967. Pp. 138–139. (In Russ.)
17. Nadrshina F. A. (comp.) Bashkir Folk Culture. Proverbs and Sayings. Ufa: Bashkir Book Publ., 1980. 472 p. (In Bash.)
18. Petrovsky N. A. Dictionary of Russian Personal Names. 6th ed. Moscow: Russkie Slovari, Astrel, 2000. 480 p. (In Russ.)
19. Raemguzhina Z. M. Bashkir Anthroponymicon: A Perspective from the Linguistic World-Image. Dr.Sc. (philology) thesis. Ufa, 2009. 300 p. (In Russ.)
20. Suleymanova R. A. Bashkir-Russian Reference Dictionary of Personal Names. Ufa: Institute of History, Language and Literature (Ufa Federal Research Centre of RAS), 2013. 364 p. (In Bash. and Russ.)
21. Suleymanova R. A. Modern Bashkir Anthroponyms and Their Development Trends. Ufa: Gilem, 2006. (In Bash.)
22. Superanskaya A. V., Gusev Yu. M. (ed.) Peoples of the RSFSR: A Reference Book of Personal Names. Moscow: Russkiy Yazyk, 1987. 656 p. (In Russ.)
23. Superanskaya A. V. Reference Book of Russian Personal Names. Moscow; Nazran: AST, 1998. 521 p. (In Russ.)
24. Sysoeva E. S., Chechina I. V. Peculiarities of gender
25. representation in onomastics studies. Studia Germanica, Romanica et Comparatistica. 2017. Vol. 13. No. 3 (37). Pp. 64–73. (In Russ.)
26. Uraksin Z. G. (ed.) Bashkir-Russian Dictionary. Moscow: Digora, Russkiy Yazyk, 1996. 884 p. (In Bash. and Russ.)
27. Vasilieva I. B. On question of relatedness of biological sex, grammatical gender and gender. Philological Sciences. Issues of Theory and Practice (Philology. Theory & Practice). 2013. No. 10. Pp. 39–44. (In Russ.)
28. Vasilieva L. I. Denoting Individuals by Profession: Suffixal Word Formation in Russian and Ukrainian Languages. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis abstract. Moscow, 1971. 28 p. (In Russ.)
29. Vorontsova V. L. Denoting individuals by profession. In: Shmelev D. N. et al. Naming Means in Modern Russian. Moscow: Nauka, 1982. Pp. 254–271. (In Russ.)
30. Yagafarova G. N. Gender peculiarities of Bashkir anthroponyms. In: Petrov L. P. (ed., comp.) Chuvash Onomastics: Problems and Perspectives. Cheboksary: Chuvash State Institute for the Humanities, 2009. Pp. 196–200. (In Russ.)
31. Yakovleva A. V. Denoting Individuals by Profession in Modern Russian: Semantic Essentials and Formation Paradigms. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis. Yaroslavl, 2009. 238 p. (In Russ.)
32. Yuldashev A. A. (ed.) Grammar of the Modern Bashkir Literary Language. Moscow: Nauka, 1981. 495 p. (In Russ.)
33. Zakupra Zh. A. Naming Individuals by Profession: A Case Study of 14th-16th Century Russian Written Monuments. Construction and Related Crafts. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis abstract.
34. Kiev, 1973. 28 p. (In Russ.)
Review
For citations:
Ishkildina L. Lexical System of the Bashkir Language: Representing Gender. Oriental Studies. 2020;13(3):766-778. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2020-49-3-766-778
Views:
530
Email this article 