Language as a Means of Gender Segregation

By Tamar Burduli
(Originally published in Georgian in second issue of magazine ECO2 in autumn 2012)

According to Aristotle, one should look for linguistic roots for gender with Greek philosopher
Pythagoras, who is responsible for establishing gender as grammatical category and for gender
terms of “masculine”, “feminine” and “neuter”.

Numerous languages divide nouns by gender and match articles and adjectives to the gender of
the noun. For example: “a woman” – “la femme” (feminine) and “a man” – “l(e) homme”
(masculine) in French; “a woman” – “die Frau” (feminine), “a man” – “der man” (masculine)
and “a child” – “das Kind” (neuter). Numerous languages express gender in pronouns, as English
does: “she” (feminine), “he” (masculine), and “it” (neuter). Swahili language even has 16
genders.

Mark Twain in his essay Awful German Language writes: “Surely there is not another language
that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp… To continue with
the German genders: a tree is male, its buds are female, its leaves are neuter; horses are sexless,
dogs are male, cats are female -- tomcats included, of course; a person's mouth, neck, bosom,
elbows, fingers, nails, feet, and body are of the male sex, and his head is male or neuter
according to the word selected to signify it, and not according to the sex of the individual who
wears it -- for in Germany all the women either male heads or sexless ones; a person's nose, lips,
shoulders, breast, hands, and toes are of the female sex; and his hair, ears, eyes, chin, legs, knees,
heart, and conscience haven't any sex at all. The inventor of the language probably got what he
knew about a conscience from hearsay… In the German it is true that by some oversight of the
inventor of the language, a Woman is a female; but a Wife (Weib) is not -- which is unfortunate.
A Wife, here, has no sex; she is neuter; so, according to the grammar, a fish is he, his scales
are she, but a fishwife is neither.”

To quote Robin Morgan, writer and prominent activist of feminist movement in 60-70’s: “The
very semantics of the language reflects [women’s] condition. We do not even have our own
names, but bear that of the father until we exchange it for that of a husband.”

In Muskogean language called Koasati, men and women’s speech have different phonological
and morphological features.

One can bring numerous examples like these from languages, that have nouns divided by gender
(regardless of whether they comply with some general rule), or pronouns reflecting grammatical
gender of nouns, or having morphological division according to grammatical gender.

If we say that in most of the cultures last name is transferred from father to his child and look at
other above mentioned criteria, Georgian appears as the most gender-neutral language. There is
no gender in grammar, every word is equal and, therefore, there are no signs of gender
segregation or discrimination.

However, before drawing this conclusion, we should not only look at gender in nouns, but also at
their roots, production, and meanings, which, in turn, are more reflective of the culture. If we
take a semantic approach to study words that have withstood centuries and have firmly
established themselves in modern Georgian language, we will see that next to the cult of
“mother” (deda) as precious, respected and cherished person (deda ena - “mother tongue”1,
dedamiwa - “mother earth”, dedaboZi - “mother pillar”, dedabuneba - “mother nature”,
dedaqalaqi - “mother city” or capital city), we have “wife” (coli) to be “brought”2, “lover”
(sayvareli3) having root of “love” and having second and third meanings “cute” and
“favorite”, and the most famous “out-lending”4 of a woman (gaTxoveba). Objects and actions
expressed by these words and their semantics reflect Georgian “pride” and self-image. On the
surface everyone is equal: we can compare our gender (or its absence) to other languages and
hold our heads high, but beyond the surface, by meanings of these words we unconsciously
establish domination of one gender or another.

Meanwhile, in April 2012, the Swedish combined third person feminine and masculine pronouns
“hon” and “han” into third neutral “hen”, which radically diminishes predisposition for gender
segregation in future generations.

According to American linguist Deborah Tannen, it is established, that women speak a language
of connection, intimacy and closeness, while men speak a language of status, power and
independency. Therefore, communication between women and men could be regarded as cross-
cultural communication. Reason for problems between various groups might lie in the
differences between the meanings assigned to words and established into language systems.
Process of learning these assigned meanings and feelings starts at a very early age of human
development, i.e. segregation commences at a very early age. Girls and boys mainly grow up in
single-gendered groups. Moreover, social roles related to gender are imposed and therefore –
learned by children from the very moment their sex is established.

Consequently, we can say that language, thanks to meanings assigned to words inside the
culture, appears as active but unconscious means for gender segregation.

1
First alphabet or first book for reading for Georgian public schools since 19 th century.
2
In Georgian male says “I brought a wife”, meaning he got married.
3
Mistress
4
In Georgian a woman says “I was out-lent”, meaning she got married.