Item Details

Gendering selves, gendering others – in (Greek) interaction

Issue: Vol 9 No. 1 (2015) Gender and the Greek language

Journal: Gender and Language

Subject Areas: Gender Studies Linguistics

DOI: 10.1558/genl.v9i1.19377

Abstract:

Until quite recently, research on gender and interaction revolved primarily around the use of gendered categories and third person reference in the English language. Based on data from Greek talk-in-interaction, the aim of this paper is to point to some non-referential aspects of gendering. More specifically, adopting a conversation analytic perspective, instances of collective and individual self-reference – in itself not gendered in Greek – are analysed and shown to acquire gendered meanings in the specific context, without the deployment of terms or categories marked by grammatical or lexical gender. Such self-genderings impact on the gendering of recipients via the reflexivity of participants’ roles in interaction. Gendering oneself and others thus emerges as a dynamic process that fully exploits the inherent features of interaction, in interplay with the specific means that a language makes available to its users.

Author: Theodossia-Soula Pavlidou

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