Abstract:

In the present paper, language standardization of Serbian is described as a form of institutionalized, legitimized discourse dominance based on a patriarchal cultural model. A sociolinguistic survey, which was conducted among highly educated women (more than half of them in decision-making positions regarding gender sensitive language policy and planning), indicates that there still exists a strong social and academic influence of predominantly male language planners in Serbia who use their publicly recognizable roles to claim that masculine morphological forms for nouns denoting social positions of power are neutral containers of semantic information which do not correspond with the natural gender of agents in public discourse. In consequence, they argue that there is no sexism in the standard Serbian language, thus maintaining and supporting a very strong traditional gender ideology which makes women less visible and less influential in public life.

key words: gender ideology, language ideology, patriarchal cultural model, language standardization, grammatical gender and social gender in Serbian

Author: Jelena Filipovic