Gender studies in comparative linguistics (Russian and Chinese languages)

Dubyaga Anastasiya Mikhailovna ORCID: 0009-0002-1743-4377 Postgraduate student; Department of Theory of Language, English and Applied Linguistics; State University of Education 58 Biryulevskaya str., office 90, Moscow, 115547, Russia anastasiya.dubyaga.96@mail.ru

Introduction

The last decade of the 20th century is marked by the development of postmodern philosophy and a change in the scientific paradigm in the humanities. The man sought to understand the processes of categorization in a new way, expressed interest not in the objective, but in the subjective, and developed new theories such as the "theory of personality" or the "theory of social constructivism." As a result, categories such as "gender," "ethnicity," and "age" are gradually starting to move away from the unified interpretation of "biologically determined" and are beginning to be interpreted in a different way, viewed in a broader sense.

Such new attitudes definitely require the introduction of new vocabulary that will more accurately describe new methodological trends. As a result, the term "gender" has come into scientific use. This term focuses more on "the socially constructed nature of gender, its conventionality, institutionality and ritualization, as well as the study of linguistic mechanisms of gender expression in language and communication" ^[9]. The introduction of "gender" as an independent linguistic term occurred in the 20th century, therefore, the formation itself and the subsequent intensive development of gender studies occurred at the end of the 20th century. It is worth noting that the methods and approaches to the study of gender are different.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the conducted gender studies in comparative linguistics using the example of Russian and Chinese languages. During the research, such general logical research methods as analysis and subsequent synthesis of the material were applied. The scientific basis of this study was made up of the theoretical positions of domestic and foreign scientists. Thus, the conclusions presented in this article are based on a block of work in the following areas:

1. Studies revealing the influence of various historical, cultural and social events on the role of gender in various societies (S.N. Solovyova, E.S. Gritsenko, O.L. Antineskul, V.V. Vasyuk, N.V. Letkina, L.Ya. Kruglyanskaya, T.N. Bataron, A. A. Machulis);

2. Research based on the study of the theoretical status of gender and its perception (M.V. Tomskaya, Z.A. Khotkina, A.V. Kirilina, T. A. Tripolskaya, N.S. Shushanyan, L.P. Murashova, E. Y. Bulygina, D. Tannen, A. Weatherall);

3. Research, the result of which is based on the study of gender in the pragmatic and linguocultural aspects of language (A.A. Maali Shadi, A.A. Likhovid, Xu Shanshan, I.E. Gerasimenko);

4. Research analyzing gender on the linguistic, sociolinguistic and psychosociolinguistic basis of the analysis method (K.V. Shurshin, L.N. Maslova, I.V. Denisova, V. K. Barashyan);

5. Research on gender images and stereotypes in the press and media (A. A. Barkovich, I.V. Polevaya, O. V. Romakh, O.V. Skulkin, A. A. Sleptsova, N.V. Mezheritskaya, J.V. Chernova, L.V. Suleymanova, Yorgos C. Zotos, Eirini Tsichla, Fang Pan).

Such a review of scientific papers makes it possible not only to identify the main research methods used in linguistic genderology, but also to actualize the similarities and differences in the study of gender using the example of two completely different cultures.

Gender studies in comparative linguistics (Russian and Chinese)

The stages of studying the relationship of language with the gender of its speakers are traditionally divided into two stages – the stage of studying the material from the point of view of "biological determinism" and the stage of studying gender in the "gender studies" themselves. In detail, biological determinism consists of "irregular, disparate, unrelated research." Gender studies, in turn, can be described as "large-scale research caused by the growing interest in the pragmatic aspect of linguistics, as well as related to the development of sociolinguistics and changes in the division of traditional male and female roles in society" ^{[6, p. 139]}. The boundary separating the first stage from the second is the sixties of the last century.

It is worth noting that A.V. Kirillina also talks about the third period. However, the researcher does not identify this period as a separate one, but rather assigns it to a transitional, intermediate period. In her opinion, the beginning and middle of the 20th century can be attributed to such a period, and all the research conducted at this time serves as the basis for modern gender studies.

At the turn of the 60s and 70s of the last century, scientists began to pay more and more attention to language research in terms of "psychological and social characteristics." Such features as gender, level of education, etc. come to the fore ^{[8, p. 336]}.

In parallel with the aforementioned period, the so-called New "women's Movement" is breaking out in Germany and the USA, which indicates that society is androcentric. It was this movement that gave a powerful impetus to the development of gender studies.

During this period, the term "gender" was introduced for research in the fields of sociology, psychology, history and a number of other humanities. The founder of the term is the American psychologist and sexologist John William Money. Mani specialized in the study of the biology of sex and introduced not only the term "gender", but also such terms as "gender identity", "gender role", "sexual orientation".

When analyzing the conducted research, I.V. Polevaya notes the confusion in terminology, since the concepts in different languages do not coincide and/or have a "semantic load". So, for example, the difference between the two concepts of the English language "sex" and "gender" is not possible to translate adequately. In English, the lexical unit "sex" has the meaning "sex", and the Russian unit "gender" has a lower semantic load ^[17].

In Russian linguistics, gender studies originate in the 90s of the XX century. In 1990, the term "gender" was first used in the official name of the laboratory at the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of Population at the Academy of Sciences. Later, this laboratory was named the Moscow Center for Gender Studies (MCGI) ^{[14, p. 15]}.

As you know, this period has significant social changes for the history of Russia. In connection with this fact, the humanities itself is changing. M. A. Stashkova (Kirsanova M.A.) also notes the fact that a characteristic feature of Russian research is "the implicit assumption of social conditionality of many phenomena reflecting the relationship between gender and language" ^{[13, p. 33]}.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, modern researchers have been paying special attention to psycholinguistics. In this regard, there is a growing number of studies based on gender lexicology, the identification of linguistic asymmetries and studies of the degree of anthropocentricity of languages with their subsequent comparison ^{[4, p. 511]}. The article by A.V. Kirilina and M. V. Tomskaya "Linguistic gender studies" provides the main directions of gender linguistics at the present stage of development: the socio- and psycholinguistic direction, the linguistic and cultural direction and the communicative and discursive direction ^[9].

In the line of socio- and psycholinguistic trends, scientists deal with issues of Russian linguistic consciousness through the prism of perception of written and oral texts. In line with the linguistic and cultural direction, research is underway to study gender stereotypes, stereotypes at the level of masculinity and femininity, and gender asymmetry.

The communicative and discursive field specializes in studying the peculiarities of the speech behavior of men and women in order to build a speech portrait. In the course of such research, scientists are also engaged in the linguistic construction of gender in the course of communication between men and women in various situations.

I. V. Polevaya notes that all existing trends in the study of gender linguistics in Russia to some extent reflect the differences between men and women and are directly reflected in various situations ^{[11, p. 36]}.

It is worth noting the importance of E. S. Gritsenko's doctoral thesis for gender studies. In his study "Language as a means of constructing gender" [Gritsenko, 2005], the author examines the reflection of gender in language using the example of oral and written texts of different genres. The core of the study is the gender stereotypes of the Russian language, and the material of English and other languages is used for comparison ^[5].

In A.V. Kirilina's monograph "Gender: linguistic aspects", the scientist examines the concepts of "femininity" and "masculinity" ^[8].

It should be noted that at the present stage, the most interesting studies are those that have a component of comparative analysis of names in Russian, English, French, German and other European languages. There is also a growing interest in the study of Oriental languages. The works of O. L. Antinescul ^[1], V. K. Barashyan ^[2], and A. A. Machulis ^[10] serve as confirmation of the words above. It should be noted that the research sample was conducted manually, without the participation of artificial intelligence (AI).

O. L. Antinescul [Antinescul, 2000] considers the sociocultural concept of gender, which is projected onto the structure of the text, that is, it acts as a parameter of text formation ^[1].

V. K. Barashyan [Barashyan, 2020] analyzes gender concepts using associative analysis in the study "Linguistic representation of gender concepts: cognitive-discursive, semiotic and linguocultural aspects". In a number of articles, the author details the facts and data on the process of conceptualizing gender-oriented linguistic knowledge in two linguistic cultures ^{[2, p. 6]}.

A. A. Machulis [Machulis, 2024] specializes in the gender features of the political discourse in Wales and studies the concept of "gender" as a linguistic phenomenon and its role in political communication using the example of the manifestation of gender features in the communication strategies of British politicians ^{[10, p. 225]}.

It is also worth noting that there are very few doctoral dissertations on the subject of gender studies today. This fact once again confirms that research in the field of gender and psycholinguistics has a huge potential and a wide range of materials. As an example, we can cite the research of Victoria V. Smeyukha [Smeyukha, 2012] on the topic "The phenomenon of gender identification in the media space: based on the material of domestic women's magazines." The purpose of the research is not only to study the specifics of verbal behavior and the verbal component of the female linguistic personality, but also to analyze the transformation of the "linguogender" in the history of women's periodicals. The author emphasizes that such a transformation primarily depends on discourse in economic or socio-political reforms ^{[12, p.52]}.

Thus, two trends in the development of gender studies prevail in the works of Russian scientists. The first trend is to identify the linguistic significance of the gender approach in linguistics in general. The second trend is devoted to research on language differences between men and women.

Now let's analyze the stages of studying and developing gender linguistics in China. As mentioned above, gender studies originate in the 60s of the last century. In China, interest in this issue appeared only in the 70s of the XX century. First of all, this is due to the implementation of a policy of reform and openness. For Chinese scientists, this turned out to be a great opportunity to share their experience and available information by that time. It is also worth noting that the interest in the topic of gender was promoted by the feminist movements that took place in America in the 80s of the last century.

Just as in Russian linguistics, two periods of gender study can be distinguished in Chinese linguistics. It is worth noting that these periods coexist together and it is not possible to divide them strictly into two time periods.

The first period is to get acquainted with the work of foreign colleagues. Chinese linguists studied the research methods and analyzed the results. The second stage is to study your language in terms of gender using methods used by colleagues from different countries.

Chinese linguists also pay special attention to the issue of the manifestation of linguistic differences and asymmetries in speech, behavior and thinking among men and women, not only in Chinese, but also in others (English, Russian, Japanese). A special place in research is given to the topic of discrimination against women.

Among the famous Chinese scientists, it is necessary to mention Zhou Minchuan and his work. In his research, the scientist not only described gender studies conducted in Russia, but also analyzed them from the point of view of philosophical understanding. He also compared Chinese and Russian types of apologies, compliments, appeals, refusals in the gender aspect represented by speakers of both cultures. These works are considered to be key to China's gender studies.

To date, research related to the study of gender in the Chinese language is being conducted by Chinese colleagues in Russia. Here are some examples of work. Some of the works specialize in the study of linguistic differences and asymmetries in speech, behavior and thinking in men and women. For example, Wang Min conducts a series of associative experiments in his research to identify gender stereotypes in the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of Chinese and Russian. The researcher argues that gender stereotypes have a semantic structure that is influenced by various factors, such as gender, age, and education, and a holistic core in its component (a man is courageous/strong and responsible, a woman is beautiful/gentle). In Chinese and Russian societies, the gender factor has the greatest influence on gender stereotypes ^{[15, p. 55]}.

Chen Yao conducted a comprehensive study of ethnogender groups using a cross-group assessment in the synthesis of ethnic and gender factors. Russian Russian researcher Chen Yao found that the interaction of the studied factors is complex: "the ethnic factor is more significant for Chinese; the gender factor is more significant for Russian women; neither the ethnic nor gender factors are significant for Russian men." The researcher also studied in detail the factors of "language learning" and "staying in the country" and found that they have different effects on people and their perception of stereotypes. So, for the Chinese, both factors have little effect on the formation of stereotypes. For Russians, the "language learning" factor details and conceptualizes a set of stereotypes learned during the study of the language itself, while the "stay in the country" factor, on the contrary, dispels stereotypes previously studied ^{[16, p. 87]}.

Thus, two trends in the development of gender studies prevail in the works of Russian scientists. The first trend is to identify the linguistic significance of the gender approach in linguistics in general. The second trend is devoted to the establishment of the role of the so-called extralinguistic reality in the formation of gender itself.

Gender studies in Chinese are aimed at studying gender in a theoretical aspect. Also, the works often compare the role and status of men and women in society for differences. Linguistic asymmetries revealed by the analysis of Chinese, Russian, English and other languages also attract the attention of scientists.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the future of gender studies is also seen in the study and analysis of modern social problems, such as falling birth rates, self-awareness, freedom, discrimination, power, violence, low life expectancy, the future of the family and family values in the linguistic aspect. Such works will be able to reflect the peculiarities of the perception of the above-mentioned problems by men and women and identify linguistic similarities and differences at different language levels.