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Gender variation of selected Czech toponyms ending with a soft or ambiguous consonant
Pešková, Kateřina ; Synková, Pavlína (advisor) ; Adam, Robert (referee)
In Czech, the assignment of grammatical gender to certain place names ending in (what is known as) soft or hybrid consonants is inconsistent, especially in the spoken language. These toponyms used to be treated as masculine nouns but today are overwhelmingly codified as feminine nouns. The present paper takes a look at the way these toponyms are described in linguistic guides and compendia which specify their gender, their origination and their meaning, or describe their use in local dialects. Based on the data in those manuals, the author has created a list of gender-shifting toponyms, with a brief specification of the grammatical gender and colloquial use (exactly as described in the said manuals), so as to allow for their easy comparison. Selected toponyms (which are analyzed in more detail in the grammatical guides, or which were assigned a different gender by different guides and compendia) are the subject of a broader discussion within the context of this work. In another section, the present work references the results of an internet questionnaire designed to map the actual use of grammatical gender for these toponyms by native speakers. This questionnaire examined a number of toponyms that were selected for being generally known, or based on their frequency in various districts. Respondents were...
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Perception of English prototypes in Czech and German mono-lingual speakers
Kučerová, Alžběta ; Lancová, Klára (advisor) ; Červinková Poesová, Kristýna (referee)
[The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and describe how semantic prototypes are transferred and perceived from L1 Czech and L1 German participants into their L2 English. This thesis attempts to pinpoint and describe whether there are differences in the perception of the prototypes in the two monolingual groups, with the main focus on typicality judgement, grammatical gender and prepositional prototypes. The main assumed source of differences is considered to be the said L1 language background. A questionnaire was created for both Czech and German participants with seven tasks testing the perception of prototypes in their L2 English and to see whether a L1 to L2 negative language transfer takes place. The analysis shows that in the perception of prototypes within typicality judgement exercises, the two tested L1 groups do not differ largely and that the size of one's specialized vocabulary and the fact, that English is their L2, not L1, seems to play a role. Nonetheless, at the scale of this research, it seems plausible to say that prepositional and grammatical gender prototypes are transferred into the participants' L2. More in-depth research on the topic is needed; however, to confirm or reject these findings.]
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Gender variation of selected Czech toponyms ending with a soft or ambiguous consonant
Pešková, Kateřina ; Synková, Pavlína (advisor) ; Adam, Robert (referee)
In Czech, the assignment of grammatical gender to certain place names ending in (what is known as) soft or hybrid consonants is inconsistent, especially in the spoken language. These toponyms used to be treated as masculine nouns but today are overwhelmingly codified as feminine nouns. The present paper takes a look at the way these toponyms are described in linguistic guides and compendia which specify their gender, their origination and their meaning, or describe their use in local dialects. Based on the data in those manuals, the author has created a list of gender-shifting toponyms, with a brief specification of the grammatical gender and colloquial use (exactly as described in the said manuals), so as to allow for their easy comparison. Selected toponyms (which are analyzed in more detail in the grammatical guides, or which were assigned a different gender by different guides and compendia) are the subject of a broader discussion within the context of this work. In another section, the present work references the results of an internet questionnaire designed to map the actual use of grammatical gender for these toponyms by native speakers. This questionnaire examined a number of toponyms that were selected for being generally known, or based on their frequency in various districts. Respondents were...
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Masculine and feminine gender in Italian: not only grammatical category
Luhanová, Eliška ; Špaček, Jiří (advisor) ; Štichauer, Pavel (referee)
Key words: grammatical gender, nouns, language sexism, society, lingustics This work focuses on phenomenon of nomi di azione which indicate professions, occupations or titles in Italian. In this limited group of substantives exists inequity between used masculines and feminines. The crucial source of this work is an important work of Alma Sabatini Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana (1986), which consists of recommendations for more appropriate and neutral expressions. The work managed to include this topic into the public consciousness and point out to its impact for society. Practical part of the work is based on analysis of competing forms of words, which do not fit common language standards or social conventions. These forms will be examined by five italian expository dictionaries (published between 1998 and 2007) and the Italian corpus of La Repubblica. The results attempt to map current situation and confront it with the recommendations of A. Sabatini. However, the issue is beyond the linguistics area, so the concern of this work is focused also on the socio-cultural and psychological aspects, which condition the whole situation. Among those, the relative disciplines to linguistics are mentioned - politics, mass- media and education. This work does not present clear...
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