Feminatives, or what is it for whom?
Feminatives are also sometimes referred to as feminatives, feminatives or feminatives. All this means the female form, among others. profession or position occupied by women and occurs only as a noun. The trend of creating female names for functions, occupations, positions, etc. emerged with the emancipation of women. The most changes in terms of nomenclature have appeared since the 19th century. There are names of professions that “always” existed, and there are those that found a feminine equivalent only later. Why? Because at some point in history, there were jobs that only men did, so there was no need to create a female equivalent. With time, however, a lot has changed, women began to work in various professions and occupy various positions, including the highest in politics or the professional hierarchy. Therefore, there was a need to update the nomenclature in this area.
Are feminatives common in Polish?
Yes, and much more often than you think. For unknown reasons, unfortunately, it has not been widely adopted so far. Among the arguments why it is not so popular are that, for example, it can be embarrassing when a woman is called a “pilot”, and the same is also called a hat. However, this position is wrong, because also the male equivalent of the profession – the pilot – has a multiplicity of meanings of this noun, and yet it does not bother anyone. The position on this matter, as an official statement, was also issued by the Polish Language Council at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences. It was recognized that there are absolutely no contraindications to professions, positions, functions, etc. Feminatives have been functioning in Polish for a long time, and their number is growing over time, because women occupy subsequent positions that were previously available only to men.
Feminatives and the definition of femininity
Does calling a woman, for example, a pilot, and not a pilot, take away her femininity? Absolutely not, but she is a full member of society and has the right to a gendered profession. Similarly, a man should not be offended if he was called, for example, a teacher, which is hard to imagine in practice. However, for unknown reasons, which are based on stereotypes and perception in a certain way, if a woman wants to be called a psychologist, surgeon or manager, it is sometimes depreciated and ridiculed. The truth, however, is that the naming decision should be respected regardless of gender. Linguists agree that there are no logical reasons to avoid feminatives. After all, their definition has been known in Polish for a long time.
What are Feminatives? Some examples
For many people, the term can be quite new and strange and then the question arises, what are feminatives? However, this is not a new fad or a new formulation. The fact that often names describing women in a given position are not in the dictionary also does not mean that these words do not exist. They arise over time, when women start to perform other professions. There used to be no women in politics, so there were no female politicians; there were no women in the army, so there were no female soldiers; there were no female surgeons, so none of them referred to themselves as surgeons. As a rule, words are created according to the needs and development of the world. There used to be no computers, for example, so there was no such word in the dictionary or the word “hologram”. Meanwhile, no one is surprised now.
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Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
