초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This study aims to examine what kind of mental representations are evoked by the ‘generic masculine' and ‘alternative linguistic forms'(feminine-masculine pairs and capital I) in the German language. Feminist linguistics have assumed that ‘generic masculine' nouns facilitate male images and therefore make women less visible. This issue has been addressed only in few studies in Germany. Four experiments are corroborated that were performed concerning the German language to determine the influence of language variations when using nouns on the cognitive representation of women. According to the experimental studies, in the generic masculine condition we perceived a lower cognitive visibility of women than in the alternative language conditions. On the basis of the results, the use of the alternative linguistic forms is recommended as more appropriate if both men and women are to be referred to.
