LANGUAGE GENDERING

CHALLENGES ON THE MODERN WOMAN'S SOCIAL CAPACITY

Abstract

Globalization in our world today has become a catalyst for global consciousness informal and organized social life. It has' worked to
injlNence and alter several world views and order. One area that has not experienced much change is that of language gendering in social discourse. Many gender-related words are used in linguistic interactions to oppress women and subordinate their interests to those of men. This study examined the various issues surrounding gendered language in the Nigerian English speaking community. The methodology for the study was the survey method of structured questionnaire, used to capture the views of women on gendered language. The Halliday Functional Grammar Analysis was used to identify and analyze some lexico-grammatical structures of some gendered language use. The findings revealed that gendered or sexist language exists in our communities; and, such language behavior engenders sexist and gender discrimination against
woman. The paper suggests that researchers in "gender-language interface", should carry' out more' works on language and gender
as regards their interactions in socio-cultural context, and try to develop more gender-neutral, gender-appropriate linguistic vocabularies and structures that are not suggestive of gendered identities that define linguistic forms and practices as "men's
language "and "women's language".