Gender, Language and Perception: Linguistic Inclusivity in Russian

Abstract

Achieving linguistic inclusivity in gendered languages such as Russian, against a backdrop of evolving social norms, gender identity and an abundance of sexist language, poses a particularly difficult challenge. Although researchers have documented the negative consequences of sexist language, a significant portion of the population continues to resist moving towards inclusive language practices. This resistance underscores the necessity of a deeper investigation into these attitudes, but existing measures are neither comprehensive nor effective. The present study focuses on the interplay between grammatical gender information and stereotype gender information. It assesses gender stereotyping in Russian through a digital questionnaire designed to understand the perceptions of Russian speakers regarding role nouns and their potential gender biases using Misersky et al. (2014) methodology. The study extends to assessing attitudes towards sexist and non-sexist language, constructing a conceptual framework based on the IASNL (2000) instrument.