Comments on: Gender matters http://annehodgson.de/2009/06/15/gender-matters/ Learning English Online with Anne Hodgson Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:01:24 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Rod http://annehodgson.de/2009/06/15/gender-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-1871 Rod Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:11:58 +0000 http://annehodgson.de/?p=6906#comment-1871 A bit of an update. I decided to try out the gender connections on a very small sample -- two German women in an advanced English session. Very interesting results. I gave them four somewhat randomly selected words -- had, however, selected two "masculine" and two "feminine" words from German: hut, key, sound, jacket. I simply gave them time to individually write down 5-6 adjectives for each word. The results? You can interpret them as you like. hut: wooden, isolated, well-equipped, small, mountain, new, small key: heavy, large, bunch of keys, door, master, important, wrong, big sound: beautiful, loud, familiar, muffled, strange, thin, intense, unbearable, annoying, unnerving jacket: worn, brand new, woman's, cotton, colourful, fancy, modern, worn-out, expensive, red, old-fashioned We then read the first part of Boroditsky's blog above and had a fascinating discussion. Followed that up by reading the second half and discussed a range of personifications in art and literature. Very interesting. Couldn't come up with a language where "army" is masculine but soon remembered that "war" is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish / French. Wonder what that says. Anyway, it would be interesting to hear what some others come up with if you decide to try the method in a session. We all enjoyed it and it produced some valuable food for thought. A bit of an update. I decided to try out the gender connections on a very small sample — two German women in an advanced English session. Very interesting results. I gave them four somewhat randomly selected words — had, however, selected two “masculine” and two “feminine” words from German: hut, key, sound, jacket. I simply gave them time to individually write down 5-6 adjectives for each word. The results? You can interpret them as you like.
hut: wooden, isolated, well-equipped, small, mountain, new, small
key: heavy, large, bunch of keys, door, master, important, wrong, big
sound: beautiful, loud, familiar, muffled, strange, thin, intense, unbearable, annoying, unnerving
jacket: worn, brand new, woman’s, cotton, colourful, fancy, modern, worn-out, expensive, red, old-fashioned

We then read the first part of Boroditsky’s blog above and had a fascinating discussion. Followed that up by reading the second half and discussed a range of personifications in art and literature. Very interesting. Couldn’t come up with a language where “army” is masculine but soon remembered that “war” is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish / French. Wonder what that says.

Anyway, it would be interesting to hear what some others come up with if you decide to try the method in a session. We all enjoyed it and it produced some valuable food for thought.

]]> By: anne http://annehodgson.de/2009/06/15/gender-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-1857 anne Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:15:43 +0000 http://annehodgson.de/?p=6906#comment-1857 Dear Rod, I was also very impressed by Lera Boroditsky and definitely think these deeper gender issues in grammar and culture, and language and the way we thinking would be very interesting to pursue in a workshop. It's obviously a huge academic subject. Maybe our linguistically inclined colleagues can tip us off/ point us in the right direction. Anyone? Dear Rod, I was also very impressed by Lera Boroditsky and definitely think these deeper gender issues in grammar and culture, and language and the way we thinking would be very interesting to pursue in a workshop. It’s obviously a huge academic subject. Maybe our linguistically inclined colleagues can tip us off/ point us in the right direction. Anyone?

]]> By: Rod http://annehodgson.de/2009/06/15/gender-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-1856 Rod Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:40:58 +0000 http://annehodgson.de/?p=6906#comment-1856 Gender Genie has been around awhile, so it may not be new to anyone and if you look around you'll quickly find that not everyone is convinced of its accuracy. It is, however, a site that claims to be able to predict the gender of a writer based on a text you enter into their site and run through their algorithms. Take it for what it's worth, but it is interesting to work with a bit. Your entry about gender here suggests that there may be another whole set of things going on when non-native speakers get into a second or third language. Very interesting. Thanks. Here's the URL if anyone's interested in trying it themselves -- or with a group of students. Good luck getting them to write more than 500 words, however. Mine don't get that much written and the tool works best with texts longer than 500 words. http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php Gender Genie has been around awhile, so it may not be new to anyone and if you look around you’ll quickly find that not everyone is convinced of its accuracy. It is, however, a site that claims to be able to predict the gender of a writer based on a text you enter into their site and run through their algorithms. Take it for what it’s worth, but it is interesting to work with a bit.
Your entry about gender here suggests that there may be another whole set of things going on when non-native speakers get into a second or third language. Very interesting. Thanks.
Here’s the URL if anyone’s interested in trying it themselves — or with a group of students. Good luck getting them to write more than 500 words, however. Mine don’t get that much written and the tool works best with texts longer than 500 words.
http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php

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