Sounds of gender: Masculine consonants and feminine vowels in names across languages
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
This study examined the relationship between phonology and gender in given names across Korea, Bangladesh, Britain, and the United States. It investigated how consonant clusters and final vowels function as gender markers, with a particular focus on consonant clusters in male names and final vowels in female names. The analysis of 2,920 names, comprising 20 popular names per decade from 1880 to 2023, all sourced from official birth registration records, revealed that consonant clusters are more prevalent in male names, suggesting a universal marker of masculinity. Final vowels, on the other hand, strongly indicate femininity in Indo- European languages such as Bengali and English. Historical trends further substantiate this pattern, demonstrating its consistency across timeframes rather than being confined to specific periods. Additionally, the analysis reveals minimal regional variation within countries where the same language is spoken, suggesting that national cultural norms exert a stronger influence than localized differences. These findings underscore how linguistic and regional factors interact to shape gendered naming conventions.
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between phonology and gender in given names across Korea, Bangladesh, Britain, and the United States. It investigated how consonant clusters and final vowels function as gender markers, with a particular focus on consonant clusters in male names and final vowels in female names. The analysis of 2,920 names, comprising 20 popular names per decade from 1880 to 2023, all sourced from official birth registration records, revealed that consonant clusters are more prevalent in male names, suggesting a universal marker of masculinity. Final vowels, on the other hand, strongly indicate femininity in Indo- European languages such as Bengali and English. Historical trends further substantiate this pattern, demonstrating its consistency across timeframes rather than being confined to specific periods. Additionally, the analysis reveals minimal regional variation within countries where the same language is spoken, suggesting that national cultural norms exert a stronger influence than localized differences. These findings underscore how linguistic and regional factors interact to shape gendered naming conventions.
참고문헌 (25)
- ACKERMANN, TANJA, "The sound of gender : Correlations of name phonology and gender across languages", Linguistics, 59(4), pp.1143~1177 (2021)[DOI]
- ALFORD, RICHARD D., "Naming and Identity: A Cross-Cultural Study of Personal Naming Traditions" (1988), HRAF Press
- "What is the difference between UK, Britain, Great Britain (GB) and the British Isles?" (2012)[URL]
- BARRY III, HERBERT, "Three last letters identify most female first names", Psychological reports, 87(1), pp.48~54 (2000)
- BARRY III, HERBERT, "Final letter compared with final phoneme in male and female names", Names, 51(1), pp.13~22 (2003)[DOI]
- CAI, ZHENGUANG G., "The sound of gender: Inferring the gender of names in a foreign language", Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 3(1), pp.63~73 (2019)[DOI]
- CASSIDY, KIMBERLY WRIGHT, "Inferring gender from name phonology", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 128(3), pp.362~381 (1999)
- CHEN, LINDSEY N. H., "Choices and patterns of English names among Taiwanese students", Names, 63(4), pp.200~209 (2015)[DOI]
- CHO, HYESUN, "A maximum-entropy model of phonotactics for Korean male and female names. Studies in Phonetics", Phonology and Morphology, 27(1), pp.99~129 (2021), The Phonology-Morphology Circle of Korea
- CUTLER, ANNE, "Elizabeth and John: sound patterns of men’s and women’s names", Journal of linguistics, 26(2), pp.471~482 (1990)
- HOUGH, CAROLE, "Towards an explanation of phonetic differentiation in masculine and feminine personal names", Journal of linguistics, 36(1), pp.1~11 (2000)
- KIM, JONG-MI, "Phonological trends of gendered names in Korea and the U.S.A", Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 71(3), pp.36~46 (2023)[DOI]
- KIM, JONG-MI, "Vowel phonology of gendered names in linguistically comparable countries : Korea, Bangladesh, Britain, and the United States", Journal of the Korean Linguistic Society, 32(1), pp.93~112 (2024), The Linguistic Association of Korea
- KÖHLER, WOLFGANG, "Gestalt Psychology" (1947), Liveright
- MACKENZIE, LAUREL, "What’s in a name? Teaching linguistics using onomastic data", Language, 94(4), pp.e293~e310 (2018)[DOI]
- MUTSUKAWA, MASAHIKO, "Phonological and semantic gender differences in English and Japanese given names", Onomastics Journal, 14(2), pp.178~192 (2014)
- NEEDLE, JEREMY M., "Gendered associations of English morphology", Laboratory Phonology, 9(1), pp.14~23 (2018)
- NGAI, CHUN HAU, "Sound symbolism in Japanese names: Machine learning approaches to gender classification", PLOS ONE, 19(3), pp.e0297440~ (2024)[DOI]
- "Baby names in England and Wales: From 1996 and top 100 baby names: Historical data"[URL]
- "Top 100 baby names: Historical data"[URL]
- SIDHU, DAVID M., "What’s in a name? Sound symbolism and gender in first names", PLOS ONE, 10(5), pp.e0126809~ (2015)[DOI]
- SLATER, ANNE SAXON, "Gender and the phonology of North American first names", Sex Roles, 13(7-8), pp.429~440 (1985)
- "Popular names by birth year"[URL]
- SULLIVAN, LAURA, "Phonology of gender in English and French given names", Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (2019), University of Toronto Press
- [URL]