Cover not available
Part of
Gender, Language and the Periphery: Grammatical and social gender from the margins
Edited by Julie Abbou and Fabienne H. Baider
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 264] 2016
► pp. 285–322

“Moldovan” and feminist language politics

Two distinct peripheral linguistic markets

The notion of “peripheral linguistic market” accounts for linguistic practice common to a non-dominant group of speakers with endogene rules that are set up in opposition to the “official linguistic market”, yet dependent on them. Against this background, the practice of Moldovan / Romanian and antisexist linguistic practices can be considered as distinct peripheral markets that hardly interact with each other. Explanations for the absence of antisexist linguistic practices and research on language and gender in Moldova could start from this hypothesis. Despite its inflectional complexity and conservative linguistic practices, the grammatical structure of Romanian/Moldovan offers multiple opportunities for anti-sexist interventions. However, research has shown that becoming aware of the multiple dimensions of grammatical gender in Romanian/Moldovan is a challenge, even for speakers with elaborated registers and metalinguistic knowledge. Examples of feminization and double gendering strategies developed by participants in an experimental workshop are presented and discussed in this article.
Keywords: feminism antisexist linguistic practices, linguistic insecurity, linguistic market, Romanian / Moldovan, Russian
Published online: 16 December 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.264.11wei
References (82)
Laws
Parlamentul. 2012. Lege Nr. 121 din 25.05.2012 cu privire la asigurarea egalităţii.
Literature
Abbou, Julie. 2011. “Double gender marking in French. A linguistic practice of antisexism.” Current Issues in Language Planning 12 (1): 55–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arslanoğlu, Ayşe. 2011. “Stolz und Vorurteil. Markierungspolitiken in den Gender Studies und anderswo.” Outside the box. Zeitschrift für feministische Gesellschaftskritik 2 (revised edition). [URL]Google Scholar
Beks, Marteen, and Olga Graur. 2006. “Cultural Politics in Moldova, undermining the transition?” Transitions XLV(2): 17–41. <[URL]> (Accessed: July 31st, 2013)Google Scholar
Beyrer, Arthur, Klaus Bochmann, and Siegfried Bronsert. 1987. Grammatik der rumänischen Sprache der Gegenwart. Leipzig: Verl. Enzyklopädie.Google Scholar
Biroul Naţional de Statistică al Republicii Moldova. 2004. Femeile şi bărbaţii în Republica Moldova. Culegere statistică. Women and men in the Republic of Moldova. Statistical collection. Chişinău: Editura Statistica.Google Scholar
Biroul Naţional de Statistică. 2008. Migraţia Forţei de Muncã. Chişinău: Statistica Moldovei. [URL]Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan. 2003. “Commentary. A Sociolinguistics of Globalization.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 7 (4): 607–623. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bochmann, Klaus. 2012. “Die Staatssprache – “Moldauisch“ oder “Rumänisch“?” In Die Republik Moldau. Ein Handbuch, ed. by Klaus Bochmann, 609–616. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag.Google Scholar
Bodrug-Lungu, Valentina. 2011. “Gendering Higher Eductaion Curricula at Moldova State University.” In From Gender Studies to Gender IN Studies. Case Studies on Gender-Inclusive Curriculum in Higher Education, ed. by Laura Grünberg, 73–102. Bucharest: UNESCO-CEPES Studies on Higher Education. [URL]Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1982. Ce que parler veut dire. L’économie des échanges linguistiques. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
. 1983. “Vous avez dit “populaire”?” Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 46: 98–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre, and Luc Boltanski. 1975. “Le fétichisme de la langue.” Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 1(4): 2–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boyer, Henri. 2001. Introduction à la sociolinguistique. Paris: Dunod.Google Scholar
. 2006. “Le nationalisme linguistique: une option interventionniste face aux conceptions liberals du marché des langues.” Noves SL. Reviste de Sociolinguistica: online [URL]Google Scholar
Bruchis, Michael. 1984. “The Language Policy of the CPSU and the linguistic situation in Soviet Moldova.” Soviet Studies 36(1): 108–126. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bussmann, Hadumod. 1995. “Das Genus, die Grammatik und – der Mensch: Geschlechterdifferenz in der Sprachwissenschaft.” In Genus. Zur Geschlechterdifferenz in den Kulturwissenschaften, ed. by Hadumod Bussmann, 114–161. Stuttgart: Kröner.Google Scholar
Butuc, Petru. 2012. “Caracterul nociv al bilinguismului scris în Republica Moldova.” In Studii de gramatică şi istorie a limbii române literare, ed. by Petre Butuc. Chişinău: Tipografia Centrală. (originally published in Limba română XIII(11–12) 2003) http://limbaromana.md/index.php?go=articole&n=2208Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah. 1992. Feminism and Linguistic Theory 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(ed). 1998. The feminist critique of language. A reader 2nd edition. London; New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cantarji, Vasile. 2006. “Dimensiunea de gen în viaţa socială. Aspecte de imagine.” In Barometrul de gen 2006. Republica Moldova. Rezultatele şi studii în baza sondajului de opinie, ed. by Centrul “Partenariat pentru Dezvoltare”, 87–111. Chişinău: Editura Arc.Google Scholar
Cîrstocea, Ioana. 2007. “Usages du ‘genre’ à l’Université : sur l’institutionnalisation des études féministes en Roumanie.” Genre & Histoire 107: online [URL]Google Scholar
Ciscel, Matthew H. 2007. The Language of the Moldovans. Lanham: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
CIVIS, and IASCI. 2010. Strengthening the Link between Migration and Development in Moldova (prepared for World Bank within Migration and Remittance Peer-Assisted Learning Network (MIRPAL)), Chişinău: s.p. [URL]Google Scholar
Colesnic, Iurie. 2000. “Femei din Moldova.” Enciclopedie. Chişinău: Museum.Google Scholar
Condrea, Irina. 2007a. “Argoul basarabean în stradă şi în presă.” In Studii de sociolingvistică, ed. by Irina Condrea, 126–135. Chişinău: USM. (originally published in Limba română XVII(1–3)) http://limbaromana.md/index.php?go=articole&n=903Google Scholar
. 2007b. “Un sociolect în condiţiile glotice basarabene.” In Studii de sociolingvistică, ed. by Irina Condrea, 21–31. Chişinău: USM. (originally published in Limba română 2001(9–12)).Google Scholar
Daniliuc, Laura, and Radu Daniliuc. 2000. Descriptive Romanian Grammar. An outline. München: Lincom Europa.Google Scholar
Diaconescu, Constanţa Rodica, and María Luisa Rivero. 2005. “An Applicative Analysis of Double Object Propositions in Romanian.” In Proceedings of the 2005 Canadian Linguistics Association Annual Conference, ed. by Claire Gurski, [URL]Google Scholar
Doleschal, Ursula, and Sonja Schmid. 2001. “Doing Gender in Russian. Structure and Perspective.” In Gender Across Languages. The linguistic representation of women and men vol. 1, ed. by Marlis Hellinger and Hadumod Bussman, 253–282, Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dyer, Donald. 1999. The Romanian Dialect of Moldova. A study in language and politics. Lewiston: Lampeter.Google Scholar
Eickhoff, Birgit. 2012. “Frauen in den Duden”. In Werkstattbericht I aus der Dudenredaktion, Genderlinguistik. Sprachliche Konstruktionen von Geschlechtsidentität, ed. by Susanne Günthner, 195–211, Berlin; Boston: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Enachi, Valentina. 2011. “Republica Moldova şi mişcarea feministă. Stereotipurile din mass-media: între est şi vest.” In Femeia, un argument al libertăţii, ed. by Elena Prus, and Iurie Colesnic, 29–37. Chişinău: Prut Internaţional.Google Scholar
Erfurt, Jürgen. 2001. “Unsere Sprache ist verschmutzt und verdorben. Sprachliche Ideologien und Konflikte in der Republik Moldova.” In Minorities and language Policy. Minderheiten und Sprachpolitik, Minorités et l’aménagement linguistique, ed. by Peter Nelde, and Rosita Rindler-Schjerve, 193–200. St. Augustin: Asgard.Google Scholar
Erfurt, Jürgen and, Anna-Christine Weirich. 2013. “Sprachliche Dynamik in der Republik Moldova.” In Sprachkontakt, Sprachvariation, Migration: Methodenfragen und Prozessanalysen vol. 2, ed. by Thomas Stehl, Claudia Schlaak, and Lena Busse, 302–332. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Francard, Michel. 1997. “Insécurité linguistique.” In Sociolinguistique. Concepts de base, ed. by Marie-Louise Moreau, 170–176. Sprimont: Mardaga.Google Scholar
Gender-Centru. 2007. Raport. Monitorizarea implementării Legii cu privire la asigurarea egalităţii de şanse între femei şi bărbaţii şi a Planului naţional “Promovarea egalităţii genurilor umane în societate pentru perioda 2006–2009”. Chişinău: CEP USM.Google Scholar
Ghodsee, Kristen. 2004. “Feminism-by-design. Emerging Capitalisms, Cultural Feminism, and Women’s Nongovernemntal Organizations in Postsocialist Eastern Europe.” Signs. Journal of Women in Culture and Society 29(3): 727–753. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haarmann, Harald. 1996. “Moldawien.” In Kontaktlinguistik / Contact Linguistics / Linguistique de contact. Ein internationales Handbuch zeitgenössischer Forschung / An International Handbook of Contemporary Research / Manuel international des recherches contemporaines vol. 2, ed. by Hand Goebl, Hans-Peter Nelde, and Zdenek Starý, 1933–1941. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Heise, Elke. 2000. “Sind Frauen mitgemeint? Eine empirische Untersuchung zum Verständnis des generischen Maskulinums und seiner Alternativen.” Sprache und Kognition – Zeitschrift für Sprach- & Kognitionspsycholgie und ihre Grenzgebiete 19(1/2): 3–13.Google Scholar
Heitmann, Klaus. 1989. “206. Rumänisch: Moldauisch.” In Lexikon der romanistischen Linguistik, vol. 3 (Die einzelnen romanischen Sprachen und Sprachgebiete von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart. Rumänisch, Dalmatisch/Istroromanisch, Friaulisch, Ladinisch, Bündnerromanisch), ed. by Günter Holtus, 508–521. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Horn, Denise. 2006. “Constructing Agency? US foreign funding and gender identity in Moldovan civil society.” Transitions 45 (2): 203–222.Google Scholar
. 2010. “Constructing Agency. Civil Society and Gender Identity in Moldova.” In Women, Civil Society and the Geopolitics of Democratization, ed. by Denise Horn, 61–77, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
hornscheidt, lann. 2012. feministische w_orte. Ein lern-, denk- und handlungsbuch zu sprache und diskriminierung, gender studies und feministischer linguistic. Frankfurt am Main: Brandes & Apsel.Google Scholar
Jitaru, Valentin. 2012. Dicționar de greșeli uzuale. Chişinău: Tip. Cen.Google Scholar
King, Charles. 1999. The Moldovans. Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture. Stanford: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Lipovskaya, Olga. 1997. “Women’s groups in Russia.” In Post-Soviet Women. From the Baltic to Central Asia, ed. by Mary Buckely, 186–200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lüder, Elsa. 1989. “Rumänisch: Sprache und Geschlechter / Langue et sexes.” In Lexikon der romanistischen Linguistik vol. 3 (Die einzelnen romanischen Sprachen und Sprachgebiete von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart. Rumänisch, Dalmatisch/Istroromanisch, Friaulisch, Ladinisch, Bündnerromanisch), ed. by Günter Holtus, 209–216. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Manea, Constantin. 2011. “Further aspects of gender marking in English and Romanian.” In Studii de gramatică contrastivă 16: 53–67. [URL]Google Scholar
Manessy, Gabriel. 1997. “Norme endogène.” In Sociolinguistique. Concepts de base, ed. by. Marie-Louise Moreau, 223–225. Sprimont: Mardaga.Google Scholar
Maurice, Florence. 2001. “Deconstructing gender – The case of Romanian.” In Gender Across Languages. The Linguistic Representation of Men and Women vol. 1, ed. by Marlis Hellinger, and Hadumod Bussman, 229–252. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miroiu, Mihaela. 2004. “State men, market women. The effects of left conservatism on gender politics in Romanian transition.” Feminismo 3: 207–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2007. “Communism Was a State Patriarchy, Not State Feminism.” Aspasia . International yearbook of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Women’s and Gender History 1(1): 197–201.Google Scholar
Moraru, Violeta. 2006. “Viaţa privată a femeii din republica Moldova. Percepţii, realităţi şi aspiraţii.” In Barometrul de gen 2006. Republica Moldova. Rezultatele şi studii în baza sondajului de opinie, ed. by Centrul „Partenariat pentru Dezvoltare“, 112–130. Chişinău: Editura Arc.Google Scholar
Muchnik, Malka. 2016. “Trying to change a gender-marked language Classical vs. Modern Hebrew.” In Gender, Language and the Periphery. Grammatical and social gender from the margins, ed. by Julie Abbou and Fabienne Baider, 25–46. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Loughlin, John. 2000. “Ordering the ‘Crush Zone’. Geopolitical Games in Post-Cold War Eastern Europe.” In Geopolitics at the end of the twentieth century, ed. by Nurit Kliot, and David Newman, 34–56. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Oulios, Miltiadis. 2013. Blackbox Abschiebung. Geschichten und Bilder von Leuten, die gerne geblieben wären. Berlin: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Parlamentul European / Unitatea de traducere română. 2009. “Limbajul neutru din punct de vedere al genului (non-sexist) în parlamentul European”. Buletin terminologic şi normative 11, [URL]Google Scholar
Pop, Liana. 2000. Româna cu sau fără profesor. Cluj: Echinox.Google Scholar
Rinnert, David. 2013. Die Republik Moldau in der Östlichen Partnerschaft. Vom, Musterschüler’ zum ‚Sorgenkind’? Berlin: FES [URL]Google Scholar
Rozental, Ditmar El’iashevich. 1997. “§ 146.3 Rod nazvanii lits zhenskovo pola po professii, dolzhnosti i t.d.” In Spravochnik po pravopisaniiu I stilistike. St. Petersburg: s.p. [URL]Google Scholar
Schmidtke, Oliver, and Constantin Chira-Pascanut. 2008. “The promise of Europe. Moldova and the process of Europeanization.” In Europe’s Last Frontier? Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine between Russia and the European Union, ed. by Oliver Schmidtke, and Serhy Yekelchyk, 133–156. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Stati, Vasile. 2008. “Pentru Limba Noastră Moldovenească”. Studiu istoric sociolingvistic. Chişinău: Tipografia Centrală.Google Scholar
. 2010. “Limba ţării mele”. Studiu lingvistic comparative. Chişinău: Tipografia Centrală.Google Scholar
. 2011. Dicţionar moldovenesc-român. Ediţia a II-a revăzută şi completată, Chişinău: Tipografia AŞM.Google Scholar
Tishkov, Valery. 1997. Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in and After the Soviet Union: The Mind Aflame. Thousand Oaks: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ungureanu, Elena (ed). 2005. Democraţia la feminin. Istoria verbală. Chişinău: I.E.P. Ştiinţa.Google Scholar
Usha, K.B. 2005. “Political Empowerment of Women in Soviet Union and Russia. Ideology and Implementation.” International Studies 42(2): 141–165. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vremiș, Maria, and Viorica Craievschi-Toartă. 2012. Extended Migration Profile of the Republic of Moldova (Prepared for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)). Chişinău: s.p. [URL]Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 2004. World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Weirich, Anna-Christine. 2015. “Einige Gedanken zu aktuellen Entwicklungen des Glottonymstreits in der Republik Moldova.” Quo vadis Romania? 46: 106–129. [URL]Google Scholar
Internet sources
Asociaţia Presei Independente (API). 2013. Atelier de lucru la tema autoevaluării prin prisma dimensiunii de gen [URL] (Accessed: June 12th, 2013)Google Scholar
Biroul Naţional de Statistică, Recenzamîntul Populaţiei. 2004. Populaţia după naţionalităţile de bază, limba maternă şi limba în care vorbeşte de obicei. [URL] (Accessed: February 15th, 2012).
Directoarea „Artico” se apără şi, în acelaşi timp, minte, [URL] (Accessed: May 15th, 2013).
Feminisierung des Moldauischen? [URL] (Accessed: July 29th, 2013)
Frunza, Alisa. 2013. Femei din Moldova, [URL] (Accessed: July 29th, 2013)Google Scholar
Henry, Vincent. 2012. “Moldavie. Vers une identité multiple enfin assumée?” Revue regard sur est 15.02. [URL] (Accessed: August 1st, 2013)Google Scholar
Linguri, Marco. 2015. Potentiale gendersensibler Sprache im Rumänischen, [URL] (Accessed: April 20th, 2015)
Ministerul educaţiei al republicii Moldova: despre minister, [URL] vs. [URL] (Accessed: May 20th, 2013)
Ministerul educaţiei al republicii Moldova: despre minister, [URL] (Accessed: May 20th, 2013)
Ministerul educaţiei al Republicii Moldova: Informaţii de contact, [URL] (Accessed: May 20th, 2013)
Plamadeala, Igor. 2012. Viceministrul educaţiei la Ialoveni, [URL] (Accessed: May 20th, 2013)