Gender in society and the grammar: The cycle of representativeness and frequency in Brazilian Portuguese

Raquel Meister Ko. Freitag

doi:10.7557/1.14.3.8202

Authors

Raquel Meister Ko. Freitag Universidade Federal de Sergipe https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4972-4320

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/1.14.3.8202

Keywords:

Processing linguistic variation, gender, frequency of usage, representativeness

Abstract

This paper explores the interaction between language and society by proposing an approach through the processing of linguistic variation. Drawing on societal evidence and recent empirical studies in Brazilian Portuguese, it demonstrates how grammatical gender rules are perceived and encoded. The examination of gender agreement rules, exemplified by the choice between presidente and presidenta, along with results from gender noun frequency studies and the association between gender in society and reference in two-gender common nouns, supports the proposal of a cycle of gender representativeness and frequency in society and its effect on the encoding of grammar rules, reinforcing the mutually constitutive nature of language and society.

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