SCIENTIFIC SERIES
“COGNITIVE STUDIES OF LANGUAGE”
Author: E. A. Chernyshova
Abstract:
In this article cognitive roots of gender categorization are under discussion. English gender categorization involves the three classes – masculine, feminine, and neutral. One of the main peculiarities of the natural classification of the gender is its dependence on the sphere of physical and socio-cultural experience. Extra-linguistic factors may change natural categorization based on sex. Two main gender classes –masculine and feminine are organized on the principle of identity around the concepts MAN and WOMAN, and consequently changing socio-cultural ideas about the masculine and feminine in the society may cause the change in the structures of the gender classes. The further research of gender categorization requires a conceptual analysis of the main gender categories.
Keywords: the concepts MAN and WOMAN, semantic content of the third person pronouns, categories, prototype, cognitive indications