not another article on 'gender'

[Oana Girjan]

       Dear All,

    I am Oana Girjan, research student at Abo Akademi, Finland. Lately I
have turned my attention to the construal of ?gender? (not in its
grammatical sense, but in its sociological sense) in the grammar of
daily language, i.e. the way 'gender' as a lexical item in itself has
appropriated new grammatical categories throughout the decades of its
use. I have been looking at the evolution of 'gender' from Thing (noun),
Quality (adjective) to Process (verb). To my mind, this evolution finds
an explanation in the evolving understanding of the concept of ?gender?
in the different areas of research.
Concomitantly, I am interested in how other languages express the notion
of 'gender'. Do they have a term of their own, does 'gender' appear in
parallel with that term, how has the term 'gender'been adopted or
adapted by other languages?

    In this respect, I would like to ask you about any material/work on
the issue: the way 'gender' as a word functions (not about the notion's
meanings, theories, understandings).

    Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation. Look
forward to your feedback.

    My regards,


Oana Girjan
Research Student
Abo Akademi,Finland
http://www.gender-studies.privat.t-online.de/