Tegn på språklig kjønnsdiskriminering i norsk og polsk

The aim of this article is to discuss the phenomenon called linguistic sexism, i.e. a lack of symmetry between the sexes in a language. The focus lies on comparing Norwegian and Polish, which with regard to feminist language reform follow two different strategies for a more inclusive use of language. While Norwegian speakers aim at replacing gender-marked forms with gender-neutral ones, in Polish there is a clear tendency to differentiate between nouns referring to men and women in order to increase the visibility of the latter. The article outlines how the lack of symmetry between the sexes in both languages is manifested in various areas, such as generic use of masculine forms, word formation of gender-related nouns, lexical gaps in the case of women together with titles and address forms.