Abstrakt
In this paper I discuss a common argument put forward by the feminist movement and present in academic publications in the field of gender and language studies. Based on the assumption that language is not a transparent means of communication, the argument states that a patriarchal worldview is embedded in linguistic structure of Polish and other languages. This leads some feminist activists to advocating language change that would alter certain elements of linguistic structure in an attempt to eradicate the perceived bias. I argue that the feminist argument is based on a debatable interpretation of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that does not take into consideration recent developments in the field, notably the theory of language ideologies. I conclude that for a scientific investigation of values allegedly carried by language, it is necessary to go beyond the study of linguistic structure alone and incorporate methods of other social sciences that will allow us to grasp the social context from which language cannot be ultimately separated.Bibliografia
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