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  1. The phonetic gender score of German first names and pet names : gendered first names versus de-gendered pet names
    Published: 04.09.2018

    In German, female and male first names are strictly segregated: there are two big inventories with the only purpose to separate women and men. Unisex names are extremely seldom. If they are chosen, they have to be followed by a sex-specific middle... more

     

    In German, female and male first names are strictly segregated: there are two big inventories with the only purpose to separate women and men. Unisex names are extremely seldom. If they are chosen, they have to be followed by a sex-specific middle name (e.g. Kim Uwe, Kim Annette). If we look at the phonological components of first names, i.e. at their sounds, we can state that male and female names became more similar over the last decades. Whereas in the 1950's, typical first names such as Katharina and Rolf diverged considering their phonic inventory considerably, today, many girls are named Leah and Lara and many boys Noah and Luca. These names share nearly the same sounds, they consist of two syllables and are stressed on the first one. If we look behind the scenes, it becomes clear that the officially required onomastic separation of the two sexes is undermined. In this paper, I will present a socalled phonetic gender score for German first names for the first time (see also Schmidt-Jüngst in this volume). It allows for measuring a degree of femaleness and maleness of names. In a second step, it will be asked whether unofficial names such as pet names, which are not obliged to mark sex also tend to be gendered or if they disobey the gender barrier. It will be shown that the most intimate names are not interested in stressing the denoted person's sex. In contrast to first names, pet names tend to be maximally de-gendered.

     

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    Content information: free
    Source: CompaRe
    Language: English
    Media type: Part of a book; Part of a book
    Format: Online
    DDC Categories: 410; 830
    Subjects: Rufname; Geschlechterforschung; Soziolinguistik; Namenkunde; Vorname; Phonologie
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    publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/home/index/help

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    info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

  2. From Christel to Christina, from Klaus to Nico : a diachronic study of German first names (1945-2010) and their shift towards the syllable language type
    Published: 04.09.2018

    German underwent a typological change from a syllable language in Old High German towards a word language today (Szczepaniak 2007). Proper names followed this development until the last century (cf. Christel, Gertrud, Klaus, Wolfgang). Some of the... more

     

    German underwent a typological change from a syllable language in Old High German towards a word language today (Szczepaniak 2007). Proper names followed this development until the last century (cf. Christel, Gertrud, Klaus, Wolfgang). Some of the most popular German first names from 2010, however, such as Mia, Lea, Leon, Noah, show completely different structures compared to common nouns. In sharp contrast to common nouns, first names dispose of CV-structures, full vowels in unstressed syllables and different accent positions. Thus, there must have been a deep-rooted onomastic change. The most frequent baby names of 1945 were still in harmony with the usual word structures. This article shows that the decrease of transgenerational transmission of first names led to a departure fom native phonological structures. The following factors are analyzed: the number of syllables; accent position; and the number of consonant clusters, hiatuses, schwa and unstressed full vowels. It will be demonstrated that the phonological distance between first names (particularly female names) and common nouns has increased over time and that there is an increasing tendency for names to contain syllable language structures. Thus, a typological difference developed between these two nominal classes. The reason behind this change can be found in the individualizing function of proper names and social individualization over time.

     

    Export to reference management software
    Content information: free
    Source: CompaRe
    Language: English
    Media type: Part of a book; Part of a book
    Format: Online
    DDC Categories: 410; 830
    Subjects: Vorname; Namengebung; Sprachwandel; Silbe; Phonologie
    Rights:

    publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/home/index/help

    ;

    info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess