Gender features of occupational and job titles in the Kazakh language

Abstract

The article examines the relationship between gender and professional activity, as well as manifestations of androcentrism in Kazakh occupational and job titles. The traditional association of fields such as heavy industry, the military, and agriculture with men’s work also influences the linguistic use of occupational terms. The study aims to identify signs of androcentrism in Kazakh occupational and job titles, classify them from a lexical-semantic perspective, and describe their gender-related features in comparison with other languages.

The research material consists of occupational and job titles selected from the “Dictionary of the Kazakh Literary Language”. Quantitative, qualitative, comparative and semantic methods of analysis were employed. The findings indicate that although certain Kazakh terms display signs of androcentrism, gender differentiation is less pronounced than in other languages. In English and Russian, some feminine occupational terms are derived from masculine forms by means of specific suffixes, whereas occupational and job titles in Kazakh are predominantly gender-neutral. For example, although the word “aga” refers to “an older man or an elder brother”, the job title “aga oqytushy” (“senior lecturer”) is used for both women and men.

The findings demonstrate that most occupational terms in Kazakh are gender-neutral, although traces of an androcentric worldview remain in some lexical components. The results can be applied in research on gender linguistics, lexicology, sociolinguistics, and comparative linguistics.

Key words: gender linguistics, androcentrism, occupational titles, job titles, masculinity, Kazakh language.