Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
[PDF]
Phonological Evolution of Gendered Naming Practices: A Cross-Cultural Analysis from 1880 to 2023
U-ri Go, Jong-mi Kim
ABSTRACT:
Amidst the changing landscape of gender dynamics, the evolution of personal names reflects evolving gender norms, necessitating cross-cultural investigation. This comprehensive study examines the phonological shifts of personal names spanning from 1880 to 2023 across six nations—Korea, Bangladesh, the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia—by exploring gendered naming practices from a feminist perspective. Unlike previous research, this analysis operates on a large scale, encompassing both male- and female-dominant phonologies within diverse linguistic and cultural contexts, spanning various continents across Asia, North America, Europe, and Oceania. The study delineates three distinct cultural areas within each country: national, hyper-urban, and traditional. Employing a systematic approach, a dataset comprising 5,520 names from government records, including the top 20 names per decade, was collected and analyzed in-depth. The results show a statistically significant decrease in the use of masculine-associated final plosives, accompanied by a simultaneous increase in feminine-associated final vowels across all regions studied. Correlation analyses employing Kendall’s tau-b coefficient demonstrate declining rank correlations for final plosives among male names (-0.66 nationally, -0.77 in hyper-urban, and -0.83 in traditional areas), along with increasing correlation trends for final vowels in female names (0.39 nationally, 0.83 in hyper-urban areas, and 0.80 in traditional areas). These results indicate that phonological elements in names reflect broader societal changes, particularly the advancing status of women across diverse cultural regions. Furthermore, the study illuminates the dynamic correlation between onomastic phenomena and feminist movements, offering insights into the intricate interplay of language and culture.
keywords: feminist perspective, gender dynamics, historical trends, name phonology, naming trends, personal names