Are gendered terms inference-loaded? Evidence from Greek talk-in-interaction

Abstract

The present study examines the relation between referential indexing of gender and speakers’ cognition in instances of gendered noticing in Greek talk-in-interaction, drawing on audio recordings of informal conversations as data and on conversation analysis as method. Gendered noticing occurs after actions that invoke specific presuppositions about gender, such as the norm of heterosexuality and stereotypes regarding ‘typical’ feminine and masculine attributes and behaviour. Speakers deploy gendered terms to attend to gender as a relevant aspect of context, and to position the self and others as women or men. It is shown that via gendered noticing, speakers uncover their covert assumptions about social gender and bring their conceptualisations of gender to the ‘surface’.