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Technically and linguistically speaking, "female" is an adjective, and "woman" is a noun. You'd talk about a woman who is a CEO, or a female CEO. Some professio
by jonnathanson 12y ago
Technically and linguistically speaking, "female" is an adjective, and "woman" is a noun. You'd talk about a woman who is a CEO, or a female CEO. Some professions and niches, often in the sciences, use female and male as nouns: i.e., "the female of the species," or "the subject is a Caucasian male, 47." This latter usage is becoming increasingly common, to the point where the exclusively adjectival nature of "male" and "female" is being erased. Meanings and usage are pretty fluid over time.
Of course, words like woman, man, female, and male also have connotations above and beyond their technical parts of speech, such as the connotations Mathilde talks about.
- umanwizard 12y ago"linguistically speaking" words mean whatever native speakers use them to mean... the field of linguistics would be pretty boring if it were about writing down mostly-arbitrary rules for people to follow.
- jonnathanson 12y ago""linguistically speaking" words mean whatever native speakers use them to mean... the field of linguistics would be pretty boring if it were about writing down mostly-arbitrary rules for people to follow." I'm not advocating "mostly-arbitrary rules for people to follow." Just pointing out the technical meanings of both terms. I also pointed out that these meanings are fluid and are changing. Obviously usage is subject to change, and if I came across as opposing that, I didn't mean to. I was just addressing the question implied in the parent comment. I apologize if I gave the wrong impression.
- pessimizer 12y agoYou didn't. Pointing out common usage isn't dictating a Platonic language ideal.
- WaxProlix 12y agoEven if there weren't fluidity, we can still compound nouns all we want in English: `tax`, `income tax`, `income tax return`, `income tax return form`, `income tax return form processor`, `income tax return form processor office`, etc. Not that I think that's what's going on in the article's `woman CEO` examples.
- jonnathanson 12y agoIn a weird way, I've always admired the German method of just smashing words together when they become commonly associated in compound phrases. It creates some long, ungainly mouthfuls. But at least you never have trouble parsing them in a sentence. :)
- philwelch 12y agoTraditionally, as in decades ago, it was actually considered somewhat vulgar to use terms like "male" and "female" to refer to human beings. The term "woman CEO" would have been preferred for that reason. Somehow I like the aesthetic of "woman CEO" over "female CEO" for the same reason. It seems more dignified and humanistic.
- sliverstorm 12y agoRight; "female" and "male" bring to mind animals and base biology. "Woman" and "Man" distinctly separate us from the animal kingdom.
- cyorir 12y agoHence why I tend to use "female" and "male." Mankind is not separate from the animal kingdom. Although I suppose male human and female human are the least ambiguous.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y agoEven these days, many people have a problem with "female". Some people with particularly unsavoury views of women have a particular tendency to use it.