Colour and gender: language nuances

Isabel Espinosa Zaragoza

doi:10.14198/fem.2021.38.05

Autores/as

Isabel Espinosa Zaragoza Universidad de Alicante, España https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9206-6917

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/fem.2021.38.05

Palabras clave:

Estereotipos de género, Sociolingüística, Terminología de color, Colores, Diferencias de género

Resumen

Es una creencia profundamente arraigada que las mujeres poseen un vocabulario de colores más rico que los hombres (Rich, 1977). Según Lakoff, ciertos adjetivos que denotan color (por ejemplo, malva) nunca serían elegidos espontáneamente por los hombres a menos que estuvieran «imitando sarcásticamente a una mujer, a un homosexual o a un decorador de interiores» (1973, p. 49). ¿Se ajustan estas afirmaciones a nuestra realidad actual? Hoy en día el color está presente en casi todos los sectores económicos. En consecuencia, se espera un uso competente del vocabulario de colores por parte de los profesionales, independientemente de su género. Por lo tanto, si las diferencias en el vocabulario de los colores se aprenden y dependen en gran medida de las necesidades y expectativas del usuario, dichas diferencias después de la globalización y la exposición a Internet no deberían ser tan notables. Con este objetivo en mente, este estudio analiza la elicitación del color realizada por estudiantes universitarios. Tanto su capacidad descriptiva como la disponibilidad de léxico de colores se miden según el uso de los términos de color de los estudiantes. Además, se proporcionan posibles razones para la variación.

Financiación

Vice President for Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Alicante for pre-doctoral training (from 01/01/2019 to 31/12/2021). This research has been carried out with the financing obtained in the aforementioned contract.

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