Communicating Gender in Slovak and Czech: Evaluations Based on Behavior and Life Style

This study explores exceptions to symmetrical linguistic encoding of maleness and femaleness in the semantic category Evaluations based on one's behavior and life style. In particular, the mapping of lexical gaps onto the system of nominal lexicon is discussed. The analysis focuses on Slovak data obtained from Krátky slovník slovenského jazyka (Concise Dictionary of the Slovak Language) and - when applicable - contrasts them against Dickins's findings on Czech animate nouns. While ideological ramifications of the interrelation between grammatical gender, linguistic androcentrism, and societal sexist assumptions are not the primary goal of this article, they are considered and discussed when relevant.