Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language

Amelioration, the opposite of pejoration, is when a word gains positive associations over time. The author defines amelioration in her discussion of pejoration to help the reader understand these two opposite kinds of semantic change. While many gendered terms associated with women undergo pejoration, Montell argues that many masculine-associated terms undergo amelioration.

Genderlect is a combination of the word “gender” and “dialect.” Montell uses this term to refer to how women and men communicate when in same-sex groups. Men’s and women’s communication tends to differ more sharply when communicating with the same gender, and Montell explains that linguists call this phenomenon “genderlects.”

Grammatical gender refers to language systems that use gendered nouns and pronouns for everything, not just men and women. For instance, French and Italian have grammatical gender.

Montell uses grammatical gender as an example of how languages can have sexist bias entrenched in the very framework of the language itself, making it difficult to assert women’s political equality and lived experiences through language. For example, she points out that the words for many prestigious professions are masculine in French, while caretaking roles, such as nursing or being a servant, are feminine, which can reinforce sexist notions about gender roles and “women’s work.