Rektorka, dziekana, kanclerka. Masculine and feminine terms for women employed at universities in the light of a questionnaire study

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to examine the use of feminine and masculine names of functions, positions and scholarly degrees by female teachers employed at universities. The data were obtained in a questionnaire study carried out towards the end of 2020 and administered to 228 women from 15 Polish universities. The respondents declare a more frequent use of masculine than feminine forms, in formal language in particular, employ more often already existing feminitives than new derivatives and accept more willingly new nouns with the -ka suffix than those derived through a change in the inflectional paradigm. Masculine forms are used predominantly by the respondents with the Master’s degree and full professors, less frequently by those with the doctoral and postdoctoral degrees. The shorter the period of the participants’ employment at the university, the more feminine terms they use. The reverse also holds true – the longer period of employment means a decrease in the use of feminitives and an increase of masculine forms.