Feminine Identity and Linguistic Ways of Its Expression in the German Language

When designating a female person, the strategy of specifying a gender attribute is usually implemented through formal indicators that are distinguished at the lexical-semantic, grammatical and word-formation levels. Morphological specification of the female gender nomination feature is carried out by adding feminization suffixes. One of the most productive suffixes is the suffix -in, attached to animate masculine nouns. At the grammatical level, specification of the female gender is achieved via the application of the grammatical article or nomination of a person inflections, expressed by nouns with differential gender. Specification of the female gender attribute at the lexical-semantic level is carried out through the use of words whose meaning contains the ‘female gender’ attribute, which can be observed in the nomination of persons functioning as independent lexical units or acting as semi-affixes.