Medieval heresy as a space for liberation? Investigating the association of verbs with gendered actants in registers of the medieval inquisition

KOTZÉ, Gideon and David ZBÍRAL. Medieval heresy as a space for liberation? Investigating the association of verbs with gendered actants in registers of the medieval inquisition. In 67th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association, 15-18 June 2023, The Republic of South Africa. 2023.

Basic information

• Original name: Medieval heresy as a space for liberation? Investigating the association of verbs with gendered actants in registers of the medieval inquisition
• Authors: KOTZÉ, Gideon and David ZBÍRAL.
• Edition: 67th Annual Conference of the International Linguistic Association, 15-18 June 2023, The Republic of South Africa, 2023.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: conference website
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords (in Czech): ženy aktérky; genderovaný jazyk; lingvistika; latina; inkviziční záznamy
• Keywords in English: male and female agency; gendered language; linguistics; Latin; inquisition records
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Corpus research on verbs connected to gendered actants (persons or groups) can reveal patterns of interaction indicative of either the gendered character of human actions or, often, gender stereotypes of writers. Language can also reveal challenging the assigned gender roles and involvement in political or religious dissent. To inquire into what indications language provides of challenging gender stereotypes, we look into Latin-language medieval inquisition records from heresy trials and study differences between male and female agency. In an attempt to empirically test Marxist accounts of medieval heresy as a space for comparative liberation of the suppressed, we focus on medieval women, whose access to some institutions and resources in medieval Christianity was limited, and look at the gendered patterns of agency as signalled by the verbs.

Links

• 101000442, interní kód MU: Name: Networks of Dissent: Computational Modelling of Dissident and Inquisitorial Cultures in Medieval Europe (Acronym: DISSINET)

Investor: European Union, ERC (Excellent Science)