Gender of the names of professions

Sažetak

In the Russian language masculine names of professions and jobs are used when refered to females in formal style. There is a limited group of nouns that can form twin feminine names used in neutral style. Feminine names of professions and jobs with the help of the suffixes –ша, -ха, -лка, -чка are used in informal style and contain some shade of scorn. From the end of the twentieth century the research in gender linguistics has been developing rapidly dealing with the problems of the relations between gender  and a language. Gender linguistics tries to explain why the masculine  predominates in the professional terminology and makes an attempt to change the rule. Names of professions and jobs in the Russian language are formed with the help of suffixes as well as by adoption from other languages.