The roots of Markedness Theory can be traced back to Nikolai Trubetskoy’s book, The Principles of Phonology. While it was first developed to analyze the elements of phoneme, it is now widely used in various fields of linguistic study. The basis of Markedness Theory is the identification of linguistic elements as being either marked or unmarked.

Unmarked elements are more basic, natural and frequently used than marked ones. They are linguistic components that are generally considered positive or neutral, while marked ones are frequently related to implied if not explicitly stated negative meaning. Sexism in the English language can be clearly reflected in the asymmetric use of vocabulary, so Markedness Theory is a particularly well-suited for analyzing and exposing the asymmetry between masculine and feminine expressions.

There are three types of marking: formal marking, distributional marking, and semantic marking. Formal marking is based on intrinsic features of the grammar of the language itself. Take for example that in English, in a pair of gender-opposite nouns, masculine ones are unmarked whereas feminine ones are marked with the added affixes of -ess, -ette, or -rix, which may frequently denote insignificance and humbleness. The words actor and actress demonstrate such marking. In this way, feminine nouns are often treated as derivations of masculine nouns.

Distributive marking refers to differences in distribution and frequency of occurrence. Masculine nouns are not only used to refer to men but also function as generic nouns, while feminine nouns are more limited in their distribution. For example: chairman, businessman, salesman can be used to refer to both men and women, but chairwomen, businesswoman, saleswomen are only used to refer to women. The former is unmarked, while the latter is marked. From a psycho-sociopolitical view as one sociolinguist put it, “she represents a woman but he is mankind. If she enters mankind she loses herself to be he.” While masculine pronouns can be used to denote both genders or someone whose gender is unknown, feminine pronouns can only refer to women.

In semantic marking, masculine nouns are neutral and generic, often associated with positive and affirmative meanings, while feminine nouns are used in more specific, narrow, and often negative ways. Though both bachelor and spinster refer to an unmarried person, bachelors are often regarded as free-minded, happy-go-lucky types while the use of spinster gives the impression of a peculiar, old, likely unhappy woman.

Semantic marking can also be found in semantic degradation or derogation. Many neutral or even positive terms used to describe male sexual behavior when applied to females become highly sexually derogatory. Another example is how many semantically marked feminine nouns denote not only specific occupations or positions but also marital status (ambassadress, countess, empress etc.) which their male analogs do not.

A practical application of these tools can be seen in the examination of news reports concerning female and male politicians. Such an approach can reveal the sexism inherent in news language. Using a vertical, diachronic study of the markedness phenomenon during the period of 1914-2014, and a horizontal, synchronic study of the modes of speech reporting on Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton in the 2008 US Presidential Election, several preliminary findings have come to light.

The synchronic study suggests that the modes of speech reporting which are manipulated by reporters may give male politicians more discourse power. The diachronic study of markedness phenomena indicates the development and change of the sexism in vocabulary: though the English language is sexist in itself, positive changes are taking place with the raised awareness of gender equality.

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