Gender and Language Ideologies in Russian: Exploring Linguistic Stereotypes and Politeness Evaluations

Language ideologies about gendered linguistic behaviour are crucial in shaping expectations and metapragmatic judgements on politeness. This study focused on how gender and language ideologies reinforce normative assumptions about the relationship between gender and (im)politeness and at the same time influence individuals’ perception of (im)politeness. Based on data collected from 251 respondents through online questionnaires administered between July 2024 and January 2025, the study investigated whether certain linguistic choices tend to be stereotypically associated with a particular gender and if the same utterance is evaluated differently depending on whether it is attributed to a man or a woman. Participants’ responses revealed systematic associations between linguistic forms and perceived gender, indicating that direct requests were more often linked to male speakers, while indirect or mitigated forms were associated with female speakers. Findings also showed that in 17 out of 19 cases, the same utterance was rated as more polite when attributed to a woman, suggesting that among Russian-speaking participants politeness was not only expected from women but also more readily perceived in their speech, reinforcing existing gender ideologies and stereotypes.