Krashovani Gender Specific Language in the Middle of 20th Century: A Discourse Analysis of an Untypical Female Narrative

Abstract

“Women gaining a voice” is a social, political, but also linguistic phenomenon. The 1950s was a time of serious social changes in many parts of Europe, including the Balkans. These processes also affected the Krashovani people – an isolated Slavic community whose members have lived in the Romanian Banat for centuries. Analysing a special narrative which I recorded in the village of Carașova, I demonstrate how the change of power paradigms influenced the way local women understand their fate (associated in many ways with marriage) and how they talk about it. This article also touches upon some aspects of the researcher’s work in relatively closed rural communities in South-East Europe.