Q 2. Write a comprehensive note on Jakobson’s theory of Markedness. 16.

Answer: Background

To begin with, there are serval theories available for the study of language which are collectively
regarded as the ‘linguistic Theories’. Likewise, the qualitative theory of markedness discusses
the oppositional binary relations. The term ‘markedness’ was first proposed in the domain of
phonology, which is the study of speech sounds however, as further studies were conducted, it
expended to syntax and morphology. The theory of Markedness inculpates the different concepts
of linguistics but became the center of studies in 20th and 21st centuries. The first one to coin this
theory was N.S Trubetzkoy who highlighted that the property of marked is in accordance to
makrer-carrier. Later on, Roman Jakobson, studied the proponents of markedness and is of the
view that some linguistics structures have physiological cost greater than the others.

Introduction
In the theory of Markedness discussed that phoneme are, in actual, a bundle of various distinct
features which can be marked as an assigned value can be allotted to it which can be either
positive or negative. For instance, the /b/ sound is a marked voice as it is voiced sound, while, /p/
sound is unmarked as it is a voiceless sound. These marking and unmarking is also done in
morphology as the simple verb form of present tense is usually considered as marked one, on the
flip side, the past form which is generated by adding a suffix of –ed, is unmarked.

In the early 1930s, Roman Jakobson proposed the fact that markedness can be applied to all
opposition such as life and death, right and left etc. According to him markedness is to be
presumed on universal level. The main concept is that certain linguistic elements are difficult in
nature, rare to find and irregular than the others. Such things should be marked and must stand in
opposition to the unmarked forms. For instance, male is unmarked and female is considered as
marked; which is, undoubtedly, true for all the languages’ grammar. To put it simple, the
masculine gender is loin and one needs to add a suffix –ess to make it into a feminine gender;
lioness.

Marked and Unmarked terms:

While discussing the theory of markedness, it is essential to understand the terms associated with
it which are, marked and unmarked. These two terms have a very useful role in the analysis of
gender based study in language. As aforementioned, while considering sociological view, gender
equality can be explained, however, the connotation of the words allows to understand the
double-standard between men and women. Another example of gender based markedness can be,
the change occurred on morphological levels that results due the change of suffix which is
needed for changing the gender of the male oriented words into a female form such as the word
such as:
‘Master, is converted into ‘mistress’.
 On the other hand, there are certain words that are gender neutral but due to their connotations,
they are regarded as female form words. Thus, using such terms with the feminine pronouns is
not considered sexist rather these words are marked terms. Additionally, in terms of linguistic
typology, the difference in the frequency of the relative structure can be considered for
markedness too. Furthermore, this markedness expends as follows
Various Kinds of Markings on Words
In language, there are various words. some of which are considered as marked terms, while
others are known to be unmarked. The marked terms are those root words that have the ability to
take up any affixes like suffixes and prefixes. This addition of an affix with a root word conveys
an additional meaning to the word.
Plurality: In English, there are singular words and plural terms. The single terms tend to refer to
the word which are individual in nature for example: car, pencil, etc. the plural of these words
are, generally, generated by adding a suffix to it such as, a suffixes –s or –es is attached to the
nouns or the spellings are to be changed. So to say, the words:
Car becomes Cars
Pencil becomes Pencils
Tense: Tenses are main structure of language which determine the time notion. It is essential to
know that suffixes play a predominant role is the making of tenses. Every tense has a rule, for
instance, while making past tense, the suffixes –ed or –d is added for the past form.
I worked hard for the exam.
Case: likewise, in situations where the ownership is to be represented, one needs to add ‘s or an
apostrophe. This is also considered as a marked term as it is added to the root word to enhance
the meaning.
The rabbit’s cage
Superlatives: similarly, in English language, the adjectives are used for comparing one thing
with the another. These are known as the degree of adjectives
for instance: young, younger and youngest.
Usually, the marked are the superlative degrees as they are denoted with a suffix.
Polarity: words which are antonyms or the opposite words are commonly made by adding a
prefix with them,
Example: complete and incomplete.
These words are to be marked words while the others are unmarked.
Drawbacks of Markedness Theory
As elaborated by Jakobson, the terms can be marked or unmarked. However, the linguists have
raised certain questions to these assumptions. First and foremost, the differences are not
measured. Although, the example of the /b/ and /p/ is considered yet no one has yet been able to
exhibit the physiological cost. Secondly, the markedness and the level of frequency are tangled
inseparably as no one can distinguish between which is the cause and which is, in actual, the
effect. Thirdly, the assumption is that it is not possible to just limit the native language frame for
judgement. Thus the linguists are of the opine that it is nearly impossible to suggests whether the
phoneme is hard to utter due to physiological cost or does it happens due to not enough of
practice. Moreover, the three apparent drawbacks of this theory are: (1) diagnostics markedness,
at times, does not function properly. (2) items that are marked are often favored. (3) the
distinctions of markedness may be neglected.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the theory of markedness is used for marking and unmarking the terms. Where the
unmarked forms dominate the marked terms. The theory is in qualitative nature while the most of
the study in linguists is based on quantitative analysis.