Gender Ideology in the Definitions of Contemporary Chinese Dictionary

From the perspective of social semiotics, gender terms are important signs for meaning making in society, in that they not only reflect social norms regarding different genders, but also play an important role in the formation of a range of other equally important semiotic notions. This article studies the gender ideology as reflected in the definitions of a number of headwords in the 7th edition of Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (CCD7). The analyses reveal that CCD7’s definitions serve to construct gender and marriage norms in accordance with the prevalent gender ideology of the society. Based on a binary view of gender, CCD7 constructs a normal-abnormal continuum, which defines heterosexual relationships and heterosexual marriages as the social norms. This study regards the act of defining as a social semiotic process under the influence of the prevailing ideology, and reaffirms the status of gender terms as a significant shaping force in social semiotics.