Abstract
The question of the relationship between language and gender is one of the most important areas of linguistics. The only indicator of gender characteristics is language. Gender features are characteristic of all layers of language. One aspect of this is that literary texts reflect both obvious and hidden aspects of human ‘old age’ from the point of view of language and gender. In gender linguistics, these issues are considered on the basis of a special form of the concept of ‘old age’ in literary texts. In gender linguistics, many studies have been conducted to identify the differences in spoken and written language between men and women. Gender peculiarities in language communication between men and women began to be considered as natural and physiological aspects, becoming the object of scientific analysis. This paper investigates the presence of gender linguistic differences related to the biological and physiological age-related features of men and women, focusing on the gender aspects of the concept ‘elderly’. The aim of the study is to identify gender specifics of speech uses of elderly men and women in fiction and poetry texts, as well as to conduct their linguistic analysis in the gender aspect. The results of the study show differences in language use and individual vocabulary of older men and women based on the analysis of fiction texts, including phonetic, lexical and grammatical categories. The practical value of the article lies in the fact that its results can be used in the courses of theoretical linguistics, theory of intercultural communication, special courses and seminars on linguoaxiology, linguoculturology and linguogenderology.