Orsù dunque… avvocato? Osservazione del maschile sovraesteso nei nomina agentis su Twitter

This paper explores the relationship between language, stereotypes, and the representation of women by focusing on nomina agentis in Italian. It examines the “overextended masculine”, where masculine forms are used for referents of other or unknown genders. Previous research has discussed the social implications of this practice, particularly the resistance to using female-specific forms for prestigious roles. This preliminary study presents a methodology and initial data on this phenomenon in social media, using a Twitter corpus of five nomina agentis. A simple annotation scheme is applied to analyze the sample, laying the groundwork for future research on whether grammatical or social factors drive the preference for masculine forms.