ABSTRACT
Women, Men and Language has long been established as a seminal text in the field of language and gender, providing an account of the many ways in which language and gender intersect. In this pioneering book, bestselling author Jennifer Coates explores linguistic gender differences, introducing the reader to a wide range of sociolinguistic research in the field.
Written in a clear and accessible manner, this book introduces the idea of gender as a social construct, and covers key topics such as conversational practice, same sex talk, conversational dominance, and children’s acquisition of gender-differentiated language, discussing the social and linguistic consequences of these patterns of talk.
Here reissued as a Routledge Linguistics Classic, this book contains a brand new preface which situates this text in the modern day study of language and gender, covering the postmodern shift in the understanding of gender and language, and assessing the book’s impact on the field. Women, Men and Language continues to be essential reading for any student or researcher working in the area of language and gender.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |8 pages
Introductory
chapter |6 pages
Language and gender
chapter |17 pages
The historical background (II) – Anthropologists and dialectologists
part |25 pages
The sociolinguistic evidence
chapter |23 pages
Quantitative studies
chapter |15 pages
Social networks
chapter |26 pages
Gender differences in conversational practice
chapter |14 pages
Conversational dominance in mixed talk
chapter |20 pages
Same-sex talk
part |26 pages
Causes and consequences
chapter |24 pages
Children and gender-differentiated language
chapter |18 pages
The role of gender differences in linguistic change
chapter |23 pages
The social consequences of gender differences in language
part |9 pages
Looking to the future