Language and Gender

What this unit covers

The resources here deal with how language and gender connect. Many are theorist maps. The mind map called Language & Gender Theorists sets out the dominance and deficit approaches, and includes Otto Jespersen's 1920s claims about women's vocabulary. Gender and Language lists Robin Lakoff's features of women's language, such as lexical hedges, tag questions, rising intonation on declaratives, empty adjectives, precise colour terms and intensifiers.

Where to start

Begin with the flashcard deck Gender Key Terms. It covers sex, gender, marked and unmarked forms, covert and overt marking, semantic derogation, pejoration and collocation. These words appear in nearly every other resource, so they make later reading easier.

Next, move to the broad overview maps. The mind map Language and Gender sets out difference theory, dominance theory, stereotypes, derogatives, political correctness and Deborah Tannen. Then take the theorist maps one by one.

Theories and studies

• Deficit, difference and dominance: compare the three models side by side, using the notes on dominance, difference and deficit models.
• Research studies: the map called Theorists covers Trudgill in 1983, who looked at social class accents and found women used more Received Pronunciation to gain overt prestige, and Cheshire in 1982, who studied adolescent speech.
• Identity: Gender Identity separates biological sex from gender as performance, with Eckert and McConnell-Ginet.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a map, close it, then take one of the two quizzes. Note which theorists or terms you missed and return to that branch of the map. Flashcards such as Gender Theorists help you fix names, dates and claims. Slide sets on Deborah Tannen and Jennifer Coates suit teachers planning a lesson, or students wanting a slower walk-through.

Where it sits

This unit belongs to the Language in Society strand of Linguistics and philology. Related maps on language and age, language and sexuality, and accent and dialect sit alongside it on the page, so you can link gender to wider variation.

When you're ready, make your own maps and flashcards on the theorists you find hardest, and compare them with what the community has built.