9.  BARBARA FOX, University of Colorado

Linguistics 2400
Dr. Barbara Fox
Spring 1993

University of Colorado
Dept. of Linguistics
Campus Box 295
Boulder, CO 80309

OFFICE HOURS:  MW 8-10 AM, and by appointment
OFFICE:  WOODBURY 404, 492-6305

Language and Gender

GOALS:  To make visible the unseen but ever-present force 
of language in one's life as a gendered person, including how 
categories of language and communicative habits shape one's 
beliefs about one's self and others.

Required Text:  Graddol, David and Swann, Joan.  Gender 
voices.

Questions that the class will address include:
--Do men and women speak differently?  If so, in what 
ways?
--What kinds of distinctions in languages are made between 
men and women (for example in vocabulary)?
--What do these differences (if they indeed exist) mean for 
the lives of men and women in various societies?
--How do societies differ in the role of language in creating 
gender roles?
--Why do languages and language users make the kinds of 
distinctions discussed above (if they do)?
--How is gender related to  power, socio-economic class, and 
race in different societies with regard to language use?

REQUIREMENTS: 
2 midterms (15% each)     = 30%
1 final                   = 20%
homework                  = 20%
project                   = 20%
attendance                = 10%

Students are required to read the assigned textbook and any 
assigned photocopied articles.

The project is a group assignment (FIVE people per group). 
The written version of this project will be due the last day of 
class; your group will give an oral presentation of the project 
during the last two weks of class.  Each group's oral 
presentation will be 15 minutes long.  The project will be a 
piece of original research that involves you exploring one of 
the topics of the class by observing, surveying, or 
interviewing people (or traces of their behavior) in the 
Boulder/Denver area, or by conducting library research on a 
topic relevant to the class.  The written report of the project 
should be 5-8 pages (typed).  Your group  should get my 
approval for your project before starting the research.

Students will be asked to think critically about all of the 
readings, especially with regard to the possibility of author's 
bias.

Make-Up Exams:  Students who are unable to take the 
midterms at the scheduled time will be allowed to take a 
make-up exam  (1) if they give the instructor 2 weeks prior 
notice, or (2) you have a written excuse from a doctor (or 
some other authority).

January             13  Introduction
                    15 Sex and Gender, Race and Gender [chapter 1]
                    18  NO CLASS (MLK DAY)
                    20
                    22  Lexicon [chapter 5]
                    25
                    27
                    29  Pronunciation [chapter 2]
February            1
                    3
                    5  Morphology and Syntax [chapter 3]
                    8
                    10
                    12  MIDTERM #1
                    15  Discourse Strategies [chapter 4]
                    17
                    19
                    22  Gender, Race, Socio-economic class
                    24
                    26  Language in Institutional Settings 
                          [chapter 6]
March               1
                    3
                    5  MIDTERM #2
                    8    [open]
                    10  [open]
                    12  Parent-Child Interactions
                    15
                    17  "Passing" as the other gender
                    19
                    22-26  SPRING BREAK
                    29  Humor and Gender
                    31
April               2  NO CLASS
                    5-30  PROJECT REPORTS
May                 3  Review