13. MARY JANE HURST, Texas Tech University
Home Telephone: 806-794-1367; Office Telephone: 806-742-
2544; Office Fax: 806-742-0989; e-mail address (not totally
reliable): ditmg@ttacs1.ttu.edu
Course Information: English 5337
Special Topics in Linguistics: Language and Gender
Dr. Mary Jane Hurst
Texas Tech University
Course Objectives and Course Design
Our primary goal will be to explore the relationship
between gender and language at an introductory graduate
level. We will first learn some basic principles of language
study, and then we will investigate various linguistic
approaches to the topic of gender and language. Aside from
some introductory background lectures, the first three-
fourths or so of the semester will be arranged around
discussions of assigned readings. The last part of the
semester will be devoted to student presentations. The
presentations will apply course concepts in the analysis of
texts. This course will generally operate as a seminar;
students should not expect a lecture-driven course.
Required Books and Materials
Baron, Dennis. Grammar and Gender. New Haven: Yale UP,
1986.
Cameron, Deborah, ed. The Feminist Critique of Language: A
Reader. New York: Routledge, 1990.
Frank, Francine Wattman, and Paula A. Treichler. Language,
Gender and Professional Writing. New York: MLA, 1989.
(Reading assignments from this book are designated as
MLA on the syllabus.)
Nilsen, Alleen Pace, Haig Bosmajian, H. Lee Gershuny, and
Julia P. Stanley. Sexism and Language. Urbana, IL: NCTE,
1977. (Reading assignments from this book are designated
as NCTE on the syllabus.)
Philips, Susan U., Susan Steele, and Christine Tanz, eds.
Language, Gender & Sex in Comparative Perspective.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.
Other books and articles that are required reading will be
available at the reserve desk of the library. A complete list
of these materials appears on another hand-out. (Reading
assignments from this group are designated on the syllabus
as RESERVE.)
Supplemental Readings
The textbooks listed above contain excellent
bibliographies.
A ten page list of supplemental readings and research
sources is available at the campus copy shop.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the course,
researchers should be prepared to consult more than just the
MLA Bibliography; reference indexes for psychology, history,
linguistics, and other fields may be useful. Popular
periodicals sometimes discuss issues related to this course,
so it might also be wise to check such sources as the Reader's
Guide to Periodical Literature and the New York Times
Index. A list of selected reference sources and reference
tools appears on another hand-out.
How To Contact Your Professor
Visit her office during office hours or call her office
(742-2544) at any time.
Speak to her before or after class to set up an
appointment.
Leave a written message with the English Department
secretary.
Telephone the English Department (742-2501) and leave a
message for her.
Telephone her at home; please do not call after 9 P.M.
Course Requirements
Students will attend class regularly, having done the
assigned readings in advance, and will participate positively
in class discussions.
Students will take one written exam over the course
material. The test may include an out-of-class component as
well as in-class writing; we will discuss the format of the
exam well in advance of the examination date.
Students will write a substantial paper (about 15-20
pages) applying data from gender and language research in
the explication of some text or portion of text. Details on this
assignment appear on another hand-out. Students will select
their own texts (which may be, but do not need to be,
written texts and which may be, but certainly do not need to
be, works of literature) and will prepare their papers in
consultation with their professor.
Students will discuss their research projects in oral
presentations to the class. After their oral presentations,
students may revise their work based on class discussions
and instructor comments. Final papers will be accepted no
later than noon on December 11.
General Class Policies
An individual's final grade will be determined by the
quality of that person's daily work, written exam, research
paper, and oral presentation. Questions about grades and
grading policy are welcome at any time. Assuming that a
student's attendance, class preparation, and class
participation are appropriate for a graduate course, the
weight given to course work will be as follows: exam, 40% of
final grade; oral presentation, 10% of final grade; and
research paper, 50% of final grade.
Students should plan to be present on exam day except in
cases of extreme emergency. Students will not have the
opportunity to arrange individual make-up tests at their
convenience. In general, students should not expect to be
able to arrange make-up tests at all.
Students are encouraged to use computers in preparing
their research papers. On-campus computers are available
for students to use in several locations including the ATLC in
the library.
Conferences with the professor are welcome and
encouraged at any time.
Any student who, because of a disability, may require
special arrangements in order to meet course requirements
should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make
necessary accommodations.
Other information about university policies can be located
in the Undergraduate Catalog and in the Directory of Classes.
Students with concerns not addressed in this policy
statement should discuss their situations with their
professor at their earliest convenience.
Language and Gender Syllabus: English 5337
Dr. Mary Jane Hurst
Texas Tech University
This syllabus is subject to change;
any alterations will be announced in class.
T SEPT 3 First day of class: course introduction and general
discussion of topic using materials from popular culture.
Th SEPT 5 A brief overview: what is linguistics?
T SEPT 10 A brief overview and history: what is gender
and what does it have to do with language?
Read:
"Linguistic Sexism as a Social Issue" (NCTE);
"Introduction: Scholarship, Feminism, and Language
Change" (MLA); and
Introduction to Part III and the two articles in Part III of
Language, Gender & Sex in Comparative Perspective.
Th SEPT 12 Examining texts with an eye toward gender and
language: some early practice.
T SEPT 17 Perspectives from historical linguistics.
Read: Baron's Grammar and Gender.
Th SEPT 19 Other perspectives from historical linguistics.
Read:
"Gender Marking in American English" (NCTE);
"Sexism in the English Vocabulary" (NCTE);
"The Reconstruction of Word Meanings" (MLA);
"From Discourse to Dictionary" (MLA);
"The Sexual (Re)Production of Meaning" (MLA).
T SEPT 24 Perspectives from sociolinguistics.
Read: all four articles in Part III of The Feminist Critique of
Language;
Milroy, "Social Networks" (RESERVE); and
Coates, "Quantitative Studies" (RESERVE).
Th SEPT 26 Other perspectives from sociolinguistics.
Read: The Introduction and all five articles in Part I of
Language, Gender & Sex in Comparative Perspective.
T OCT 1 Are we talking about sexism or feminism?
Read:
The Introduction and all eight articles in Part II of
The Feminist Critique of Language; and
McConnell-Ginet, "Feminism in Linguistics" (RESERVE).
Th OCT 3 Are we talking about sexism or feminism?
Read:
"Sexism in the Language of Literature" (NCTE);
August, "Modern Men" (RESERVE);
Killingsworth, "Literary Rival ..." (RESERVE);
Brod, "Scholarly Studies of Men" (RESERVE); and
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 in The Feminist Critique of Language.
T OCT 8 Are we talking about power and prestige?
Read:
"Sexism in ... Legislatures and Courts" (NCTE);
Chavez, "Sex Differences in Language Shift" (RESERVE);
Bourdieu, "The Economics of Linguistic Exchanges (RESERVE);
McConnell-Ginet, "Intonation in ..." (RESERVE); and
Fishman, "Interaction: The Work Women Do" (RESERVE).
Th OCT 10 Are we talking about power and prestige?
Read:
Satel, "Men, Inexpressiveness, and Power" (RESERVE);
West, "Small Insults: A Study of Interruptions" (RESERVE);
Henley, "Power, Sex, and Nonverbal ..." (RESERVE);
Tannen, "Interpreting Interruption ..." (RESERVE); and
Case, "Communication Styles in Higher Education" (RESERVE).
T OCT 15 Is this an issue related to language acquisition?
Read: All four articles in Part II of Language, Gender & Sex
in Comparative Perspective.
Th OCT 17 Is this an issue related to language acquisition?
Read:
Gleason, "Men's Speech to Young Children" (RESERVE);
Eckert, "Cooperative Competition" (RESERVE); and
Maltz, "A Cultural Approach to Male-Female ..." (RESERVE).
T OCT 22 Applications for writing and teaching.
Read:
"Sexism in Children's Books" (NCTE);
Tannen, "Teachers' Classroom Strategies" (RESERVE);
Bolker, "Teaching Griselda to Write" (RESERVE);
Farrell, "The Female and Male Modes of Rhetoric" (RESERVE);
Pigott, "Sexist Roadblocks..." (RESERVE); and
Flynn, "Gender and Reading" (RESERVE).
Th OCT 24 More applications for writing and teaching.
Read:
"English Handbooks 1979-85" (MLA);
"Language Planning ..." (MLA);
the Appendix (NCTE); and
Part II of Language, Gender and Professional Writing (MLA).
T OCT 29 General discussion and review.
Th OCT 31 Exam.
T NOV 5 Discussion of research strategies and research
sources.
Th NOV 7 Reports on individual research.
T NOV 12 Reports on individual research.
Th NOV 14 Reports on individual research.
T NOV 19 Reports on individual research.
Th NOV 21 Reports on individual research.
T NOV 26 Reports on individual research.
Th NOV 28 Thanksgiving Holiday. No classes.
T DEC 3 Reports on individual research.
Th DEC 5 Reports on individual research.
T DEC 10 Reports on individual research.
W DEC 11 Final drafts of papers are due by noon.
English 5337: Language and Gender
List of Required Readings Available at the Library Reserve
Desk
Dr. Mary Jane Hurst
Texas Tech University
Readings are listed in the order of their appearance on the
syllabus.
Coates, Jennifer. "Quantitative Studies." Women, Men and
Language. New York: Longman, 1986. 57-78.
Coates, Jennifer. "Social Networks." Women, Men and
Language. New York: Longman, 1986. 79-95.
McConnell-Ginet, Sally. "Feminism in Linguistics." For Alma
Mater: Theory and Practice in Feminist Scholarship. Ed.
Paula A. Treichler, Cheris Kramarae, and Beth Stafford.
Urbana, IL: U of Illinois P, 1985. 159-76.
August, Eugene R. "'Modern Men,' or, Men's Studies in the
80s." College English 44.6 (1982): 583-96.
Killingsworth, M. Jimmie. "'A Literary Rival at Bed and
Board': Conflict and Aspiration in the Hawthorne Household."
The Markham Review 15 (1986): 41-43.
Brod, Harry. "Scholarly Studies of Men: the New Field is an
Essential Complement to Women's Studies." The Chronicle of
Higher Education 21 March 1990: B2-B3.
Chavez, Eliverio. "Sex Difference in Language Shift."
Southwest Journal of Linguistics 8.2 (1988): 3-14.
Bourdieu, Pierre. "The Economics of Linguistic Exchanges."
Social Science Information 16.6 (1977): 654-68.
McConnell-Ginet, Sally. "Intonation in a Man's World." Signs:
Journal of Women in Culture and Society 3 (1978): 541-59.
Fishman, Pamela M. "Interaction: The Work Women Do."
Social Problems 25 (1978): 397-406.
Sattel, Jack W. "Men, Inexpressiveness, and Power." Social
Problems 23 (1976): 469-77.
West, Candace, and Don H. Zimmerman. "Small Insults: A
Study of Interruptions in Cross-Sex Conversations between
Unacquainted Persons." Language, Gender, and Society. Ed.
Barrie Thorne, Cheris Kramarae, and Nancy Henley. Rowley,
MA: Newbury, 1983. 103-18.
Henley, Nancy. "Power, Sex, and Nonverbal Communication."
Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance. Ed. Barrie
Thorne and Nancy Henley. Rowley, MA: Newbury, 1975.
184-203.
Tannen, Deborah. "Interpreting Interruption in
Conversation." Papers from the 25th Annual Meeting of the
Chicago Linguistics Society. Part 2: Parasession on Language
and Context. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society, 1989. 266-
87.
Case, Susan Schick. "Communication Styles in Higher
Education: Differences between Academic Men and Women."
Women in Higher Education: Changes and Challenges. Ed.
Lynne B. Welch. New York: Praeger, 1990. 94-118.
Gleason, Jean Berko, and Esther Blank Greif. "Men's Speech
to Young Children." Language, Gender, and Society. Ed.
Barrie Thorne, Cheris Kramarae, and Nancy Henley. Rowley,
MA: Newbury, 1983. 140-50.
Eckert, Penelope. "Cooperative Competition in Adolescent
'Girl Talk.'" Discourse Processes 13 (1990): 91-122.
Maltz, Daniel N., and Ruth A. Borker. "A Cultural Approach to
Male-Female Miscommunication." Language and Social
Identity. Ed. John J. Gumperz. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
1982. 196-216.
Tannen, Deborah. "Teachers' Classroom Strategies Should
Recognize that Men and Women Use Language Differently."
The Chronicle of Higher Education 19 June 1991: B1 and B3.
Bolker, Joan A. "Teaching Griselda to Write." College English
40.8 (1979): 906-908.
Farrell, Thomas J. "The Female and Male Modes of Rhetoric."
College English 40.8 (1979): 909-21.
Pigott, Margaret B. "Sexist Roadblocks in Inventing,
Focusing, and Writing." College English 40.8 (1979): 922-27.
Flynn, Elizabeth A. "Gender and Reading." College English
45.3 (1984): 236-53.
English 5337: Language and Gender
Instructions for Research Paper
Assignment:
Write a paper which applies findings in gender and
language research to the explication of some text or portion
of text. The choice of topic (that is, the text) is to be made
by individuals in consultation with their professor. After
applying the findings to a text, each student should develop
a thesis about his or her research and support that thesis in
an academic, research-based essay of fifteen to twenty pages
in length. The primary audience for the paper will be the
class and the professor, though students are encouraged to
prepare their papers with an eye toward publishing them.
Students will present their research to the class, and their
work will be discussed by the other students in the class.
Students will then be able to revise their material based on
comments by the other students and the professor.
Guidelines:
1. Choose your topic carefully. Texts may be written or
oral. Feel free to discuss your topic ideas with me and with
the entire class. Some suggestions will be made in class.
2. Identify a number of features or variables which you
wish to examine in your text. Study the text according to
these features.
3. Draw up a prospectus for your project (about one page;
handwritten is fine) and submit that to me no later than
October 29.
4. Background research for the papers can come in part
from readings we have done in class. It will be necessary,
though, to do additional research beyond the course
readings. Enough source material and enough specific
examples must be used in the paper to establish your thesis
effectively.
5. I will try to help you locate sources, but, for some
topics, the reference librarians or professors in other
departments may be more knowledgeable resources.
6. Based on your research and on your examination of
your selected text, develop a thesis and organize your
material around that thesis. Then write the paper.
7. Essays should be written in a consistent style and tone
appropriate for academic discourse. Adherence to standard
conventions of writing is expected. Effective academic prose
is, at best, readable, informative, direct, and persuasive. It is
not contrived, pretentious, or wordy.
8. Essays should be fifteen to twenty pages in length,
typed and doublespaced.
9. Refer to the most recent edition of the MLA Style
Manual for the bibliographical format expected in English
Department papers. Note especially that the current MLA
format does not use footnotes to document sources.
10. Plan an interesting presentation of your research and
your ideas for the class. Exactly how much time each
student will have for the oral presentation will depend on
how many students there are in the class, but we can
tentatively plan for each student to have forty minutes, with
twenty minutes allotted for the actual presentation and
twenty minutes allotted for discussion of the presentation.
11. You are encouraged to use a computer in preparing
your manuscript. If your paper is stored on disk, making
corrections and revisions will be much simpler.
Due Dates:
October 29: last day to submit a prospectus.
November 7 through December 10: oral presentations.
December 11: final drafts of papers are due by noon.
Selected Reference Sources: Gender and Language
Selected Periodicals with Information Relevant for
Gender and Language Studies
(not an exhaustive list)
American Dialogue
American Speech
Anthropological Linguistics
Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal
Children's Language
Feminist Studies
Genders
Herstory Microfilm Collection
Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Journal of Language and Communication
Journal of Linguistics
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
Language
Language and Communication
Language and Speech
Language in Society
Language Variation and Change
Lifestyles
Linguistic Inquiry
Ms.
New Directions for Women
Psychology of Women Quarterly
Sage; A Scholarly Journal on Black Women
SECOL Review
Sex Roles
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Southwest Journal of Linguistics
Style (and its annual bibliography!)
Theory and Society
Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature
Women and Language
Women and Performance
Women and Politics
Women's Studies Abstracts
Women's Studies in Communication
Women's Studies International Forum: A Multidisciplinary
Journal
Women's Studies
Women's Studies Quarterly
The Women's Review of Books
Writing Women
Selected Reference Tools with Information Relevant for
Gender and Language Studies
(not an exhaustive list)
LLBA
MLA Bibliography
ERIC
America: History and Life
Humanities Index
Social Sciences and Humanities Index
Arts and Humanities Index
Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
Philosopher's Index
Sociological Abstracts
If you do not know how to find or use any of the resources
listed above, if you do not know how to use the on-line
services (including "UNCOVER" and various on-line searches
available on tools such as FirstSearch), or if you do not know
how to access Interlibrary Loan, please see me or talk to one
of the reference librarians.
English 5337: Language and Gender
Sample Test Questions
Sample Items Suitable for Identification Questions
Directions: Write about a paragraph for each answer, giving
as much information as possible (within the practical limits
of time) to identify the entry and to explain its significance
for language and gender studies.
semantic derogation
covert prestige
interruption patterns
the etymology of man and woman
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
the etymology of male and female
sexism in language of courts
network theory
prescriptivism
generic he
social solidarity
the etymology of gender
semantic derogation
Sample Items Suitable for Essay Questions
Directions: Write a fully developed essay about one of the
following questions. The essay should be arranged around a
clearly-stated thesis, and that thesis should be supported
with specific evidence and specific examples. Appropriate
references to existing research should be made in the essay.
Adherence to conventions of standard written English is
expected.
Offer an explanation to account for the presence of gender
differences in American English. Include in your discussion
references to existing theories that have been developed to
explain the presence of gender differences in language.
If someone were to say to you that the study of language
and gender is relevant only for white, middle-class, English-
speaking feminists, how would you respond?
Identify the organization techniques that unify Baron's
Grammar and Gender. Evaluate the effectiveness of his
method.
Maltz and Borker present specific patterns of speech that
have been attributed to boys and girls. Discuss what these
patterns are and whether you find (based on your research
as well as on your person experience) that Maltz and
Borker's conclusions are valid.
Describe and discuss two or three instances of sexism or
reverse sexism that you have observed in the assigned
readings of this course. Discuss the significance of your
observations for the works in which the sexist examples
occur and for the credibility of the authors involved.
In his chapter on "Language and Sex," Peter Trudgill raises
and refutes several sociological explanations for gender
differences in men's and women's language before he
presents his own theory. Review his presentation and
reconstruct his basic argument, discussing the viability of his
theory as opposed to the ones he rejects.
Have male authors written about the topic of language and
gender differently than female authors have written about
the topic? Consider methodological factors as well as social
or political factors.
Provide a history of the stands taken by organizations such
as NCTE and MLA on the issue of nonsexist language.
Who has written about issues of power and gender as they
affect language use? Describe some of the main points
relating to power, gender, and language that have been
presented in the literature to date.
Discuss patterns of gender differences in languages other
than English. How do these differences compare to gender
differences in English?
Discuss, in a very specific format, applications of your
readings in gender and language to your own work or study.
Do not focus only on the research you are doing for your
paper, although you may mention that application if it is
relevant to your larger answer.
Back to the Language and Gender page.
John Lawler