14.  MIMI KLAIMAN, University of Indiana
     klaiman@cvax.ipfw.indiana.edu

LING L485
Topics in Linguistics:  Language and Women 1992 
 

OBJECTIVE
        The past three decades have seen an explosion of high-quality
scholarly research into women's issues as reflected in communication 
and language.  This course covers three general areas in the study of 
language and women:  (1) language, power, and women's status; (2) 
language and sex stereotypes; and (3) male vs female style in 
communication and linguistic interaction.  Students should come away 
from the course with enhanced awareness of the role of language in 
relation to issues of inequality and sexual politics.

TEXT
        D. Graddol and J. Swann, Gender Voices, Basil Blackwell, 1989.
Material from other sources is also assigned.  Library reserve is being
requested to stock all materials listed on the syllabus.

REQUIREMENTS
        Some short exercises (participation is mandatory) will be done in
class.  There will be three end-of-unit quizzes which must be taken on 
time (under ordinary circumstances, course requirements cannot be 
fulfilled late).  The main requirement is a term paper of 10-15 pages 
(2500-3750 words) due at the last class meeting for the course.  Each 
student is responsible for discussing a term paper topic with the 
instructor after class hours before the end of week six.

GRADING
        The tentative grading formula is:  term paper, 40%; quizzes, 30%;
participation, 20%; attendance, 10%.  Students are advised to read the
section on 'Academic Honesty' in the undergraduate Bulletin.

Course Plan*
*no class Thursday-Friday, Nov. 22-23 (Thanksgiving Recess)

UNIT 1.  Power and Language

Week 1. The Attack on 'Gender'
        Required: Text, ch. 5.  Recommended:  R. Brown and A. Gilman,
'The Pronouns of Power and Solidarity', in Sebeok; D.G. MacKay,
'Prescriptive Grammar and the Pronoun Problem', pp. 38-56 in Thorne 
and Kramarae; A. Bodine, 'Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar', p. 
166-186 in Cameron; C. Mcfadden, 'In Defense of Gender', pp. 320-
324 in Eschholz; D. Hofstadter, 'A Person Paper on Purity in 
Language', pp. 187-196 in Cameron.

Week 2. The Attack on 'Gender' (continued)
        Required: M. Schulz, 'The Semantic Derogation of Women', pp. 
64-75 in Thorne and Henley; A. Nilsen, 'Sexism in English', pp. 277-
288 in Eschholz.

Week 3. Power and Control
        Required:  Text, pp. 146-55; Lakoff 1990, Ch.1.  Recommended:
Lefcourt, Ch. 1.

Week 4. Controlling the 'Agender': Social Roles and Communicative 
Acts Required:  Gardner 1980.  Recommended:  U.M. Sharma, 'Purdah 
and Public Space', pp. 213-39 in de Souza; M. Frye, 'Male 
Chauvinism: A Conceptual Analysis', pp. 7-22 in Vetterling-Braggin.

Week 5. Written Language and Sex Roles
        Required:  Mills. Recommended: Spender, Ch. 7; D. Spender,
'Defining Reality: A Powerful Tool', pp. 194-205 in Kramarae; M. 
Schulz, 'Minority Writers', pp. 206-217 in Kramarae; D. Fricke, 
'Phallic Criticism', pp. 41-50 in Berryman and Eman.

QUIZ 1.

UNIT 2.  Language and Sex Stereotypes

Week 6. Overview of Sex-Related Linguistic Stereotypes in English
        Required:  Lakoff 1973; O. Jesperson, 'The Woman', pp. 201-220 
in Cameron.  Recommended:  W. O'Barr and B. Atkins, '"Women's 
Language" or "Powerless Language"?', pp. 93-110 in McConnell-
Ginet.

Week 7. Expressing Politeness and Powerlessness
        Required: Text, Ch. 4; P. Brown, 'How and Why Are Women 
More Polite', pp. 111-136 in McConnell-Ginet. Recommended: 
Leech, Chs. 4-6; N. Henley, 'Power, Sex, and Nonverbal 
Communication', p. 184-203 in Thorne and Henley; P. Fishman, 
'Conversational Insecurity,' pp. 234-241 in Cameron.

Week 8. Compliments
        Required: Herbert. Recommended: Wolfson, 'The Compliment 
Formula' in Coulmas.

Week 9. How Are Sex-Related Linguistic Stereotypes Acquired?
        Required: C. Edelsky, 'Acquisition of an Aspect of 
Communicative Competence: Learning What it Means to Talk Like a 
Lady', pp. 225-43 in Ervin-Tripp and Kernan. Recommended: 
Sheldon 1992; S. Ervin-Tripp et al., 'Language and Power in the 
Family', pp. 116-135 in Kramarae; J..B. Gleason and Greif, 'Men's 
Speech to Young Children', pp. 140-152 in Thorne and Kramarae.

Week 10.  How Are Sex-Related Linguistic Stereotypes Acquired? 
(continued)

QUIZ 2.

UNIT 3  Male vs Female Style in Communication

Week 11. Community and Contest
        Required: Tannen, Chs. 6-7; J. Pfeiffer, 'Girl Talk-Boy Talk', pp.
325-333 in Eschholz.  Recommended:  Downes, Ch. 8.

 Week 12. Power and Conversational Style
        Required: Edelsky 1981. Recommended:  Spender, Ch. 3; J. 
Swann, 'Talk Control: An Illustration from the Classroom', pp. 122-40 
in Coates and Cameron; N. Woods, 'Talking Shop', pp. 141-57 in 
Coates and Cameron; C. West and D.H. Zimmerman, 'Small Insults: A 
Study of Interruptions', pp. 103-18 in Thorne and Kramarae; D.H. 
Zimmerman and C. West, 'Sex Roles, Interruptions, and Silences in 
Conversation', pp. 105-29 in Thorne and Henley; D. Jones, 'Gossip: 
Notes on Women's Oral Culture', pp. 242-250 in Cameron; S. Herring, 
'Gender and Participation in Computer-Mediated Linguistic 
Discourse', 1992 ms. (available from instructor).

Week 13. The Manipulation of Silence
        Required: K. Dierks-Stewart, 'Sex Differences in Nonverbal
Communication', pp. 112-121 in Berryman and Eman; J. W. Sattel, 
'Men, Inexpressiveness, and Power', pp. 119-24 in Thorne and 
Kramarae.

Week 14.  The Future of Communication Between the Sexes
        Required: Tannen, Ch. 10.  Recommended:  C. Kramarae and M. 
Jensen, 'Women Take Back the Talk', pp. 137-58 in Penfield.

Week 15. Review.

QUIZ 3.

Materials Requested for Library Reserve

Berryman, C. and V. Eman (eds.).  1980.  Communication, language 
and sex. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Cameron, D. (ed.).  1990.  The feminist critique of language.  London:
Routledge.

Coates, J. and D. Cameron (eds.).  1988.  Women in their speech
communities.  Longman.

Coulmas, F.  (ed.)  1981.  Conversational routine.  The Hague: 
Mouton.

Downes, W.  1984.  Language and society.  London: Fontana.

Edelsky, C.  1981.  'Who's Got the Floor?'.  Language in Society 
10:383-421.

Ervin-Tripp, S. and C. Mitchell-Kernan (eds.).  1977.  Child discourse.
New York: Academic Press.

Eschholz, P., et al. (eds.).  1990.  Language awareness.  NY: St. 
Martin's.

Gardner, C.B. 1980.   'Passing By: Street Remarks, Address Rights, 
and the Urban Female'.  Sociolinguistic Inquiry 50.3-4:328-56.

Herbert, R.K.  1990.  'Sex-based Differences in Compliment Behavior'.
Language and Society 19.2:201-24.

Kramarae, C., et al. (eds.).  1984.  Language and power.  Beverly 
Hills: Sage.

Lakoff, R.T.  1973.  'Language and Woman's Place'.  Language in 
Society 2:45-80.

Lakoff, R.T.  1990.  Talking power.  Chicago: University of Chicago 
Press.

Leech, G.  1983.  Principles of pragmatics.  Longman.

Lefcourt, H.M.  1982.  Locus of control.  Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence 
Erlbaum Associates.  2d ed.

McConnell-Ginet, S., et al. (eds.).  1980.  Women and language in
literature and society. NY: Praeger.

Mills, S.  'The Male Sentence'.  Language & Communication 7.3:189-
98.

Penfield, J.  1987.  Women and language in transition.  Albany: State
University of New York Press.

Sebeok, T.  1960.  Style in language.  Cambridge, MA: MIT.

Sheldon, A.  1992.  '"Kings are Royaler than Queens": Language and
Socialization'.  Young Children 45.2:4-9.

de Souza, A.  (ed.).  1980.  Women in contemporary India and South 
Asia. Delhi: Manohar.

Spender, D.  1980.  Man made language.  London: Routledge & Kegan 
Paul.

Tannen, D.  1990.  You just don't understand.  New York: Ballentine.

Thorne, B. and N. Henley (eds.).  1975.  Language and sex: 
Difference and dominance.  Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Thorne, B. and C. Kramarae (eds.).  1983.  Language, gender and 
society. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Vetterling-Braggin, M. 1981.  Sexist language: A modern 
philosophical analysis.  Littlefield, Adams & Co.