Gender Voices

Does the language we speak create and sustain a sexist culture? This controversial and exciting proposal has fascinated feminists, psychologists and linguists alike for well over a decade. The authors of Gender Voices explore in a clear and comprehensive manner the idea that language shapes individual lives-that through our speech we all help recreate gender divisions in society.

Their introductory chapter establishes the relationship between language and social structure. Chapter 2 explores the human voice and traditional notions of 'femininity', 'masculinity' and sexuality. Subsequent chapters analyze differences between women and men in pronunciation and choice of words; discourse patterns and power relationships; the sexist structure of language; and language consciousness. The possibilities for social and linguistic change are examined in the final chapters.

Acknowledgements ix

1 Introduction 1

2 The Voice of Authority 12

3 Accents of Femininity? Gender Differences in Language Use 41

4 Conversation: The Sexual Division of Labour 69

5 Is Language Sexist? 95

6 Language, Communication and Consciousness 135

7 Linguistic Intervention 174

References 197

Index 209

David Graddol is a British linguist who has worked in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and history of linguistics. He is perhaps best known for his work regarding how English as a world language may develop. Will Swann is the author of Gender Voices, published by Wiley. Does the language we speak create and sustain a sexist culture? This controversial and exciting proposal has fascinated feminists, psychologists and linguists alike for well over a decade. The authors of Gender Voices explore in a clear and comprehensive manner the idea that language shapes individual lives-that through our speech we all help recreate gender divisions in society.

Their introductory chapter establishes the relationship between language and social structure. Chapter 2 explores the human voice and traditional notions of 'femininity', 'masculinity' and sexuality. Subsequent chapters analyze differences between women and men in pronunciation and choice of words; discourse patterns and power relationships; the sexist structure of language; and language consciousness. The possibilities for social and linguistic change are examined in the final chapters.