Language and Gender

by Penelope Eckert, Sally McConnell-Ginet

This is a new introduction to the study of the relation between gender and language use, written by two of the leading experts in the field. It covers the main topics, beginning with a clear discussion of gender and of the resources that the linguistic system offers for the construction of social meaning. The body of the book offers unprecedented breadth and depth in its coverage of the interaction between language and social life. It is the ideal textbook for students in language and gender courses in several disciplines, including linguistics, gender studies, women's studies, sociology, and anthropology.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Feminism, Language, Gender, Sociology, Social Science

378 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2002

About the author

Penelope "Penny" Eckert is a professor of linguistics at Stanford University in Stanford, California, where she holds the position of "Albert Ray Lang Professor of Linguistics". She is a prominent scholar of variationist sociolinguistics and is the author of several scholarly works on language and gender. She served as the President of the Linguistic Society of America in 2018.

Reviews

[Hellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.


I'm surprised about the negative reviews here on Goodreads. But then again, I do also sometimes rate the course instead of the literature when adding course literature. I'm also unsure about a comment on the relevance of this work; even if there are other forms of stereotyping prevalent (and stereotyping, as in the overestimation of particular (linguistic) traits in one of the genders, is only a small part of this book), I think there is hardly one the subject of speculation - besides perhaps class - as much as gender is. In any case I think the book is much more focused on picking apart all ways you can look at gendered linguistic behavior and looking at hypotheses how such behavior was established, perceived etc. than actually comparing genders.

The book starts very broad, having to cover quite a lot of ground to ensure the rest of the book can be built on concepts such as constructed gender, discourse of language, etc. The book aims to be very didactic and accessible to everyone, which leads to some lengthier parts. The first chapter was somewhat chaotic in terms of the amount of subjects touched upon, but I guess necessary to set the stage. It is a smooth read, written like a work of popular science, which is not at all a bad thing. I do miss references, as they're kept rather infrequent and I think anything touching upon social psychology lacking references is putting itself in a weak position. Other than that, it's all in here (as far as I can tell as a newbie). Frequency, content, discourse, goals and results of particular linguistic behavior, cultural differences, development.

Be aware that the whole book takes a constructivist Butlerian angle to gender and language. I think it is appropriate that in a lot of chapters hegemonic femininity and masculinity are teased apart from what are supposedly inherent differences, but if you're more of an essentialist, you can wait for speculations on evolutionary causes for differences in linguistic habits until the cows come home - they're not in here.

I think the book has aged well, but besides the stringent use of references perhaps some attention to the biological angle on language (perhaps something with the darling of research oxytocin and emphatic behavior in language?), but I'm not sure if that was already a thing in 2003.

[anne maeve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sommige chapters waren echt slecht

[Anastasia Tuple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful and solid, contemporary supporting examples throughout. Very engaging style of writing, as well, nothing too academic.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like other users said, some chapters are better than others. There are a lot of interesting bits of information and studies, however it lacks concision and focus. The last chapter felt particular irrelevant even tho it was interesting.

[Henry James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid, well-researched tome.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great topic - horribly written book. Super dense and unnecessarily complicated.

[Katja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have not read the whole book but skimmed over most chapters, my opinion is definitely biased as from the start I lacked motivation to read the book thoroughly. The book is definitely well-written and seems easy to follow, my criticism is that in many places I do not see the point and fail to understand what exactly the authors want to achieve, other than describing certain language traits. This is also true for the book overall. It is well-known that people tend to (over-)generalize because generalizations make life easier as they save us the effort of thinking. Some generalizations are correct most times, some are wrong from the start. Gender is one of the many social aspects involved in numerous generalizations or stereotypes, other aspects being race, age, nationality, etc. Stereotypes are clearly reflected in the language, so a similar book could have been written about language and race or age or many other things, I am not sure whether gender would be the most interesting topic to investigate from the linguistic point of view. Concerning how influential this study may become outside of linguistics, it is unclear to me whether conscious changes in the language are effective to overcome false and harmful generalizations, but I doubt they are nearly as effective as blind tests which have indeed crashed many stereotypes.

[kylajaclyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for school... That's pretty much all there is to say about it. Some chapters were better and more interesting than others.

[Mills College Library]

306.44 E1919 2013