Language and Gender

By Mary M. Talbot

Book Overview

This new edition of Language and Gender has been thoroughlyrevised and updated, including the addition of entirely newchapters that explore recent work in the field. A range ofapproaches is covered at an introductory level, presentingsometimes difficult and complex issues in an understandable way.Every chapter concludes with a list of recommended readings so thateach topic can be taken further. Like the first edition, it will bepopular with students for its accessibility and with teachers forthe range and depth it achieves in a single volume.

As in the first edition, the book is organised into three parts.An introductory section provides preliminary grounding in early'classic' studies in the field. In the second section, Talbotexamines the language used by women and men in a variety of speechsituation and genres. She addresses a range of issues and problems, including the difficulties arising from accounting for genderdifferences in terms of dichotomies like public vs private andinformational vs affective and, not least, the trouble with lookingfor 'differences' at all.

Talbot's emphasis, however, is on recent research. The last andlargest section examines not gender difference but the constructionand performance of gender in discourse. It includes new chaptersoutlining recent research on women's talk in public contexts and onlanguage, gender and sexualities. The section as a whole reflectsboth the high degree of interest in mass media and popular culturefound in recent language and gender research and the preoccupationwith discourse and social change that is central to CriticalDiscourse Analysis.

The second edition of Language and Gender will become akey textbook for undergraduates and postgraduates in linguistics, sociolinguistics, cultural and media studies, gender studies andcommunication studies. The book is usable by students for whom ittheir first, or only, contact with sociolinguistics.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0745646042
• ISBN13: 9780745646046
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: Polity Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Good Textbook

As a college student who studied Introduction to Linguistics partly using this textbook, I found it very easy to read, yet loaded with interesting information, unique applications, and detailed references which were very helpful for tracking down other resources for research papers. The book is entitled: Langauge and Gender: An Introduction, and it is in fact an introduction, not delving too deep into the many issues, concerns, and concepts of gender issues in language. For my class (an introduction/survey sort of class), this book was perfect.

Great way to learn about gender and communication

This book offered an interesting look into how men and women communicate. It covered topics such as "women's language", "man made language", how men and women tell stories and some of the theories on why men and women talk differently. This book also analyzed previous studies done on language and gender. It was somewhat hard to read some parts of this book because I was not completely familiar with some of the terms. However, I would recomend this book to someone who wants to analyze the relationships between men and women.