120225 SE MA Seminar - Focus: Applied Linguistics / Linguistics Seminar (2022W)

This module aims to give a comprehensive introduction to the study of language and gender. We will examine how gender is reflected and constituted in language, focusing both on the way we speak (style) and the (gender) ideologies/discourses which shape our language use and identity. Students will become familiar with research investigating a wide range of authentic language use, including classroom interaction, couples talk, gossip among friends, frat talk, and parliamentary debate. The module encourages a critical engagement with past and present approaches to the study of language and gender and draws on a range of different theoretical and methodological frameworks to show how gender and identity can be analysed in language. Whereas some feminist approaches foreground issues such as (male) dominance and (female) collaboration, more recent studies describe how language constitutes a resource to construct a wide range of gender identities, including tough hegemonic masculinities in Scottish schools, uncool nerd femininities in the US highschool, Hindi ‘boy’ identities in a New Dheli NGO, and on-stage performances of African American drag queens.

Questions which will be addressed on this module include: In what way does language constitute a resource for the construction of gender and sexual identities? What are some of the issues with terms such as ‘women’s language’ and ‘men’s language’? How does gender interact with ethnicity, class, and age? How does (gender) identity construction vary depending on the context we find ourselves in? What is the relationship between (gendered, sexist…) language use and (sexist, gendered) ideologies?

Learning outcomes
By the end of the module you should be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of a range of empirical research as well as theoretical and methodological frameworks in the field of language and gender
• Show critical awareness of different conceptualisations of gender
• Contrast folklinguistic and stereotypical notions of gender with empirical findings generated in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis and feminist stylistics
• Investigate the role that language plays in constructing gender identities
• Display knowledge and skills to carry out independent empirical investigations in the field of language and gender
• Analyse the language/discourse features of a transcript of spoken interaction
• Illustrate how language constitutes a resource for speakers to construct gender identities
• Show critical awareness of how gender interacts with situational and sociocultural contexts and factors in language/discourse