ENGL 473/WOMEN 490C
Language and Gender
T-Th 1:30-3:20 pm
CMU 226
Prof. Gail Stygall
Padelford B404
Office Hours: T-Th 11:30-12:30; 3:30-4:30
Textbooks:
Cameron, Deborah and Don Kulick. Language and Sexuality
Bergvall, Bing, and Freed. Rethinking Language and Gender Research
Johnson and Meinhoff. Language and Masculinity
Course Description:
This course, a senior-level/graduate offering, is an exploration of the intersection of language and gender and language and sexuality in as many of the complex
manifestations as we can manage in 10 weeks. I will get things started by describing the research done in linguistics on the language of women and men and
the later shift into research on language and gender. The Cameron-Kulick book represents a new direction into research on language and sexuality. Along the
way, we'll begin reading in the Bergvall et al. collection and then shift into the Cameron-Kulick volume. We are now mostly without the Johnson and Meinhoff
collection-the bookstore is only able to secure 15 copies, most already purchased. I will try to make some of these articles available through reserve and thread
them into the course schedule. After we finish the readings, we'll turn to working with theorists on language and gender.
The primary goal of this class is for you to produce an empirical study of either language and gender or language and sexuality. To that end, throughout the
course, we'll discuss your final projects. Students in the past have used a range of research methodologies, from surveys to tape-recording conversations, from
analyzing texts to websites and chatroom or group talk in texts. I have had papers on talk in sororities or fraternities, letters between sisters, talk at the family
dinner table, relationship talk (pick your relationship), surveys of slang terms, analysis of personal ads, analysis of advertising for sexual interactions (phone
talk, clubs, brides from overseas), talk at work, talk at meetings-just about anything you can think of that involves a language interaction along with gender will
probably work. We'll work on narrowing topics into something plausible to do. And, as a believer of the premise that there is no good empirical research
without a good theory basis, we'll work on how to integrate theory with empirical practice.
Course Requirements:
There are three basic written requirements, beyond your attendance and active class participation:
1. Five 2 page, single-spaced response papers, four of which respond to the readings, one of which is a free response on an outside article from a scholarly
journal or book of collected articles on language and gender.
20% of your grade
2. A theory summary on your choice of theorist. This should be 3-5 pages, double-spaced and the summary should explain how your choice is integrated with
or explains the empirical work you are doing.
20% of your grade
3. A final seminar paper, using your empirically collected data, with citations to other work in the field and a clear theoretical framework for your analysis.
Undergraduate papers must be 8-10 pages; graduate papers must be at least 20 pages without the works cited.
60% of your grade
ENGL 473/WOMEN 490: Tentative Schedule
Autumn 03
| Date | In-Class Topic | Assignments and Homework for theNEXT Class |
| Sept 30 | Introduction | Read Chap 1, Rethinking |
| Oct 2 | Second-Wave Feminist Linguistics | Read Chap 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Rethinking
Write 1st response paper on 1 chapter |
| Oct 7 | Third-Wave Feminist Linguistics | |
| Oct 9 | Ehrlich, Meyerhoff, Hall/Donovan, Bucholtz; Thinking about Your Research Project; Tools for Research | Write 2nd response paper on 1 of these chapters after discussion; Read Cameron-Kulick, Chapter 1 |
| Oct 14 | Language and Gender and Language and Sexuality | Read Cameron-Kulick, Chapter 2 |
| Oct 16 | Language and Sex | Read Cameron-Kulick, Chapter 3 |
| Oct 21 | Gender and Heterosexuality | Read Cameron-Kulick, Chapter 4;
Write 3rd Response Paper on 1 Chapter from Cameron-Kulick |
| Oct 23 | Videos/Faculty Senate | |
| Oct 28 | Sexuality, Identity and Language | Read Cameron-Kulick, Chapter 5 |
| Oct 30 | Language and Desire | Read Cameron-Kulick, Chapter 6;
Write 4th Response Paper on 1 Chapter from Cameron-Kulick |
| Nov 4 | Research | |
| Nov 6 | Theory Overview; Combining the Empirical with Theory | |
| Nov 11 | Veterans Day-NO CLASS | Write 5th Response Paper from an article on language and gender from a scholarly source (academic journal or collection) |
| Nov 13 | Theory Reports | |
| Nov 18 | Theory Reports | |
| Nov 20 | Theory Reports | |
| Nov 25 | Theory Reports | Write Theory Summary on Your Choice of Theorist |
| Nov 27 | Thanksgiving-NO CLASS | |
| Dec 2 | Final Presentations | Written Feedback to Speakers |
| Dec 4 | NO CLASS | |
| Dec 9 | Final Presentations | Written Feedback to Speakers |
| Dec 12 | FINAL PROJECTS DUE |