Traditional Approaches

Language, Gender and Sexuality

In this course, Dr Lucy Jones (University of Nottingham) explores language use through the lens of gender and sexuality. In the first module, we outline some of the traditional approaches to the question of why men and women use language differently. After that, we think about some of the more recent, constructionist approaches. In the third module, we explore the relationship between language and sexuality, before turning in the fourth module to think about language in relation to transgender identities. A short final module sums up the key learnings from this course, as well as providing some recommending reading.

Traditional Approaches

In this module, we explore some traditional approaches to the difference between men and women's language, focusing in particular on: (i) the work of Dale Spender and the concept of 'man-made language'; (ii) the work of Robin Lakoff and the idea that women are 'socialised' into being 'ladies'; (iii) the dominance theory of why men and women speak in different ways, including the work of O'Barr and Atkins (1980) and Zimmerman and West (1975); (iv) the difference theory of why men and women speak in different ways, including the work of Goodwin (1980) and Tannen (1990); and (v) some critiques of these early approaches.