Women, Men and Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Gender Differences in Language 3rd Edition

‘Women, Men and Language has served readers since its first publication as an accessible and balanced guide to the literature on gender differences in language. This revised edition extends the book’s scope to reflect recent developments in theory and research, while retaining the clarity of earlier versions. Informative, wide-ranging and always readable, the updated text provides 21st century students and their teachers with an invaluable overview of an increasingly complex field.’
Deborah Cameron, Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication, University of Oxford

‘Those who, like me, have used this book in their language and gender courses, will warmly welcome this up-date, which brings both the material surveyed and the perspectives covered into the 21st century. Jennifer Coates’ lucid and engaging style continues to make this a very attractive text.’

Janet Holmes, Professor of Linguistics, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

‘Women, Men and Language has served readers since its first publication as an accessible and balanced guide to the literature on gender differences in language. This revised edition extends the book’s scope to reflect recent developments in theory and research, while retaining the clarity of earlier versions. Informative, wide-ranging and always readable, the updated text provides 21st century students and their teachers with an invaluable overview of an increasingly complex field. ‘ Deborah Cameron, Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication,University of Oxford

Women, Men and Language, 3rd Ed

provides an up-to-date account of gender differences in language to answer the question: ‘Do women and men talk differently?’

The book takes the reader from an initial ‘men talk like this; women talk like that’ approach to a more nuanced idea of women and men performing gender in their everyday interactions. It covers a range of sociolinguistic research, looking at grammatical and phonological features a well as at aspects of conversation such as compliments or swearing, and the growing use of the word ‘like’ by younger speakers. Written in a clear and accessible manner, the book explores:

• the idea that gender is not a given but is socially constructued
• the linguistic strategies used by male speakers to dominate female speakers
• the characteristics of language use in same-sex groups
• the way children develop gender-appropriate speech
• the role played by gender in language change
• the social consequences of gender differentiated language in the workplace and in the classroom

This updated third edition concludes with a new chapter summarising new developments and assessing possible future trends for the area.

Using both historical record and contemporary sociolinguistic research, Women, Men and Language succinctly demonstrates that women and men do talk differently.

Jennifer Coates is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at Roehampton University of Surrey.