Language and Gender, Fall 2005
Research paper, 8-10 pages.
Topic due by 9/2. Draft and class presentation due by 9/26. Final paper due by 9/28.
You will choose an aspect of gendered language to investigate. Possible topics include male/female occupational titles, personal names and titles, words for hetero- and homosexual males and females, pronouns, or other topics to be approved by professor.
Next, find something interesting about the topic. How has use of this language changed over time? In what language contexts do the greatest disparities appear? Who uses what terms?
You will investigate the topic by studying the language feature either in dictionaries or in computerized corpora of texts. I have listed possible sources below. The purpose of your investigation is to document the use of your language feature. You may search texts or media other than a computer corpus for uses of gendered language.
Your research should also be informed by a minimum of three related research articles which you will incorporate into your paper as background or comparative material. See the course bibliography and/or articles from my notebooks, as well as library resources such as the MLA Bibliography and Project Muse.
Format:
1) Introduction. What is your topic? Why are you studying it? How did you study it?
2) Background info from reading.
3) Description of your methodology and findings
4) Conclusion. How does your original research fit with the published research? What are the implications of your research? Do you have suggestions for further research?
Dictionaries available:
Oxford English Dictionary (online and in print)
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang
Dictionary of American Regional English
Unabridged dictionaries (Webster's Third, Random House)
Slang dictionaries edited by Partridge or Wentworth and Flexner
Corpora (online collections of spoken and written texts):
Linguistic Atlas Projects http://us.english.uga.edu/
Collins Wordbanks http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx