In Language and Gender, we study how language affects our sense of
ourselves as women or men.  We also study how women and men use
language differently.  We will consider language and gender in
written communications, including internet postings, graffiti,
letters of recommendation, and academic writing.  But we will focus
on language in face to face interaction.  How do women and men talk
in single gender groups and in mixed gender groups?  What is the
nature of these differences, and what has fostered them?  We will
also consider language and gender in different cultures and
subcultures.  Finally we will study language and gender in specific
contexts:  in the home, in the classroom and university, in the
business world, in science, and in the public arena.  Overall, this
course will make you more aware of the power of language to
influence people, of the complexity of issues of language and gender
in society, and of our growing ability to study these complexities.