Language in Mind

Language in Mind

Author: Dedre Gentner

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2003-03-14

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 9780262571630

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The idea that the language we speak influences the way we think has evoked perennial fascination and intense controversy. According to the strong version of this hypothesis, called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis after the American linguists who propounded it, languages vary in their semantic partitioning of the world, and the structure of one's language influences how one understands the world. Thus speakers of different languages perceive the world differently. Although the last two decades have been marked by extreme skepticism concerning the possible effects of language on thought, recent theoretical and methodological advances in cognitive science have given the question new life. Research in linguistics and linguistic anthropology has revealed striking differences in cross-linguistic semantic patterns, and cognitive psychology has developed subtle techniques for studying how people represent and remember experience. It is now possible to test predictions about how a given language influences the thinking of its speakers. Language in Mind includes contributions from both skeptics and believers and from a range of fields. It contains work in cognitive psychology, cognitive development, linguistics, anthropology, and animal cognition. The topics discussed include space, number, motion, gender, theory of mind, thematic roles, and the ontological distinction between objects and substances. Contributors Melissa Bowerman, Eve Clark, Jill de Villiers, Peter de Villiers, Giyoo Hatano, Stan Kuczaj, Barbara Landau, Stephen Levinson, John Lucy, Barbara Malt, Dan Slobin, Steven Sloman, Elizabeth Spelke, and Michael Tomasello


Language, Cognition and Gender

Language, Cognition and Gender

Author: Alan Garnham

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2016-08-08

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 2889198928

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Gender inequality remains an issue of high relevance, and controversy, in society. Previous research shows that language contributes to gender inequality in various ways: Gender-related information is transmitted through formal and semantic features of language, such as the grammatical category of gender, through gender-related connotations of role names (e.g., manager, secretary), and through customs of denoting social groups with derogatory vs. neutral names. Both as a formal system and as a means of communication, language passively reflects culture-specific social conditions. In active use it can also be used to express and, potentially, perpetuate those conditions. The questions addressed in the contributions to this Frontiers Special Topic include: • how languages shape the cognitive representations of gender • how features of languages correspond with gender equality in different societies • how language contributes to social behaviour towards the sexes • how gender equality can be promoted through strategies for gender-fair language use These questions are explored both developmentally (across the life span from childhood to old age) and in adults. The contributions present work conducted across a wide range of languages, including some studies that make cross-linguistic comparisons. Among the contributors are both cognitive and social psychologists and linguists, all with an excellent research standing. The studies employ a wide range of empirical methods: from surveys to electro-physiology. The papers in the Special Topic present a wide range of complimentary studies, which will make a substantial contribution to understanding in this important area.


Invisible Women

Invisible Women

Author: Caroline Criado Perez

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2019-03-12

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 1683353145

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The landmark, prize-winning, international bestselling examination of how a gender gap in data perpetuates bias and disadvantages women. #1 International Bestseller * Winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award * Winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development to health care to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this insidious bias: in time, in money, and often with their lives. Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates this shocking root cause of gender inequality in Invisible Women. Examining the home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more, Criado Perez unearths a dangerous pattern in data and its consequences on women’s lives. Product designers use a “one-size-fits-all” approach to everything from pianos to cell phones to voice recognition software, when in fact this approach is designed to fit men. Cities prioritize men’s needs when designing public transportation, roads, and even snow removal, neglecting to consider women’s safety or unique responsibilities and travel patterns. And in medical research, women have largely been excluded from studies and textbooks, leaving them chronically misunderstood, mistreated, and misdiagnosed. Built on hundreds of studies in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, highly readable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.


Attitudes Towards Gender Neutral Language

Attitudes Towards Gender Neutral Language

Author:

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2023-06-12

Total Pages: 45

ISBN-13: 3346887553

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2022 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 2,6, University of Dortmund, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to investigate attitudes towards gender-neutral language in Germany. The two hypotheses that are put forward are that firstly, females are more open to gender-neutral language than males, and secondly, younger people are more open to gender-neutral language than older people. A survey was distributed through Facebook and other social media channels to gather data about the different attitudes that resulted in 146 valid answers. Furthermore, the participants were divided into four generations and the genders male, female, and divers. After comparing the different groups, the two hypotheses could both be verified.


What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She

What's Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She

Author: Dennis Baron

Publisher: Liveright Publishing

Published: 2020-01-21

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1631496050

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“If you want to know why more people are asking ‘what’s your pronoun?’ then you (singular or plural) should read this book.” —Joe Moran, New York Times Book Review Heralded as “required reading” (Geoff Nunberg) and “the book” (Anne Fadiman) for anyone interested in the conversation swirling around gender-neutral and nonbinary pronouns, What’s Your Pronoun? is a classic in the making. Providing much-needed historical context and analysis to the debate around what we call ourselves, Dennis Baron brings new insight to a centuries-old topic and illuminates how—and why—these pronouns are sparking confusion and prompting new policies in schools, workplaces, and even statehouses. Enlightening and affirming, What’s Your Pronoun? introduces a new way of thinking about language, gender, and how they intersect.


Grammar and Gender

Grammar and Gender

Author: Dennis E. Baron

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1986-01-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780300038835

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Traces the history of sexual bias in the English language, examines attempts at reform, and discusses new words coined to reduce sexism in language


Gender Across Languages

Gender Across Languages

Author: Marlis Hellinger

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2002-04-10

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9027297665

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the second of a three-volume comprehensive reference work on “Gender across Languages”, which provides systematic descriptions of various categories of gender (grammatical, lexical, referential, social) in 30 languages of diverse genetic, typological and socio-cultural backgrounds. Among the issues discussed for each language are the following: What are the structural properties of the language that have an impact on the relations between language and gender? What are the consequences for areas such as agreement, pronominalisation and word-formation? How is specification of and abstraction from (referential) gender achieved in a language? Is empirical evidence available for the assumption that masculine/male expressions are interpreted as generics? Can tendencies of variation and change be observed, and have alternatives been proposed for a more equal linguistic treatment of women and men? This volume (and the previous two volumes) will provide the much-needed basis for explicitly comparative analyses of gender across languages. All chapters are original contributions and follow a common general outline developed by the editors. The book contains rich bibliographical and indexical material.Languages of Volume 2: Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Welsh.


Language and Woman's Place

Language and Woman's Place

Author: Robin Tolmach Lakoff

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2004-07-22

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 019534717X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The 1975 publication of Robin Tolmach Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place, is widely recognized as having inaugurated feminist research on the relationship between language and gender, touching off a remarkable response among language scholars, feminists, and general readers. For the past thirty years, scholars of language and gender have been debating and developing Lakoff's initial observations. Arguing that language is fundamental to gender inequality, Lakoff pointed to two areas in which inequalities can be found: Language used about women, such as the asymmetries between seemingly parallel terms like master and mistress, and language used by women, which places women in a double bind between being appropriately feminine and being fully human. Lakoff's central argument that "women's language" expresses powerlessness triggered a controversy that continues to this day. The revised and expanded edition presents the full text of the original first edition, along with an introduction and annotations by Lakoff in which she reflects on the text a quarter century later and expands on some of the most widely discussed issues it raises. The volume also brings together commentaries from twenty-six leading scholars of language, gender, and sexuality, within linguistics, anthropology, modern languages, education, information sciences, and other disciplines. The commentaries discuss the book's contribution to feminist research on language and explore its ongoing relevance for scholarship in the field. This new edition of Language and Woman's Place not only makes available once again the pioneering text of feminist linguistics; just as important, it places the text in the context of contemporary feminist and gender theory for a new generation of readers.


Advances in Intergroup Communication

Advances in Intergroup Communication

Author: Howard Giles

Publisher: Language as Social Action

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781433130304

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Advances in Intergroup Communication is a timely contribution to the field. It reflects developments in older, more established intergroup settings (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, organizations) whilst introducing newer studies such as the military and political parties. It also pays attention to emerging trends in new media and social networks and considers the developing field of neuroscience of communication. The volume brings together authors from different geographical areas (North America, Europe, and Australia) and from different disciplines (particularly communication, linguistics, and psychology). Contributions are organized around five themes, corresponding to the five sections of the book: defining features and constraints; tools of intergroup communication; social groups in their context; intergroup communication in organizations; and future directions.


Gender Trouble

Gender Trouble

Author: Judith Butler

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2011-09-22

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1136783245

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

With intellectual reference points that include Foucault and Freud, Wittig, Kristeva and Irigaray, this is one of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years and is perhaps the essential work of contemporary feminist thought.