Language, Gender, and Sex in Comparative Perspective [Paperback]

The significance of cultural processes in linguistic development is revealed through a cross-cultural comparison of cultural and biological sources of gender difference in language usage.The significance of cultural processes in linguistic development is revealed through a cross-cultural comparison of cultural and biological sources of gender difference in language usage.The aim of this innovative volume is to analyze both the cultural and the biological sources of gender differences in language use. The first two parts of the volume focus on cultural variation in gender-differentiated language use, comparing Western English-speaking societies with others from elsewhere in the world. Part III examines the relationship between language and the brain, showing that although there are differences in males' and females' processing of language in the brain, these do not yield any gender differences in language use. Overall, the volume points to the greater salience of cultural processes over biological processes in the shaping of gender.Acknowledgements; Introduction: the interaction of social and biological processes in women's and men's speech Susan U. Philips; Part I. Women's and Men's Speech in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Introduction Susan U. Philips; 1. The womanly woman: manipulation of stereotypical and nonstereotypical features of Japanese female speech Janet S. Shibamoto; 2. The impact of stratification and socialization on men's and women's speech in Western Samoa Elinor Ochs; 3. The interaction of variable syntax and discourse structure in women's and men's speech Susan U. Philips and Anne Reynolds; 4. A diversity of voices: men's and women's speech in ethnographic perspective Joel Sherzer; 5. Women's speech in modern Mexicano Jane H. Hill; Part II. Gender Differences in the Language of Children: Introduction Christine Tanz; 6. Preschool boys' and girls' language use in pretend play Jacqueline Sachs; 7. Sex differences in parent-child interaction Jean Berko Gló,