Grammar and gender - Hardcover

Baron, Dennis

3.54

13 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300035268 ISBN 13: 9780300035261

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1986

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A lively history of the sexual biases that exist in our language and a fascinating account of past and present efforts to correct these biases by reforming usage and vocabulary.
“A valuable contribution to the politics of linguistics.... Fun to read.”―Publishers Weekly
“That readers’ awareness of their own opinions is sharpened constitutes one of the positive values of the book.”―Charles Sleeth, Times Literary Supplement
“Based on thorough and sound scholarship, this work should have wide appeal in the academic community.”―Library Journal
“What we learn from Baron’s insights into our words’ past meanings can help us make them say what we want them to for the future.”―Beryl Lieff Benderly, Psychology Today
“Chock full of good research on the subject that continues to be vital to all human beings. Baron’s historical treatment gives depth and perspective to readers who are interested in a dignified approach to male/female communicative interactions.”―Mary Ritchie Key, University of California, Irvine
“There are a great many books on the subject of male-female language differences but none is based on such sound historical scholarship. Grammar and Gender will become a major source for other treatments of sexist language.”―Richard W. Bailey, University of Michigan

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From the Back Cover:

A lively history of the sexual biases that exist in our language and a fascinating account of past and present efforts to correct these biases by reforming usage and vocabulary.

From Publishers Weekly:

Male linguists once struggled mightily to trace the word woman to the phony folk root woe is man. For the origins of lass, they turned to an Icelandic word meaning weak. If this seems to reek of sexism and make the blood boil, so will dozens of examples found in this historical survey of the roots of sexism in the English language. Baron, author of Grammar and Good Taste, can be maddeningly noncommittal. Is Ms. a useful coinage? Do gender-neutral terms like chairperson and salesperson deserve to survive ridicule? What should be done about constructions such as "Everyone loves his or her mother"? Even though Baron puts forward no solutions of his own, he makes a valuable contribution to the politics of linguistics by setting these and other controversies in a historical context. He also looks at enterprising feminist word coiners. His scholarly book is fun to read.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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