Language, Gender, and Sex in Comparative Perspective (Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language, Series Number 4)

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.

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.