Blackwell Reference Online

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With the general growth of gender research across multiple disciplines, it is not surprising that issues surrounding women's language and communication have become a popular area of study (→  Feminist and Gender Studies ). Research in this area has been traced back to a 1664 report that cited differences in speech forms of “Carib” women and men ( Jesperson 1922 ). This research was the beginning of a fruitful area of study looking at language use, speech styles, and communication strategies associated with women. Early research on women's language and communication focused on linguistic aspects of language, mainly concentrating on sounds (e.g., phonetics) and syntax (→  Linguistics ). The more systematic interest and dichotomy of sex-role- and gender-related aspects of language and communication came much later (→  Rhetoric and Gender ). With the influence of the feminist movement in some parts of the world, a serious interest in women's language and communication research materialized. Thus, in these countries research concerning women's language and communication became apparent from the 1970s. One of the first books to look at women's language and communication was Robin Lakoff's (1975) Language and woman's place , in which the author investigated the structure of women's speech. This pioneering work was later revised and expanded with the 2004 publication of Language and ... log in or subscribe to read full text