University of the West of England
MODULE SPECIFICATION
Code: UPNQ9W-30-3 Title: Gender, (Im)politeness and power in language
Version: 1
Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15
Module type: Standard
Owning Faculty: SSH Field: Linguistics
Faculty Committee Approval: QSC Date : 25 March 2009
Valid from: September 2009 Discontinued from:
Contributes towards: Awards up to BA(Hons)
Pre-requisites: None
Co-requisites: None
Excluded combinations: None
Learning outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate:
1. |
a critical understanding of the concept of discourse (component A) |
2. |
skills in applying the main frameworks for analyzing discourse (component A) |
3. |
a critical understanding of how language and gender relate (component A) |
4. |
the ability to critically discuss difference, dominance and the construction of gendered identities in and by discourse (component A) |
5. |
a clear understanding of (Im)politeness in conversation (component B) |
6. |
an ability to show by analysis how gender and (im)politeness are constructed in and by discourse (component B) |
7. |
an ability to show by analysis how gender and impoliteness relate to power (component B) |
8. |
a critical understanding of power imbalance in different settings (component B) |
Syllabus outline:
Theory and Background (Knowledge)
• Introduction to discourse
• Doing discourse analysis
• Women are from Venus-Variation in discourse
• The myth of Mars and Venus
• From ‘difference’ to ‘performance’
• Gender as constructed in and by language
• Sexuality/Queer theory
• Introduction to the concept of politeness
• Politeness Theories and gender
• Impoliteness
• The dynamics of impoliteness as a situated concept
• Gender, impoliteness and power in everyday and institutional talk
• Gender and Gendered in online and workplace contexts
Teaching and learning methods: This module will be taught through a combination of lectures and seminars. There will be one lecture and one seminar per week. Seminars will be used for class discussion of issues raised in the lectures and in examination of journals and texts, and for group/individual presentations.
Reading Strategy:
All students will be expected to make full use of print and electronic resources available to them through membership of the University. These include a range of electronic books (e.g. ebooks, ebrary), electronic journals (available through Ebsco, Emerald, Sage databases), multidisciplinary databases (e.g. LexisNexis, FAME) and a variety of resources available through websites and information gateways. The University Library’s web pages provide access to subject-relevant resources and services, and to the library catalogue.
Guidance to some key authors and journals, mostly available through the library and/or the Internet, will be given on UWEonline. It is expected that assignment bibliographies and references lists will reflect the range of reading carried out. Relevant chapters of books and journal articles will be recommended as appropriate to the topic.
Indicative Reading List:
The following list is offered to provide validation panels/accrediting bodies with an indication of the type and level of information students may be expected to consult. As such, its currency may wane during the life span of the module specification. However, as indicated above, CURRENT advice on readings will be available via other more frequently updated mechanisms.
Books and articles:
Bamberg, M., A. De Fina and D. Schiffrin. (2007). Selves and Identities in Narrative and Discourse. John Benjamins.
Beeching, K. (2002). Gender, Politeness And Pragmatic Particles In French. Amsterdam : Benjamins
Besnier, N. (2003) ‘Crossing genders, mixing languages: the linguistic construction of transgenderism in Tonga’, in Holmes, J. & Meyerhoff, M. (eds.) The Handbook of Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Cameron, D. ([1985] 1992, 2nd edn) Feminism and Linguistic Theory. Basingstoke/London: Macmillan.
Cameron, D. (2005) ‘Language, gender and sexuality: current issues and new directions’, Applied Linguistics 26 (4): 482-502.
Coates, J. ([1986] 2004, 3rd edn) Women, Men and Language. London: Longman.
Coupland, N. (1985) ‘”Hark, hark the lark”: social motivations for phonological style-shifting’, Language and Communication. 5 (3): 153-71.
Coupland, N. (2001) ‘Language, situation, and the relational self: theorizing dialect-style in sociolinguistics’, in Eckert, P. and Rickford, J. (eds) Style and Sociolinguistic Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eckert, P. (2007) ‘Messing with style’, in Maybin, J. & Swann, J. (eds) The Art of English: everyday creativity. Basingstoke, Hants and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Harrington, K., Litosseliti, L., Sauntson, H. & Sunderland, J. (eds.) (2007) Language and Gender Research Methodologies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Holmes, J. (1996) ‘Women's role in language change: a place for quantification’, in N. Warner, J. Ahlers, L. Bilmes, M. Oliver, S. Wertheim & M. Chen (eds.) Gender and Belief Systems: Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Women and Language Conference, April 19-21 1996. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Women and Language Group.
Holmes, J. ([1992] 2001, 2nd edn) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London: Longman.
Holmes, J. (1995) Women, Men and Politeness. New York: Longman.
Hultgren, A.K. (2007) ‘Reconstructing the sex dichotomy in language and gender research: some advantages of using correlational sociolinguistics’, in Harrington, K., Litosseliti, L., Sauntson, H. & Sunderland, J. (eds.) (2007, in press) Language and Gender Research Methodologies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Meyerhoff, M. (2006) Introducing Sociolinguistics. London and New York: Routledge.
Mills, S. (2003) Gender and Politeness. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E.A. (1997) ‘Whose text, whose context?’, Discourse and Society 8 (2): 165-87.
Swann, J. (2002) ‘Yes, but is it gender?’, in Litosseliti, L. and Sunderland, J. (eds.) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Wetherell, M. (1998) ‘Positioning and interpretative repertoires: conversation analysis and post-structuralism in dialogue’, Discourse and Society 9(3): 387-412.
Journals
Gender and Language journal
Journal of politeness research
Journal of sociolinguistics
Journal of pragmatics
Language in Society
Students will be encouraged to follow debates in the media relevant to intercultural topics and to regularly read a variety of press and journals related to the topic.
Assessment
Weighting between components A and B A: 25% B: 75%
ATTEMPT 1
First Assessment Opportunity
Component A Weighting 25%
Description of each element
One hour exam
Component B Weighting 75%
Description of each element
Transcription and Analysis of discourse data (4000 words)
Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is/is not required)
Component A Weighting 25%
Description of each element
One hour exam
Component B Weighting 75%
Description of each element
Transcription and Analysis of discourse data (4000 words)
SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT: Attendance at taught classes is not required.
Specification confirmed by ……… ……Date …………………
(Associate Dean/Programme Director)