Independently, students will work on a paper that examines the relationship between language and gender.
The paper contains an introduction with a thesis statement, discussion of the main points, and conclusion plus additional pages for references, charts, maps, and tables.
The references include a variety of sources (primary, secondary, books, journal articles) and follow MLA Style
(2) conduct a brief literature review, critiquing several publications, and articulating your own thoughts and ideas on the topic, using data analysis discussed in the selected secondary sources.
Pick a fictional male or female character that is identified with a particular part of the English-speaking world. (If you speak another language and would like to write about a fictional character with a regional accent in that language, please speak to me about it.) Pick a characteristic phrase that identifies him or her as coming from that region. What is the social meaning of the dialect? What does the screenwriter want you to believe about the character’s gender identity? What stereotype does the character represent? In your analysis focus on one of the following: the vocabulary and voice tone (give examples of words that the character says in the film that identify him or her as from that region) or the content of conversations (what do they consider appropriate and important to communicate about, give examples from the film) or nonverbal communication clues like body posture, arm movements, body position, eye contact, and give examples from the film.
Examine dialogs in novels, children’s books, films, or comic books and see if they use stereotypical male and female speech patterns that we discussed. If they do, analyze how those speech patterns, or linguistic features, are used (e.g., what kinds of features are used by male and female characters and how many times a particular feature is used). For novels or children’s books, a sample of four should suffice – two by female and two by male writers of an equivalent genre (e.g., spy, science fiction, romance). Compare your findings with some of those reported in the research on literary style.
