Making (Up) A Difference

Although recent studies have given empirical evidence of the fact that there is no such thing as genderlects, i.e. binary gender-specific speech styles, it is striking how traditional ideas of gender differences still prevail in public discourse. This book provides a meta-analytic discussion of different studies on gender and language to show why the existence of genderlects has never been convincingly proven. In the process, the analytical focus is put on features which were frequently used as variables in earlier researches to test the validity of genderlects such as hedges and interruptions. The goal of the current book is to emphasize the necessity to dispose of the term genderlect if one aspires to overcome sexist discourses.