Qing Zhang New Variationist Approaches to Language and Gender

University of Texas, Austin
qzhang@mail.utexas.edu

About Qing Zhang

Zhang's own work on language variation, gender, and professional identity in China demonstrates the importance of variationist techniques in the study of gender identity while illustrating the value of extending traditional variationist techniques and concepts to accommodate new phenomena (such as the "Chinese yuppie" of her own research). In addition, she has used the insights of research on language ideologies to study the use of language in constructing a gay community in Taiwanese print media. She is also an editor of a recent volume on language and gender.

Abstract

This workshop will explore recent development in language and gender studies from a variationist perspective.Ý We will begin with recent studies that treat linguistic variation as symbolic resource in the discursive construction of gendered identities and styles.Ý These studies represent a shift away from the traditional approach that views gender as a binary independent variable and describes the linguistic behavior of women and men on a linear dimension of standard-vernacular, or as innovative and conservative (in the spread of linguistic change).Ý By foregrounding agency, these studies focus on the processes through which (groups of) individuals select and combine variables into stylistic ensembles that are meaningful in their local landscape.

The second part of the workshop will be devoted to a discussion on developing a more sophisticated and nuanced analysis of the social meanings of variation.Ý Specifically, I will discuss impact of global capitalism on local sites of talk and the ways in which local agents draw on linguistic resources from both local and global sources to construct their gendered identities.Ý In addition, I will discuss the importance of the sociocultural history of linguistic variables both as context for and constraints on the linguistic construction of gendered styles.

Workshop Materials

Coming Soon!



home invited speakers workshops posters contact