Female Sociolinguists

[J.Swann]

Dear all - sorry to be responding so late to this discussion. I'm one of
the authors for the dictionary Emma is reviewing, so feel I need to say
something! Other authors are Ana Deumert, Theresa Lillis and Rajend
Mesthrie.

We were keenly aware that academic dictionaries (and encyclopedias, text
books etc) construct as well as reflect the areas they cover, and we
tried to take a broad, inclusive  approach to sociolinguistics. We spent
a long time on the question of names. Initially we weren't going to have
any. The dictionary is meant to represent terms whose meanings or usage
people want to check, and this wouldn't really be the context for
profiles of 
people who had contributed to the field. By contrast Raj Mesthrie's
Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics (2001, Elsevier) does include a
set of 'Profiles of sociolinguists' as Miriam mentioned. Inevitably
there are omissions here and this does reflect the problematic nature of
this kind of exercise. In the case of the dictionary, we eventually
decided to include a very few names that students and other readers
might find in texts in connection with some kind of approach or theory -
so used a bit like an academic term, sometimes with limited explanation.
I'm thinking of phrases like 'the Labovian paradigm', and in fact many
of the names have a kind of adjectival status, though this doesn't work
for all of them. The names include major theorists whose work has been
taken up by sociolinguists (e.g. Foucault, Bakhtin) and a few
sociolinguists who might be considered foundational with respect to a
particular approach or aspect of sociolinguistics (e.g. Labov - in fact
the only variationist sociolinguist included). This inevitably results
in a biased list in terms of gender, language, geography etc, though I
think the situation is changing, certainly with respect to gender.

This doesn't mean we got it right, of course, but that was the thinking
behind it.

Best,

Joan

-----Original Message-----
From: International Gender and Language Association
[mailto:GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Esther Kuntjara
Sent: 25 May 2005 02:42
To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Female Sociolinguists


and don't forget the female sociolinguists from Asia like Ide

Quoting "Lillian, Donna L." <LILLIAND at MAIL.ECU.EDU>:

> and Sandra Clarke
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	International Gender and Language Association on behalf of Mary
Talbot
> Sent:	Tue 5/24/2005 8:35 AM
> To:	GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Cc:
> Subject:	     Re: Female Sociolinguists
>
> and Ruth Wodak
>
>
> --
> Dr Mary Talbot
> Reader in Language and Culture
> Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies
> University of Sunderland,
> Media Building
> St Peter's
> Sunderland
> SR6 0DD UK
> Tel: +44 191 515 2656
> Fax: +44 191 515 3807
> General office tel: +44 191 2634
>
>
> On 24 May 2005, at 13:19, Sunderland, Jane wrote:
>
> > Could I add Joan Swann too
> >
> > Jane
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: International Gender and Language Association 
> > [mailto:GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of LINDA 
> > MCLOUGHLIN
> > Sent: 24 May 2005 13:19
> > To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> > Subject: Re: Female Sociolinguists
> >
> >
> > Dear Emma,
> > It's difficult to comment without knowing which female 
> > sociolinguists are included but I'd certainly hope to see Lesley 
> > Milroy and Janet Holmes mentioned. Best wishes,
> > Linda
> >
> > Dr. Linda McLoughlin
> > Pathway Leader
> > English Language,
> > Humanities Deanery
> > 0151 291 3250
> > Liverpool Hope University College accepts no responsibility for this

> > email, its contents and any loss or damage arising in any way from 
> > the receipt or use of this email and its attachments.
> >
> >>>> e.moore at SHEF.AC.UK 24/05/2005 12:39:40 >>>
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I'm currently reviewing a new sociolinguistic dictionary. The 
> > dictionary includes named entries of key academics (these include 
> > Labov, Hymes, Bourdieu, for instance). The authors quite sensibly 
> > note that there is a
> > preponderance of white, Anglophone, male academics in their entries
> > and
> > explain this as a consequence of the way in which academic
disciplines
> > have developed. They go on to state that this situation is likely to
> > change over time.
> >
> > Whilst I commend the fact that the authors note this at all, my 
> > feeling is that the situation is unlikely to change unless 
> > dictionaries such as the
> > one I'm reviewing take a stand and introduce female, non-white
> > academics
> > into their representation of the canon. It's not like there aren't
> > excellent female and/or non-white researchers out there.
> >
> > How do others feel about this? If you support my view, who would you

> > like to see included?
> >
> > Many thanks,
> > Emma.
> >
> > ********************************************************************
> > *
> >
> > Dr Emma Moore
> > Lecturer in Sociolinguistics; Admissions Tutor
> > Department of English Language and Linguistics
> > University of Sheffield
> > 5 Shearwood Road
> > Sheffield
> > S10 2TN
> > UK
> >
> > Phone: +44 (0)114 222 0232
> > Fax: +44 (0)114 222 0240
> > E-mail: e.moore at sheffield.ac.uk
> > Webpage: http://www.shef.ac.uk/english/language/staff/emmam.html
> > ********************************************************************
>
>
>