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Anne Pauwels, Women changing language. (Real language series). London & New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1998. Pp. xvi, 267. Hb £40.00, pb £14.99.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2000

Deborah Cameron
Affiliation:
Language in Education, Institute of Education, London University, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, England, d.cameron@ioe.ac.uk

Abstract

This is a book about feminist language reform. The subject is not exactly neglected; since the late 1970s there has been no shortage either of practical guides to nonsexist language (for English see, inter alia, Miller & Swift 1980) or of historical, descriptive, and theoretical discussions (book-length examples include Nilsen et al. 1977, Vetterling-Braggin 1981, and Baron 1986). Pauwels's text is primarily descriptive, though it also has theoretical and practical elements; there is an appendix advising on how to draft nonsexist language guidelines. Like most previous work on this subject, it is written by a self-identified feminist, and one who is clearly sympathetic to the general project of feminist language reform. But that is not to say that Pauwels breaks no new ground: in fact, Women changing language has two important distinguishing features.

Type
Book Review
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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