Title: Making
the Invisible Visible
Author: A. Taylor, M.J. Hardman, C. WrightPublisher: iUniverse
Pages: 172Genre: Words/Language/GrammarFormat: Kindle
Author: A. Taylor, M.J. Hardman, C. WrightPublisher: iUniverse
Pages: 172Genre: Words/Language/GrammarFormat: Kindle
All
that is human is mediated through language. And because we learned
the process of being human in a culture as we learned the language of
that culture, much that we learned remains invisible to us. But even
though invisible, it guides what and how we learn and remember, our
perceptions, our behaviors, including communicative behaviors.
Throughout our lives, that early language/culture learning affects
us, all too often without our realizing. The discoveries about that
early learning that this book makes possible enable readers to see
through their language and learn to live productively and engage
fully in mutually fulfilling relationships. This book talks back to
the old adage, Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can
never hurt. We show how words do hurt, of course not by breaking
bones, but by damaging self-confidence, reputations, livelihoods–or
provoking people to the point of breaking bones–or worse. We focus
on the roles of gender in language in effective or failed
communication. We direct attention to invisible impacts of daily
language use. When the invisible becomes visible, readers can see the
many ways daily talk and interactions create and reinforce genders.
We explore how language functions, its sources of power, and why it
resists change even when negative impacts are clear. We explore how,
in part through hidden gendering, English disadvantages many of its
users and point to how the problems emerge in the ways gender
functions in this supposedly non-gendered language. We describe how
gendered language guides us to create and reinforce behaviors and
relationships we do not intend. We conclude with suggestions of how
to use English to reflect egalitarian values.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Anita
Taylor, Professor Emerita of Communication and Women’s Studies at
George Mason University in Fairfax VA, focused on understanding
gender in communication for over 30 years. With PhD from U. of
Missouri-Columbia and M.S. from Kansas State University, she has
sought help people live and work more effectively in a variety of
gendered worlds. To contact Dr. Taylor, email her at ataylor@gmu.edu
M J Hardman is Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Anthropology, and
affiliated with Women’s Studies at the University. of Florida. She
has specialized in the Jaqi languages and in gender as manifested in
language and culture. Dr. Hardman, has made a life-long study the
Jaqi languages of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru; with her colleague and
dear friend, Dimas Bautista, has published in print and on-line a
grammar of the languages as well as making available bi-lingual
learning materials and cultural resources. For more information, see
http://clas.ufl.edu/users/hardman. Catherine K. Wright (PhD, Regent
University, 2005) is the designer and primary architect of the web
pages that provide support for this book. As undergraduate adviser
and term Associate Professor of Communication at George Mason
University she focuses on computer-mediated communication and the
various means people use to transmit information to each other. Among
other courses, she emphasizes media and society, business and
professional communication, web development and communication. For
more information, see http://classweb.gmu.edu/cwright5.
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