A review on gender linguistics studies

Abstract

Gender linguistics is a cynosure branch within the framework of language sociology and it deals with the effect that the gender, as a variable, has on the creation of lingual diversities. Because a great many of the social-cultural concepts, including gender, are multifaceted, one-dimensional and absolute perceptions of such concepts lead to some sort of superficiality, particularly in research areas. The present article, firstly, deals with the presentation of the notions opined by two prominent figures of the field, namely Robin Lakoff, 1975 and Deborah Tannen, 1990. Then, it is attempted, through a probe into the most recent studies carried out in the years from 2008 to 2016, to elaborate more on this study field. The results of the study are indicative of the idea that the applied linguistics researchers are more interested, than the others, in the survey of the gender effect and role in language and this effect has been, especially, evaluated regarding the second language learning but this field of study is found with numerous shortcomings the most important of which is the negligence of the propounded gender-related theories.