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

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.