Bilingual Women: Anthropological Approaches to Second Language Use: 9 (Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women) - Softcover

'...this book is enormously valuable for having broken new grounds, and having established a strong link between gender and bilingualism.'Giuliana LadomeryLUISS, Rome'The insights into gender-related language choices are often fascinating, sometimes surprising as they contradict hastily accepted views.'Bulletin of Francophone Africa 'The main strength of this book is found in its detailed ethnographic descriptions of language choices in bilingual societies from all over the world ... I would welcome many of the articles in this book into courses on

This book studies women's language use in bilingual or multi-lingual cultural situations. The authors - social anthropologists, language teachers, and interpreters cover a wide variety of geographical and linguistic situations, from the death of Gaelic in the Outer Hebrides, to the use of Spanish by Quechua and Aymara women in the Andes. Certain common themes emerge: dominant and sub-dominant languages, women's use of them; ambivalent attitudes towards women as translators, interpreters and writers in English as a second language; and the critical role of women in the survival (or death) of minority languages such as Gaelic and Breton.