(Untitled)

[mingmei]

i'm feeling really self-conscious right now and i need some encouragement.  i submitted an abstract about language, gender and power to a linguistics conference (which i'm also involved in organizing), and after reading some of the other abstracts that were sent in i'm feeling rather inadequate.... however, i may be unfairly comparing myself to

Comments

[myst_luv1224]

You have a good intro. the only thing I would tell you is try to use I as less as possible because the reader already knows it is your opinion for example...
"In this paper, I will be exploring Lakoff's arguments in complement to others (Tannen, Holmes, etc), and applying these concepts to my own conversational analysis."
for that you can put something like "Lakoff's arguments in complement to others (Tannen, Holmes, etc) will be explored along with my own converstional analysis" that's just an example.
Maybe little changes like that.

[mamala_jaybird]

Sometimes the use of "big" words jumbles and runs it on. Are you aiming for a certain word count? I had to actually look up some of the words in the dictionary, like interlocutors. I'm pretty bright and hold a degree. However, I don't know much about linguistic anthropology because I've never deeply studied it.

Have faith in yourself. When you know your stuff you know it. Re-write it again- if this is the 5th time you've written it then you have TOTALLY read it too much. Put it away and read it out loud to someone or record yourself. It works.

Good Luck!

[sarah_san]

.... fantastic XD

I think this abstract sounds just dandy, there's a bunch of words I didn't understand, but I'm assuming the linguistic community knows them. If there's one thing I learned in school, it's to not compare yourself to others. That being said, if they're doing a different topic-ish, then it would make sense that yours doesn't have the same feel as others so I wouldn't use theirs as something to measure off of. Keep in mind most of them have this as their first time too and may be comparing theirs to yours and freaking out 'cause they didn't look at social or other factors. :P
You've already done the work for this, you know your stuff, you just need to work your presentation magic, bam

[raihu]

I really like this! It's succinct and well-organized. Right away, I get the sense that you're comfortable with the material, that you can expand on it and extrapolate from its conclusions. There is one thing I would possibly rewrite for clarification, and it's this:

... as a linguistic device is employed by speakers that identify themselves to be of the male and female genders ...

I'd recommend changing it to something like this:

... as a linguistic device is employed by speakers that identify themselves to be of either the male or female gender ...I nitpick because the current phrasing makes it sound like you'll be analyzing the speech patterns of individuals who identify as both male and female, rather than an individual who identifies as a male and an individual who identifies as a female. Aaaaand that's seriously all I've got

[mingmei]

OMG i totally didn't see the gender thing you suggested! what i was trying to do in that sentence was not purport a gender binary, but by doing that i conflated man and woman into one! lol i think it's kinda funny

[mingmei]

oh and not sure if i made it clear, but she was talking mostly about the conversational language of women (especially when in conversation with men).

it's a popular field. deborah tannen has a book called "you just don't understand" that discusses why men and women misunderstand each other in conversation, tracing it to the styles of language employed and the meaning it carries in their identification to a particular gender. it's interesting but i find it troubling that it still hinges on the idea of a "natural" discrete gender dichotomy - flawed in my view.

and ya, linguistics in general will make you hypersensitive to the functions of language. linguists joke about how studying language on such an intense and detailed level fucks up your ability to speak (english, in this case). i swear it's true!! you start second guessing what you say and find yourself listening more to HOW people talk, rather than the content of what they're saying :P makes for some awkward moments when you get caught "not listening" XD

[lion_rose]

I didn't have any trouble following along with the language - I thought it was plenty academic and quite clear in establishing the boundaries of your argument as well. Don't worry, I think this will be great!