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The language-planning effect of newspaper editorial policy: Gender differences in The Washington Post1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Ralph Fasold ,
Haru Yamada ,
David Robinson  and
Steven Barish
Ralph Fasold
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University
Haru Yamada
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University
David Robinson
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University
Steven Barish
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Georgetown University
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Abstract

We examined the effect of general statements against sexist usage in the style manual for The Washington Post. We selected a minor usage pattern that was not the subject of an explicit rule, namely, the difference in the use of a middle initial in references to men and to women. This usage was taken as an index of the possible effect of a general policy statement on newswriting practice. We found significantly less difference by sex in this usage subsequent to the publication of the style manual. We take the difference as support for the effectiveness of language planning in this instance, although the significance of our results as evidence of real equality of treatment remains somewhat problematic. There are different points of view in sociolinguistics about the relative value of quantitative versus more directly interpretive methods. We present in some detail the reasoning behind the use of quantitative methods to support an investigation such as ours. (Language planning, language treatment, language and sex, language and the media, style and usage, forms of reference, statistical methods)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 521 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

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