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Distributed for UCL Press

Rewriting Language

How Literary Texts Can Promote Inclusive Language Use

Distributed for UCL Press

Rewriting Language

How Literary Texts Can Promote Inclusive Language Use

Extensively studied and heavily debated, inclusive language is a hot topic. Despite decades of research and scholarship, findings on its importance slip into neglect. How do we convince speakers of the importance of inclusive language? Christiane Luck’s Rewriting Language provides one possible answer: read fiction.
 
By engaging readers with the issue, novels spread awareness and promote linguistic change. Novels have the power to paint the problems presented with accessibility and spark change. Analyzing five iconic literary texts, including Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Verena Stefan’s Häutungen, Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, and June Arnold’s The Cook and the Carpenter, Luck dives into the possibilities and challenges of linguistic neutrality. Rewriting Language illustrates the link between language and imagination. As Luck concludes, novels are valuable tools to embolden inclusive language use.
 

204 pages | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2020

Free digital open access editions are available to download from UCL Press.

Comparative Literature and Culture

Language and Linguistics:


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Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Linguistics and literature 2. Problematising the linguistic status quo – The Left Hand of Darkness and Häutungen 3. Proposing linguistic neutrality – The Cook and the Carpenter and Woman on the Edge of Time 4. Reversing the linguistic status quo –  Egalias døtre 5. ‘It’s good to make people realise … double standards’ – Evaluating the impact of literary texts thematising sex/gender and language Conclusions Works Cited Index

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