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The journey continues. But how? And to where?

Article Excerpt
Looking Back:

In the first issue of Women and Language News, January 1976, editors Pam Tiedt and Pat Nichols, wrote that "one of the problems ... is finding out what other people are doing, especially due to the interdisciplinary nature of the study of women's language" (1). That's primarily why they started the newsletter: to seek and share information. But there were other goals as well. In May they called for research into "sex differences" across cultures and societies, adding that part of the task before those interested in such study was to "develop a theory which will explain and predict particular sex-differentiated language use. An adequate theory will of necessity be interdisciplinarity. It's important to share our findings across disciplines for that reason alone" (1). While today even those who initially pinned the need for study of women and language on sex differences no longer cite that as the needed focus for us in the field, the call of interdisciplinary remains valid. Indeed, the need probably has increased over time as attention has turned to gender rather than sex; perceptions in addition to use; communication as well as expression; and the social-cultural contexts in which communication, gender and language are embedded.

In May 1977, 30 years ago now, Tiedt and her new co-editor Sharon Veach claimed some success for the fledgling publication, and called for more participation. Hailing two signed articles, firsts for the publication,...

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