Literary and Linguistic Computing Advance Access originally published online on June 24, 2005
Literary and Linguistic Computing 2005 20(Suppl 1):147-164; doi:10.1093/llc/fqi020
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Écriture féminine: Searching for an Indefinable Practice?
ARTFL Project, University of Chicago
Correspondence: Mark Olsen, ARTFL Project, Department of Romance Languages, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637, USA. E-mail: mark{at}barkov.uchicago.edu
It is well documented that men and women use informal language, such as conversation and correspondence, in rather different ways, reflecting a wide variety of cultural forces and practices. There have been relatively few attempts to examine gender differences in more formal, published writing. Using two corpora balanced by time period and genre of 300 French literary texts by male and female authors written between the 16th and 20th centuries, this study examines rates of word use and common lexical contexts associated with particular terms in an effort to isolate some characteristics of female writing in this time period. While there are clear differences in the words used by male and female authors not explained by genre or time period, it would appear that the meaning of these words was not significantly altered. It is suggested that these characteristics of earlier practices of feminine writing are indicative of the conscious agency of early women writers in establishing a distinct female literary voice and may inform future proponents of ‘écriture féminine’.