This is a critical essay on Otto Jespersen's chapter titled ''The Woman" in his early major monograph Language its Nature, Development, and Origin (1922) In this 18-page chapter, Jespersen(=J) expresses his views on the differences in language between men and women, which have become the fodder of much criticism during the years of the feminist movement in the 60's and the 70's I critically review both J's and his critics' arguments. While I will come to J's defense by arguing that much of the later criticism was misguided when viewed from the context of his time, I will also chide him for having been a "naive" scholar in developing his arguments and in presenting the prima facie evidence for them I argue that language differences in gender derive from the social order of sex, Just as the honorifics system derives from a social order of class, and therefore that It is understandable that J's writings reflect the language use of his time At the same tune, I criticize J for his careless attitude about putative evidence Usually a very insightful and meticulous linguist, J inexplicably slips into impressionistic, introspective, and self-justifying mode of scholarship
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