This book discusses the relationship between gender and language use in a framework of social interaction. In so doing, it reports on research concerned with sexism in language, the use of language by women and men, and the evaluations of language use by women and men. Language is considered within four theoretical frameworks in which assumptions about the relations between women and men are made explicit. Abstract theories of social structure are linked to findings on speech and language structure. Among the structural frameworks discussed are: (1) muted group framework, (2) reconstructed psychoanalysis framework, (3) speech styles framework, and (4) strategy framework. Language structure is viewed as a product of social interaction in which the participants (speakers) often have unequal influence and speaking rights. Each framework provides a perspective from which to explain gender-based differences in speech and in its evaluation. (Author/JK)