ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some of the most commonly used analytical frameworks in contemporary language, gender and sexuality research. Whilst this chapter contains explanations of each framework, applications of the frameworks within particular empirical studies are explored in subsequent chapters. The chapter defines and explains the following frameworks: conversation analysis, corpus linguistics, (feminist) critical discourse analysis, feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis, multimodal critical discourse analysis, linguistic landscapes and sociolinguistics. All of these (and other) frameworks can sit within broader approaches, such as queer linguistics (introduced in Chapter 2). Whilst queer theory and queer linguistics can orient the researcher theoretically (which then helps to identify the priorities and purposes of the research), the analytical frameworks can then offer ways of looking at language in specific data sets in order to realise those theoretical priorities. Within the limited space of this book, it is not possible to provide overviews of every analytical method available within the field – what is presented in this chapter and throughout the book are the main frameworks that are most commonly covered in undergraduate modules in British universities at the time of writing and which are used in the studies referred to in subsequent chapters.
