In this paper, the structure and the use of language are postulated as socializing agents influencing sex-role learning in three major ways: (1) sex differences occur in language use and parallel sex-role stereotypes; (2) the language that is addressed to children is usually the language of socialization which instructs the child what to do, think, or feel; (3) the interaction between structure and language usage result in feminine or masculine forms used as generic terms to designate categories that could potentially include members of either sex. This interaction is seen, then, as delimiting androgynous possibilities. The paper attempts to show how these three socializing influences theoretically interrelate with the acquisition of self-concept, sex roles, sex-role stereotypes, and a sexist view of the world in young children. Two tables follow the text, the first giving examples of sex-role stereotyping as expressed by children, and the second giving examples of the nongeneric use of the usually generic masculine form. (CLK)