1.01 English: Language and Gender Flashcards
Suggest men’s use of language ‘dominates’ the weaker female sex
This partly stems from their higher position in the social hierarchy
Dominance model theorists
Book: “Language and Woman’s Place” (1975)
Suggests women have their own language, with distinct features that separate it from men’s language
Robin Lakoff
Tag questions: used a lot by women and suggest uncertainty (EG: it’s hot in here, isn’t it?)
Polite forms: women say please and thank you more than men
Empty adjectives: that don’t really add any description (EG: lovely, divine, adorable)
Robin Lakoff: Women’s language features
Didn’t do research - her ideas are based on her own observations (they were subjective not objective)
Stereotypes both genders
Her claims were only correct to a society similar to her own
Robin Lakoff: Evaluation
Santa Barbara campus study (1975)
• Found men interrupting more than women
• They said that since men interrupt more, they are dominating or attempting to do so
Zimmerman and West
Very small study: few people and few conversations
Didn’t count interruptions within same gender conversations
Little variety in the study’s subjects: they were all white middle class
Geoff Beattie challenged it only 7 years later!
Zimmerman and West: Evaluation
Challenged Zimmerman and West’s theory only 7 years after!
Pointed out that they might simply have one very voluble man in the study which had a disproportionate effect on the total
He also questions why interruptions necessarily reflected dominance
• he suggested other sources, such as interest and involvement in the conversation
Beattie’s challenge (1982)
Refers to the work of Zimmerman and West, to the view of the male as the norm and her own idea of patriarchal order
We need to challenge male dominance with language however, it is difficult to do this since language is already controlled by men
PATRIARCHY 🔁 LANGUAGE (Men) 🔁
• Endless cycle
• Language is inherently sexist
Dale Spender
Book: “Interaction: The Work Women Do”
Argues that conversation between the sexes sometimes fails not because of anything inherent in the way women talk, but because of the way men respond or don’t respond
Pamela Fishman
Supporting research indicated:
• Women ask more questions and use more backchannel support
• Women do more of the conversational work
• Women may speak in this way to maintain an inferior position to be in relationships with men
Pamela Fishman: Supporting Lakoff and Spender
She sees questions as an attribute of interactions compared to Lakoff suggesting they show women’s insecurity and uncertainty when communicating
She says women ask questions because of the power of them - not due to their personality weaknesses
Pamela Fishman: Challenging Lakoff
1990 courtroom study: looked at courtroom cases and witnesses’ speech
Situational Language: they found language differences were the result of being powerless - not gender as Lakoff stated
Her quoted characteristics weren’t limited to women
O’Barr and Atkins
Suggested that women’s language style is based on the rehearsed role of many women to build relationships - due to societal expectations
Men are set up for monologues - rapport (women) vs report (men)
Speech styles are a series of contrasts
Deborah Tannen - The Difference Model
Men seek to achieve the upper hand in conversations and prevent being dominated whilst women use talking to gain confirmation and support for their ideas
Deborah Tannen’s Contrast: Status vs Support
Men tend to focus more on independence due to their concern with status whilst women often think in terms of closeness and support and aim to preserve intimacy
Deborah Tannen’s Contrast: Independence vs Intimacy
To many men a complaint is a challenge to find a solution whereas the woman complaining wants sympathy and understanding
Deborah Tannen’s Contrast: Advice vs Understanding
Phone calls:
Men: mostly talk about information and plans
Women: mostly talk about feelings
Deborah Tannen’s Contrast: Information vs Feelings
Men use - and prefer to hear - direct imperatives whilst women often suggest that people do things in indirect ways (EG: “why don’t we?”)
Deborah Tannen’s Contrast: Orders vs Proposals
When they don’t agree with something, often men will immediately resist it vocally whilst women may appear to agree in the moment but complain about it later on
Deborah Tannen’s Contrast: Conflict vs Compromise
Men:
• Get more air time
• Speak in public
• Negotiate status/avoid failure
• Speak one at a time
• Speak asymmetrically
Deborah Tannen: Report (Men) talk
Women:
• Talk too much
• Speak in private contexts
• Build relations
• Overlap
• Speak symmetrically
Deborah Tannen: Rapport (Women) talk
According to Victoria Bergvall, “discussing these so-called differences supports the view that such differences exists.”
Deborah Cameron feels they can result in job discrimination - a woman couldn’t be a police officer or run a company and a man couldn’t be a nurse or a counsellor
Leads to stereotypes - leads to the idea that men and women have conflicts simply due to speaking different languages
Deborah Tannen: Difference Model Evaluation
Includes:
Deborah Cameron
Judith Butler
Penelope Eckert
Diversity Theory
Famously said there are more differences within genders than between them
She’s backed up by Janet Hyde’s (2005) research that found there are only very minor - statistically insignificant - differences between the two genders
Essentially argues that gender is constructed - we use language to construct our identity and our gender is part of our identity
Deborah Cameron: Diversity Theory
Book: Gender Trouble (1990)
Gender is a performance constructed by society’s dominant values surrounding gender
Judith Butler: Gender Performativity
‘Jocks and Burnouts’ Study: She observed friendships groups in Detroit and established two very different groups in the school - the Jocks and the Burnouts
Jocks: actively engaged in and enjoyed school life
Burnouts: were uninvolved with the going-ons of the school and engaged in rebellious behaviours
She found that people tend to speak more like their friends who shared social practices than those belonging to the same demographic/biological category (EG: social class/sex)
Penelope Eckert: Communities of Practice
Some of the theories still rely on the idea of gender existing
Diversity Theory: Evaluation
