Deficit

Question 1

Lakoff

Answer 1

Womens speech is “powerless and uncertain”

Characteristics of womens lang:
-Hedging “could you..”
-Too polite
-Empty adjectives
-Tag questions “Do you know what I mean”

Criticism:
Studied on American white women then generalised, which groups women into homogeneous group

Question 2

Jesperson

Answer 2

“Women don’t think before they speak”

Simplified women’s speech to ‘lively chatter’ as their roles are baking, cleaning and don’t require ‘deep thought’

However, from 1920s so very outdated and shouldn’t be thought of as a widely held view about women’s language

Question 3

Basis of the approach

Answer 3

Men’s language is the ‘norm’ and women’s lang is inferior

Judges women’s lang as in deficit