Gender Flashcards
What model did Robin Lakoff promote?
the deficit model
when did Robin Lakoff carry out her research
1975
what was Robin Lakoffs book called?
Language and a Woman’s Place
why did Robin Lakoff say women were kept in their place?
because being ladylike was a restriction to being powerful
according to Robin Lakoff, how were women made to sound like ‘ladies’
through socialisation and language use
according to Robin Lakoff, women were brought up to sound like what?
to sound inferior to men
why did Robin Lakoff say women couldn’t win?
- if they talked like ‘ladies they would be powerless’
- if they talked like men, they would be seen as unfeminine and therefore less attractive
which lang features did Lakoff say showed weakness when used by women?
hedges, tag questions, fillers, emphatic language, no taboo,
where did Lakoff teach?
a professor at University of California, Berkeley, since 1972
how does the difference model challenge the deficit model (Lakoff)?
just because men and women speak differently, doesn’t mean they’re not equal
how did Marjorie Goodwin (difference model) object against Robin Lakoff (deficit model) ?
- using indirect forms didn’t show weakness
- its not that women can’t use direct forms, they just don’t always find them appropriate
What model did Otto Jespersen promote?
the deficit model
why did Jespersen say women speak differently?
- because women aren’t as good as men
- men’s language is normal and women’s language is deficient in comparison
when did Jespersen carry out his study
The 1920s
what was Jespersen’s book called and what did it focus on?
- ‘the woman’
- how women’s language differs from men’s
what are some features of women’s language according to Jespersen?
- talk a lot
- have smaller vocab
- nice but unnecessary vocab
- indirect expressions used
- no taboo language
how can Jesperson’s theory be challenged?
- his study had no evidence: it was all anecdotal
- confirmation bias: agrees with his prior values and beliefs, men will use the language features he said women exclusively use
when and what did Baker and Freebody study?
- 1989
- bias in reading books to the representation of gender
what adjectives were used to describe boys and girls in Baker and Freebody’s study?
girls:
little, pretty
boys:
tiny, brave, naughty
what were mothers and fathers associated within Baker and Freebody’s study?
mothers:
domestic/emotional related activities, hug, kiss
fathers:
actions like paint, fix, drive
when and what was the the Miller and Swift study?
- 1980
- bias within the press on represent
what emphesis on women was noticed in the Miller and Swift study?
physical characteristics and age
what did the press often imply about women in the Miller and Swift study?
- that they behave irrationally and emotionally
- sexual innuendo
when and what was the Dale Spender study?
- 1980
- language is androcentric (built in bias towards men)
- was built by men as society was controlled by men
when and what was the Schultz study?
- 1975
- semantic derogation
what do more negative words for women represent in the Schultz study?
they are pejorated
the patriarchal order in our society
what is a quote from Schultz study?
‘Langauge reflects the culture that constructs the langauge’
when and what was the Julia Stanley study?
- 1972
- said there was a negative semantic space for women because words like writer, surgeon and doctor don’t apply to women
- use terms like ‘lady doctor’
when and what was the Pamela Fishman study?
- 1977
- the features identified by Robin Lakoff did not make them entirely inferior but also provided them with conversational power
What model did Pamela Fishman argue for?
The Dominance Model
example of conversational power in Pamela Fishman’s study
- ask more questions
- utilise tag questions
- use more backchannel
- do more conversational work
when and what was the Deborah Cameron study?
- 1995
- contrasts between each gender are due to dominant societal expectations
- the way in which men and women thing they are supposed to speak is ‘verbal hygiene’
- how we use language to impose order in society
what are the specific examples found in Deborah Cameron’s research?
- Communicating matters more to women
- Women are more verbally skilled than men
- Women talk about feelings and people, whereas men talk about facts
- Men are competitive, but women are supportive
- These differences lead to miscommunication between the two genders
Dale Spender
sexism is added to English to consolidate male supremacy
Zimmerman & West study
- women speak less in mixed conversations as there are more male interruptions
- discredited by Geoffrey Beattie who said the study was disproportionate and conducted his own study showing their were essentially an equal amount of interruptions from men and women
Jenny Cheshire
- 1970s
- girls adjust more sharply to formal speech than boys
- even at a young age girls are using more standard forms and hypercorrect grammar
Deborah Tannen
- book “You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation”
- There are six aspects of gender, including: (IkSAwCOI)
I - information VS feeling
S - status VS support
A - advice VS understanding
C - conflict VS compromise
O - orders VS proposals
I - independence VS intimacy
Carmichael, Hogan & Walter
Language influencing thought equals gender perceptions
Woods
Men dominate conversations even if women are in the higher status
Klofstrad
Vocal fry is used by women to find work
Bonnie McElhinny
Gender focuses on individuals not institutions
Maltz & Borker
- examine cross-gender speech
- “A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication,”
- these ‘genderlects’ have different rules for communication causing misunderstandings to occur
Ann Weatherall
Female conversations are cooperative when male conversations are competitive
Jeanette McGregor 2008
there is an equal number of uptalk usage between males and females
Androcentric
built-in bias towards men retaining meaning or respect
uptalk
when there is a rise of intonation at the end of a declarative sentence, as if a question
lexical asymmetry
When a word puts men in a positive position but at the same time puts women in a negative position
Muriel Schultz
researched lexical asymmetry
e.g. master and mistress
Mira Komarovsky
- 1962
- 58 working class couples studied
- women spoke about family and personal matters
- men spoke about money, business, sport, work, politics
Jennifer Coates
- 1996
- men prefer topics that allow them to take turns in being an expert
Cheris Kramer
- 1974
- women tend to avoid taboo language
- use weaker language
Janet Holmes
- 1984
- tag questions
- modal tags: seeking information
- Affective tags: softening
- facilitate tags: draw engagement from listener
men: 61% modal tags
women: 75% facilitate tags
John Kirkby
- 1746
- eighty grammatical rules
- male language more comprehensive than female
1850 sexist language act
- act of parliament passed that stated ‘he’ should be used for both sexes
