Gender Flashcards
Who did the Deference Model?
Robin Lakoff
Name at least 3 ways women defer by in the Deference Model.
- Hedges
- Super politeness
- Hyper correctness
- Tag Questions
- Speaking in “italics”
- Empty adjectives
- Use of implication
- Special lexicon
- Question intonation
- No sense of humour
What is a flaw of the Deference Model?
It was not based on empirical research
Who criticised Lakoff’s Deference Model?
Dubois and Crouch
What did Dubois and Crouch find in their study?
Men use more tags than women and tags do not always show deference
What does the Dominance Model say?
Men behave in ways that actively seek to dominate women and take status from them while increasing mens
Who studied turn taking?
Zimmerman and West
What did Zimmerman and West find in their Turn Taking Study?
- Men interrupt women 23 times more than women interrupt men
- Same-sex conversations have three times more overlaps than interruptions
- Mixed-sex conversations have five times more interruptions than overlaps
Who criticised Zimmerman and West’s Turn Taking Study?
Beattie, Eakens and Eakens
What did Beattie say in his criticism of Zimmerman and West’s Turn Taking Study?
- They had a very small data sample, one person could throw the results
- Interruptions don’t always reflect dominance. They can show interest.
What did Eakens and Eakens say in their criticism of Zimmerman and West’s Turn Taking Study?
- Status as well as gender determines whether someone would get interrupted
- People of a higher status aren’t interrupted as much
Who studied delayed minimal responses?
Zimmerman and West
What did Zimmerman and West find in their Delayed Minimal Responses Study?
Men used delayed minimal responses and withhold supportive minimal responses in order to silence women
Who studied tag Questions?
Pamela Fishman and Janet Holmes
What did Pamela Fishman find in her Tag Questions Study?
- Women use “y’know” five times more than men.
- Men don’t support women by providing appropriate minimal responses
- Women have to tag to ask for this support
- Men do this to silence women
What did Janet Holmes find in her study into Tag Questions?
- Men and Women use the same number of tag questions
- Men use speaker-oriented tags
- Women use addressee-oriented tags
- Men are less supportive speakers than women
What is a speaker-oriented tag?
a tag to benefit the speaker
What is an addressee-oriented tag?
a tag to benefit the interlocutor
Who studied Conversational Shitwork?
Victoria DeFrancisco
What did Victoria DeFrancisco find in her Conversational Shitwork study?
Women work harder to keep conversation going.
How do women work harder to keep conversations going according to Victoria DeFrancisco?
They:
1. introduce more topics
2. talk more than men
3. work harder at keeping the conversation going
Who studied gender and expertise?
Helena Leet-Pelligrini
What was the hierarchy of gender and expertise and gender according to Helena Leet-Pelligrini?
- Male Experts
- Female Experts and Male Non-Experts
- Female Non-Experts
Who added to the Difference Model?
Deborah Tannen and Deborah Jones
What did Deborah Tanned claim talk between women and men is?
Cross-cultural communication
What is Rapport Talk?
Talk intended to establish and maintain relationships
What is Report Talk?
Talk intended to give information
Who uses Rapport Talk?
Women
Who uses Report Talk?
Men
Who proposed the Binary Opposites?
Deborah Tannen
What are Tannen’s Five Binary Opposites?
- Status v Support
- Independence v Intimacy
- Advice v Understanding
- Information v Feelings
- Orders v Proposals
What is Status v Support according to Tannen?
- Men use language to show power and dominance.
- Women use language to show support and agree with others
What is Independence v Intimacy according to Tannen?
- Men use language to show they do not need others
- Women use language for connecting and maintaining closeness with others
What is Advice v Understanding according to Tannen?
- Men offer solutions to a problem
- Women show empathy and understanding of problems
What is Information v Feelings according to Tannen?
- Men are more factual
- Women are more emotional
What is Orders v Proposals according to Tannen?
- Men are more direct using imperatives to command
- Women avoid commands and suggest instead
Who suggested there were four categories of women’s talk?
Deborah Jones
What were Jones’ four categories for women’s talk?
- House Talk
- Scandal
- Bitching
- Chatting
What is House Talk according to Jones?
The exchange of information and resources connected with the female role as an occupation
What is Scandal according to Jones?
Judgement of others, usually about domestic morality, of which women are guardians
What is Bitching according to Jones?
The overt expression to other women of anger at women’s roles and status in an environment where there anger will be understood and expected
What is Chatting according to Jones?
A mutual self-disclosure; a transaction where women use the skills they have learned as part of their job of nurturing others to their own advantage
Who did the Courtroom Study?
O’Barr and Atkins
What did O’Barr and Atkins find in their Courtroom Study?
Powerful women use Lakoff’s features of Women’s Language far less than powerless menW
What did O’Barr and Atkins claim “Women’s Language” should be renamed to?
Powerless language
Who studied the “Gender Similarities Hypothesis”?
Janet Hyde
What did Janet Hyde find in her “Gender Similarities Hypothesis”?
There are far more similarities between female and male speech than differences
Who studied Performative Language?
Deborah Cameron
What did Deborah Cameron claim in her Performative Language?
Language is a ‘performance’, we use it to present ourselves in a chosen way. e.g. male or female, powerful or supportive
Who studied Power Tools
Carmen Fought
What did Carmen Fought say about young women?
They take linguistic features and use them as power tools for building relationships
What did Carmen Fought say was seen as signs of stupidity or immaturity?
- The use of “like”
- The use of uptalk (going upwards in intonation at the end)
What did fought claim Young Women serve as?
Incubators of vocal trends
Who did the Changing Room Study?
Koenraad Kuiper
In Koenraad Kuiper’s Changing Room Study what did the Rugby team members pay less attention to?
The Face needs of other players. They used insults as a way of expressing solidarity
What happened to the players who reacted badly in Kuiper’s Changing Room Study?
They were ostracised by the rest of the group
What did Kuiper claim in his Changing Room Study?
Insults were a sign of solidarity amongst the group and failing to respond was a sign of fearlessness
What are the five Sexist Language features?
- Gendered Nouns
- Gratuitous Modifiers
- Non-Equivalent Parallels
- Generic Man
- Generic Pronouns
Why are Gendered Nouns considered Sexist Language?
Gender markers imply that the unmarked form is expected and normal and the ‘marked other’ is deviant. e.g. actress and comedienne (Many gendered nouns are going extinct)
Why are Gratuitous Modifiers considered Sexist Language?
They specify unnecessary characteristics showing what characteristics are normally associated with a role. e.g. lady doctor
Why are Non-Equivalent Parallels considered Sexist Language?
Female-gendered nouns aren’t direct equivalents of the male-gendered version and have extra, pejorative connotations and definitions e.g. master and mistress
Why is Generic Man considered Sexist Language?
Using ‘man’ to mean ‘people’ negates women’s contributions e.g. “man’s conquest of space”
Often gender-neutral alternatives are now preferred e.g. humanity
Why are Generic Pronouns considered Sexist Language?
In Standard English a male pronoun is used if the gender is unknown. e.g. If a worker is late, he will be sacked.
Genderless pronouns e.g. ‘they’ are now common
