Gender

Question 1

What is the deficit approach to language and gender?

Answer 1

Male language is the standard, while women’s language is deficient

Question 2

Who created the deficit model?

Answer 2

Robin Lakoff, 1975

Question 3

What are the features of language defined in the deficit model?

Answer 3

Hedging, fillers, tag questions, apologising for opinions…

Question 4

What does lakoff claim that the features de4fined in the deficit model suggest about women?

Answer 4

That they speak with uncertainty due to the fact that they have less power compared to men

Question 5

Who defined male as norm?

Answer 5

Spender, 1980

Question 6

What is male as norm?

Answer 6

The idea that language itself is patriarchal as the male term is the default

Question 7

Why is male as norm significant?

Answer 7

As it makes it difficult to challenge the patriarchal structures in society

Question 8

Who investigated the use of tag questions by women?

Answer 8

Janet Holmes, 1984

Question 9

What are the three types of tag questions?

Answer 9

Confrontational, modal and affective

Question 10

What is the purpose of confrontational tag questions?

Answer 10

They create an assertive tone and strengthen the negative force of an utterance

Question 11

What is the purpose of modal tag questions?

Answer 11

They request information or confirmation and ar4e speaker-orientated

Question 12

What is the purpose of affective tag questions?

Answer 12

They are address-orientated and interactional, and are motivated by concern for the addresse

Question 13

Why do women use more tag questions?

Answer 13

As they give them more power in the conversation

Question 14

What are the criticisms of a deficit approach?

Answer 14

• it is outdated; stereotypes have moved on
• it assumes all men/women act the same way
• it is too generalising
• it doesn’t acknowledge conscious choice

Question 15

What are the three deficit approach theories?

Answer 15

The deficit model - Lakoff, 1975
Male as Norm - Spender, 1980
Tag questions - Holmes, 1984

Question 16

What is the dominance approach to language and gender?

Answer 16

The idea that men’s language dominates over women’s

Question 17

Who did the gender and interruptions study?

Answer 17

Zimmerman and West, 1975

Question 18

Who were the participants in the gender and interruptions study?

Answer 18

White, 20-35, middle class men and women

Question 19

Where did the studied conversations take place? (Zimmerman and West, 1975)

Answer 19

The conversations were casual and took place in public areas like coffee shops

Question 20

Who interrupted more in same sex conversations? (Z + W)

Answer 20

Neither gender interrupted more often

Question 21

Who interrupted more in mixed sex conversations (Z + W)

Answer 21

Men interrupted 96% of the time

Question 22

What does the level of interruptions suggest? (Z +W)

Answer 22

It suggests that men show less regard for what women have to say

Question 23

How did women react to interruptions in mixed sex conversations? (Z + W)

Answer 23

Women had extended periods of silence after interruptions - 62% of female silenses followed an interruption by a male participant

Question 24

How did the men r4eact to interruptions? (Z + W)

Answer 24

Men were unfazed by interruptions

Question 25

Who did the Reading teenagers study?

Answer 25

Jenny Cheshire, 1980s

Question 26

What did the Reading teenager study find?

Answer 26

Boys with delinquent behaviour an girls who wanted to associate with them would be more likely to use non standard forms of language

Question 27

What were some of the non standard forms identified in the Reading teenagers study?

Answer 27

-s as a third person suffix (‘they calls me’) ‘has’ instead of ‘have’ ‘come’ as past tense ‘what’ instead of ‘who’, multiple negatives

Question 28

Who studied courtroom language to find the features Lakoff identified?

Answer 28

O’Barr and Atkinson, 1980

Question 29

What materials were used to study courtroom language?

Answer 29

Transcripts and witness statements from courtrooms over 30 months

Question 30

What were Lakoffs features found to illustrate in courtrooms?

Answer 30

They were found to illustrate powerlessness in both genders

Question 31

Who didn’t use the features lakoff identified? (O’Barr and Atkins)

Answer 31

Those in a position of power (e.g. expert witnesses) Those of a higher class Those used to the court environment

Question 32

What was concluded from the courtroom language study?

Answer 32

That the language features Lakoff identified were ‘neither characteristic of all women nor limited to only women’.

Question 33

Who defined the term ‘international shitwwork’?

Answer 33

Pamela Fishman, 1990

Question 34

Why do women have to do ‘shitwork’ to keep conversation going?

Answer 34

Because men don’t do enough collaborative work in conversation

Question 35

What types of collaborative work do women do in conversation?

Answer 35

Tag questions, photic talk

Question 36

Who said that all female talk is cooperative and supportive?

Answer 36

Jennifer Coates, 1996

Question 37

How are women more cooperative and supportive in conversation?

Answer 37

By using more compliments

Question 38

Who said that all female talk is collaborative?

Answer 38

Jane Pilkington, 1998

Question 39

How is all female talk more collaborative?

Answer 39

Women use more positive politeness

Question 40

Why is all male talk less cooperative?

Answer 40

Men are less complimentary and tolerate more silence

Question 41

Who said that gossip is a feature of women’s language?

Answer 41

Deborah Jones, 1990

Question 42

What are the four types of gossip? (Jones, 1990)

Answer 42

House talk- where women exchange info scandal - where women sit in judgement on others bitching - where women are speaking more privately, in a way which is often angry and resentful chatting - where women have intimate conversations where they share mutual support

Question 43

Who said that men and women talk in a different way as they have different conversational aims?

Answer 43

Deborah Tannen, 1990

Question 44

What is status vs support (Tannen)

Answer 44

Men see conversation as a contest

Question 45

What is independence vs intimacy? (Tannen)

Answer 45

Men see consulting with their partner as ‘asking for permission’

Question 46

What is advice vs understanding? (Tannen)

Answer 46

Men see a complaint as a challenge for a solution but women just want to be supported

Question 47

What is information vs feelings? (Tannen)

Answer 47

Women hedge orders, which men believe is an attempt to manipulate them

Question 48

What is orders vs proposals? (Tannen)

Answer 48

Men think that talk should have a purpose

Question 49

What is conflict vs compromise? (Tannen)

Answer 49

Women are reluctant to openly oppose others