Gender Flashcards
What is the deficit approach to language and gender?
Male language is the standard, while women’s language is deficient
Who created the deficit model?
Robin Lakoff, 1975
What are the features of language defined in the deficit model?
Hedging, fillers, tag questions, apologising for opinions…
What does lakoff claim that the features de4fined in the deficit model suggest about women?
That they speak with uncertainty due to the fact that they have less power compared to men
Who defined male as norm?
Spender, 1980
What is male as norm?
The idea that language itself is patriarchal as the male term is the default
Why is male as norm significant?
As it makes it difficult to challenge the patriarchal structures in society
Who investigated the use of tag questions by women?
Janet Holmes, 1984
What are the three types of tag questions?
Confrontational, modal and affective
What is the purpose of confrontational tag questions?
They create an assertive tone and strengthen the negative force of an utterance
What is the purpose of modal tag questions?
They request information or confirmation and ar4e speaker-orientated
What is the purpose of affective tag questions?
They are address-orientated and interactional, and are motivated by concern for the addresse
Why do women use more tag questions?
As they give them more power in the conversation
What are the criticisms of a deficit approach?
- it is outdated; stereotypes have moved on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
What are the three deficit approach theories?
The deficit model - Lakoff, 1975
Male as Norm - Spender, 1980
Tag questions - Holmes, 1984
What is the dominance approach to language and gender?
The idea that men’s language dominates over women’s
Who did the gender and interruptions study?
Zimmerman and West, 1975
Who were the participants in the gender and interruptions study?
White, 20-35, middle class men and women
Where did the studied conversations take place? (Zimmerman and West, 1975)
The conversations were casual and took place in public areas like coffee shops
Who interrupted more in same sex conversations? (Z + W)
Neither gender interrupted more often
Who interrupted more in mixed sex conversations (Z + W)
Men interrupted 96% of the time
What does the level of interruptions suggest? (Z +W)
It suggests that men show less regard for what women have to say
How did women react to interruptions in mixed sex conversations? (Z + W)
Women had extended periods of silence after interruptions - 62% of female silenses followed an interruption by a male participant
How did the men r4eact to interruptions? (Z + W)
Men were unfazed by interruptions
Who did the Reading teenagers study?
Jenny Cheshire, 1980s
What did the Reading teenager study find?
Boys with delinquent behaviour an girls who wanted to associate with them would be more likely to use non standard forms of language
What were some of the non standard forms identified in the Reading teenagers study?
-s as a third person suffix (‘they calls me’) ‘has’ instead of ‘have’ ‘come’ as past tense ‘what’ instead of ‘who’, multiple negatives
Who studied courtroom language to find the features Lakoff identified?
O’Barr and Atkinson, 1980
What materials were used to study courtroom language?
Transcripts and witness statements from courtrooms over 30 months
What were Lakoffs features found to illustrate in courtrooms?
They were found to illustrate powerlessness in both genders
Who didn’t use the features lakoff identified? (O’Barr and Atkins)
Those in a position of power (e.g. expert witnesses)
Those of a higher class
Those used to the court environment
What was concluded from the courtroom language study?
That the language features Lakoff identified were ‘neither characteristic of all women nor limited to only women’.
Who defined the term ‘international shitwwork’?
Pamela Fishman, 1990
Why do women have to do ‘shitwork’ to keep conversation going?
Because men don’t do enough collaborative work in conversation
What types of collaborative work do women do in conversation?
Tag questions, photic talk
Who said that all female talk is cooperative and supportive?
Jennifer Coates, 1996
How are women more cooperative and supportive in conversation?
By using more compliments
Who said that all female talk is collaborative?
Jane Pilkington, 1998
How is all female talk more collaborative?
Women use more positive politeness
Why is all male talk less cooperative?
Men are less complimentary and tolerate more silence
Who said that gossip is a feature of women’s language?
Deborah Jones, 1990
What are the four types of gossip? (Jones, 1990)
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
Who said that men and women talk in a different way as they have different conversational aims?
Deborah Tannen, 1990
What is status vs support (Tannen)
Men see conversation as a contest
What is independence vs intimacy? (Tannen)
Men see consulting with their partner as ‘asking for permission’
What is advice vs understanding? (Tannen)
Men see a complaint as a challenge for a solution but women just want to be supported
What is information vs feelings? (Tannen)
Women hedge orders, which men believe is an attempt to manipulate them
What is orders vs proposals? (Tannen)
Men think that talk should have a purpose
What is conflict vs compromise? (Tannen)
Women are reluctant to openly oppose others
