Gender and Language Flashcards
Stereotypes?
A widely held but fitted and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.
Gendered adjectives?
Male- Courageous, Daring, Rational, Dominant.
Female- Fussy, Sentimental, Flirtatious.
A theory for gendered adjectives?
Julia Stanley- Compared lists- more positive words fot men.
220 for a a sexual promiscuous female- sexual undertones compared 20.
Grammar- he refer to all up till 20th.
Language embodies sexual inequality
Muriel Shultz
Gendered terms of address?
Lord, Lady
Bachelor, Spinster
Master, Mistress
Marked and unmarked terms?
Police Officer, Police man
Male nurse, Nurse.
Hero, Heroine
A theory for umarked and marked terms?
Anne Bodine - ANDROCENTRIC LANGAUGE- ‘MAN’ is the generic term. ‘Guys’. Patriarchal order. Masculine terms and the norm.
sets a different standard for how men and women are described and defined.
Deficit Theory
Robin Lakoff 1975 (she) in an article called 'Woman's Language'. Women: Hedges (Super) polite forms Tag questions- confirmation- status vs support Speaking in italics Empty adjectives Hypercorrect grammar and spelling Direct quotations Special lexicons- colour Less frequently Overuse qualifiers Apologies Less expletives Lack a sense of humor Indirect requests Modal Constructions Intensifiers More 'w' imperatives- 'why don't we go out?'
Dominance Theory
Dale Spender, Pamela Fishman, Don Zimmerman and Candace West. 1975.
Men are more dominant and likely to interrupt than woman when engaged in a mixed-sex conversation (small limited sample- under 35, white, middle class- criticized) (Uni of Cali). 11 conversations.
Men-46
Women-2
Difference Theory
Deborah Tannen- You Just Don’t Understand Women 1990.- Book
Series of contrasts between how men and woman communicate.
Status vs support
Men grow up in a world where conversation is competitive and therefore strive to ensure others don’t dominate them.
Women use language to gain support and confirmation rather than status.
Independence vs intimacy
Men- concentrated with status so focus more on independence. A single person in a relationship, not dependant on partner.
Women- think in terms of intimacy, seeking support and closeness from their partner. Lean into partner and rely on them. The concept of women being dependant on men.
Advice vs understanding
Men- like to find solutions.
Women- seek sympathy and understanding.
Information vs feelings
Men- exchange info briefly e.g. meeting time.
Women- spend an hour on the phone talking about feelings and emotions.
Orders vs proposals
Men- make orders by using more direct imperatives.
Women- suggest things in more indirect ways.
Conflict vs compromise
Men- more likely to voice their opposition to a suggestion in the workplace.
Women- less likely to object and assert themselves. They might delay their opposition to the suggestions and complain later.
Peter Trudgill
1970s. Subjects grouped social class and sex- see different in pronunciation while reading a passage.
Women- hypercorrectness and prestige pronunciation.
Men- low prestige pronunciation- seeking covert (hidden) prestige by appearing tough and down to Earth.
Could depend on region and elision links/slang.
Deborah Jones
1990 study of women’s oral structure. Split women’s communication into 4.
It is outdated and sexist and a traditional view.
House Talk
Exchange of info and resources with female role as occupation
Scandal
Considered judging of the behavior of others (esp. women)- terms of domestic morality of which women have been appointed guardians.
Bitching
Result of this is as someone doesn’t have social standing to be heard (private)- overt expression of woman’s anger and restricted role. Aim not to change but be understood by others and it is expected.
Chatting
Most intimate form- a mutual self-disclosure, a transaction where women use language to own advantage of their role as nurturing.
Gender and parent and child relationships
Fathers- do most of the interrupting.
Daughters- interrupted more than sons by both parents.
Age- might change it.
GRIEF
Women in business organizations
Interrupted less when they are managers than when subordinates (power).
Overall- still interrupted more than men.
Environments and social factors- could change this.
Where do stereotypes come from?
Media Parents/family/friends and comments made, values, opinions What morals they are taught Advertising Childhood activities and toys.
What gender stereotypes are present in childhood?
Colour- pink v blue or white v yellow
Toys:
Boys- cars, building blocks, toy guns/ police kit
Girls- dolls, creative jewelry kit, princess dress
History- Key facts bank
Men were superior to woman and had more rights.
Key facts:
1860s- Suffragettes- mocked by media (men)- hysterical
August 1920- over 30
1928- 21
1969- 18 both men and women.
Politics very much still male dominated.
1920- female lawyers 1922- could inherit property 1929-'persons' by law 1960s- married- contraceptive pill (abortion legal) 1970- Equal Pay Act 1980-allowed to borrow in name 1994- Marital Rape
Key statistics
1 in 3 girls experienced sexual violence from a boyfriend and sexually bullied on a daily basis.
20% of girls pull out of science due to stereotypes.- connotations- influential power 1989
90% of nurses are female.
Girls- 16% avoid going to school and 20% giving an opinion publicly. Using language as women are criticised so much.
Boys- 20% concerned about weight- depression and drug use.
70% of minimum wage jobs- women
Women earn 10% less (full time) and 34% (part time) due to name title sometimes.
55% of women take part in the labour market.
Report talk
Men:
Get more air time. Speak in public. Negotiate status/avoid failure. Speak one at a time. Speak asymmetrically.
Rapport talk
Women:
Talk too much. Speak in private contexts. Build relations. Overlap Speak symmetrically.
What does it mean to speak asymmetrically? What does it link to?
an imbalance in the relationship between speaker and hearer (s) as a result of social and institutional factors. Links to Gendered Terms of Address.
In many lexical pairs the male term suggests a positive attribute while the female term suggests a negative one. Also known as LEXICAL ASYMMETRY
What does it man to speak symmetrically?
balance in the relationship between speaker and hearer (s) as a result of social and institutional factors
Muriel Shultz
Muriel Schultz 1975 In many lexical pairs the male term suggests a positive attribute while the female term suggests a negative one. Also known as LEXICAL ASYMMETRY.
