Gender and Sexuality Flashcards
Phallocentricism
Male dominance
Semantic derogation
Refers to the process by which words may acquire negative connotations.
Lexical asymmetry
Where a word should mean the same for the genders but actually has different connotations e.g. bachelor/spinster, cook/chef.
Marked and unmarked terms
Here the male term has a suffix added to form the female term. Implies that men are the norm.
Deborah Cameron
Criticises the idea that there are innate differences in male and female speech.
Cameron argues: “The idea that men and women … use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time.”
Lakoff’s female speech
Hedging Super polite forms Tag questions Speak in italics Empty adjectives Hypercorrect grammar Direct quotations Question intonation Avoid coarse language More intensifiers
Janet Holmes
“Tag questions – not a sign of uncertainty but a sign of politeness. They also help keep conversations going.”
Covert prestige
Prestige that derives from behaviour that goes against the norms and conventions of ‘respectable’ society.
Overt prestige
Prestige that attaches to respectable, socially desirable behaviour.
Pamela Fishman
Argues in Interaction: the Work Women Do (1983) that conversation between the sexes sometimes fails, not because of anything inherent in the way women talk, but because of how men respond, or don’t respond.
O’Barr and Atkins
The differences that Lakoff and others supported are not necessarily the result of being a woman, but of being powerless
Dominance Theory
Women occupy a less powerful position in society than men.
Less assertive and less confident.
Men dominate mixed sex conversations.
Women used to this as a result of social conditioning – will often be polite and respectful when talking to men.
Zimmerman and West
Dramatic imbalance: 96% of interruptions from men, and only 4% from women.
Geoffrey Beattie (against Zimmerman and West)
“The problem with this is that you might simply have one very voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total.”
Deficit Model
The theory that the male way of speaking is the normative, and the female departs from the norm.
Difference Model
Men and women belong to different sub-cultures and preferences.
This approach avoids “blaming” men for being dominant, and avoids suggesting women’s speech is inferior.
Deborah Tannen
Status vs. Support Independence vs. Intimacy Advice vs. Understanding Information vs. Feelings Orders vs. Proposals Conflict vs. Compromise
Koenraad Kuiper
Studied all-male talk amongst a rugby team.
Men pay less regard to the need to save face and use insults as a way of expressing solidarity.
Julia Stanley
26 nouns that refer to promiscuous men- some have approving connotations
220 nouns for promiscuous women and all these have disapproving connotations
Geoffrey Leech
The use of ‘ess’ or ‘ine’ to language that refers to females implies inferiority of women.
