Gender theories

Question 1

Otto Jesperson (1922) (Def)

Answer 1

Women talk a lot, smaller vocabulary than men and use adverbs and intensifiers too much

Unreliable voice because he did no research, and it is from ~100 years ago

Question 2

Robin Lakoff (1975) (Def)

Answer 2

Women speak less frequently, do things such as hedge, backchannel and use question intonation and use many more euphemisms and diminutives

Untrustworthy because he didnt do research, and also stereotyped both genders

Question 3

Dale Spender (1980) (Dom)

Answer 3

built on Zimmerman and West’s study

men dominate women in language, reflects a patriarchal society

Question 4

Zimmerman and West (1980) (Dom)

Answer 4

Conducted a study on interruption, where men interrupted 46 times while women interrupted twice

problematic study because of small sample size, all white middle class, and didnt count interruptions in same gender conversations

Question 5

Geoff Beattie (1982) (Dom)

Answer 5

commented on Zimmerman and West’s study, saying that one man could change the entire outcome of the experiment, making it invalid

Beattie conducted his own study and found that men and women interrupt at more or less the same frequency

Question 6

Tag questions

Answer 6

Lakoff- women use more tag questions because they lack confidence

Janet Holmes(1980)- women use more tag questions as a way of letting others talk

Kathy O’Brien- women dont use tag questions more. professional speakers use tag questions

Question 7

OBar and Atkins(1980) (Dom)

Answer 7

looked at courtroom cases, and found that “powerless language” was used based on the situation, not by a specific gender

Question 8

Pamela fishman (1980) (Dom)

Answer 8

disagreed with Lakoff and Spender, saying that women ask tag questions because of their power

Question 9

Deborah Tannen (1990) (Dif)

Answer 9

socialization starts as children- how to be a boy/girl
women’s language is based on a rehearsed role, while men are set up for monologues
men and women are comfortable with these gender roles

Question 10

Deborah Tannen’s 5 principals (Dif)

Answer 10

Status vs support- men speak for status, women speak for support
Independence vs intimacy- men act independently, women act dependently as a way of being closer
Advice vs understanding- men seek a solution, women show understanding and sympathy
Information vs feelings- men speak to inform, women speak to communicate emotions
Orders vs proposals- men use direct imperatives, women use suggestions and indirect approaches
Conflict vs compromise- men resist openly, women try to avoid opposing openly

Question 11

Downsides of the difference theory

Answer 11

Victoria Bergvall- discussing differences like this supports the idea that these differences exist
Deborah Cameron- the idea of differnces may lead to job discrimination
May lead to stereotyping- men are from mars women are from Venus

Question 12

Deborah jones (1990) (Dif)

Answer 12

House talk- exchange of information dealing with the female role
Scandal-talk about behavior of others
Bitching- overt expression of women’s anger
Chatting- intimate form of gossip

Question 13

Jennifer Coates (2003) (dif)

Answer 13

men show off and dominate in mixed friendship groups
avoid personal issues
tell stories to show off toughness
present themselves as winners

Question 14

Esther Greif (1980) (Dif)

Answer 14

Found that in families
Both parents interrupt daughters more than sons
fathers interrupt daughters more than moms do

Question 15

Deborah Cameron (div)

Answer 15

Language matters more to women
women are more verbally skilled than men
women talk about feelings and people, men talk about things and facts
men are competitive in language, women are cooperative
These differences lead to miscommunication
these differences are because of societal expectation of the gender

Question 16

Judith butler

Answer 16

Judith butler said that language is performative, which means that it only exists as long as it is acted out