Gender Theories

Question 1

Peter Trudgill

Answer 1

Men use more non standard pronunciation and language. Attach covert prestige to non standard forms

Question 2

Jenny Cheshire

Answer 2

Boys use more non standard forms. Study on children. Informal language (swearing to bond)

Question 3

Robin Lakoff

Answer 3

Female language is deficient. Lacks authority compared to men. With 8 reasons to why

Question 4

What are Robin Lakoffs 8 features for women language being weaker

Answer 4

Weak expletive terms (“oh dear”)
Empty adjectives (“charming, sweet”)
Tag questions
Polite forms\ euphemisms (“powder my nose”) for going to toilet
Use of hedges (“sort of”,”you know”)
Intensifiers (very)
Precise colour terms
Specialised vocabulary around domestic chores/ cleaning

Question 5

Janet Holmes

Answer 5

Tag questions not just around uncertainty, can work to keep discussion going or to be polite. Can be powerful and dominant. Challenges idea of women language as insecure

Question 6

William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins

Answer 6

Features uncertain speech are more dependent on power relations than gender

Question 7

Pamela Fishman

Answer 7

Women use more tag questions to start conversation and continue them to gain conversational power

Question 8

Zimmerman and West

Answer 8

Men interrupt more than women in mixed sex conversation. Also parents interrupt their children

Question 9

Deborah Tannen

Answer 9

6 contrasting ways men and women use language
Status vs support
Independence vs intimacy
Advice vs understanding
Informations vs feelings
Orders vs proposal
Conflict vs compromise

Question 10

Jennifer Coates

Answer 10

All female talk is cooperative
Negotiate discussion and support each other’s rights of speech

Question 11

Jane pilkington

Answer 11

Female talk is more collaborative. Women use more positive politeness strategies. Men talking to men are less complimentary and supportive

Question 12

Koenraad Kuiper

Answer 12

Men pay less attention to save face and instead use insults to express solidarity

Question 13

Judith Butler (modern view)

Answer 13

We perform playing gender roles

Question 14

Janet Hyde (modern view)

Answer 14

More similarities between male and female language than difference. Difference is due to their variables like age, class, ethnicity, education, occupation, sexuality, politics. Not gender

Question 15

Deborah Cameron (modern view)

Answer 15

Criticised idea of innate difference in male and female speech. Thinks it’s a myth that men and women use language differently and for different reasons