Gender theories

Question 1

Dominance and difference

Answer 1

DOMINANCE: men are naturally more dominant in speech patterns and behaviour

DIFFERENCE: men and women use language differently

Question 2

Otto Jespersen

Answer 2

women talk more and use half finished sentences. less grammatical, use adjectives and hyperbole, smaller vocab range and are less hesitant

Question 3

Robin Lakoff

Answer 3

dominance theory. there are certain features which contribute to women’s lack of power in conversations: minimal responses, overuse of qualifiers, hedging phrases, tag questions, euphemisms, frequent intensifiers, indirect commands

Question 4

William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins

Answer 4

language differences are context specific. studied courtrooms for 30 months. differences between men and women: hedges, empty adjectives, polite forms, tag questions etc. studied 3 men and 3 women and concluded that speech patterns were limited to either gender.

Question 5

Don Zimmerman and Candace West

Answer 5

in mixed gender situations men interrupted more. in 11 conversations men used 46 interruptions while women only used 2

Question 6

Esther Greif

Answer 6

examined gender differences in 2 conversational management techniques between parents and pre school children. 16 children aged 2-5 and both their parents. each parent child pair engaged in a semi structured play for 30 mins. the fathers interrupted more and spoke more simultaneously than the mothers. between the boys and girls there were no conversational differences, however both parents were more likely to interrupt their daughters

Question 7

Dale Spender

Answer 7

looks at views of male power. he believed that being more active in public life than women, men have been more able to get their opinions heard

Question 8

Pamela Fishman

Answer 8

conversations between sexes often fail due to women being insecure and hesitant

Question 9

Geoffrey Beattie

Answer 9

recorded 10hr conversations between genders. 557 interruptions, men did interrupt more but only slightly.

Question 10

Jennifer Coates

Answer 10

believes in difference model, and that social groups causes change in language. very split social groups due to gender based. girls tend to play in smaller groups, boys bigger. girls maintain relationships whereas boys assert dominance

Question 11

Janet Holmes

Answer 11

argued that tag questions function to maintain conversations and hedges show lack of power

Question 12

Jane Pilkington

Answer 12

woman to woman conversations are more collaborative. women aim for positive strategies in conversations

Question 13

Deborah Tannen

Answer 13

difference theory. difference in gender speaking is due to childhood 
Status vs support
Independence vs intimacy
Advice vs understanding
Information vs feelings
Orders vs proposals
Conflict vs compromise