Lakoff's "Women's Language Features"

Question 1

What is Lakoff’s belief about women’s language?

Answer 1

It can be distinguished very easily from that of a man’s

Question 2

What does Lakoff believe about hedging?

Answer 2

Women use a lot of this

sort of , it seems like , kind of

Question 3

What are empty adjectives and what does Lakoff believe about them?

Answer 3

adjectives like: gorgeous , nice , lovely , cute
(usually to describe one’s appearance)
Women use a lot of these

Question 4

What does Lakoff believe about politeness in women’s language?

Answer 4

They use (super)polite forms such as:
would you mind , is it ok if , if it’s not too much to ask
(use of modals and conjunction “if”)

Question 5

What does Lakoff believe about women apologising?

Answer 5

They apologise more (sometimes for no reason)

“I’m sorry, but I think that…”

Question 6

What is special lexicon and what does Lakoff believe about them?

Answer 6

Using specific names for certain things
A key example is colours red = scarlet, crimson, burgundy etc..
Women use more of these

Question 7

What does Lakoff believe about taboo language?

Answer 7

Women don’t use it

Question 8

What does Lakoff believe about tag questions?

Answer 8

Women use a lot of them

“you don’t mind if I do this, do you?”

Question 9

What are hyper-corrected grammar and pronunciation and what does Lakoff believe about them?

Answer 9

Use of prestigious grammar and clear articulation

Common in women’s language

Question 10

What does Lakoff believe about indirect requests?

Answer 10

Women use a lot of these

“wow i’m really thirsty” - asking for a drink

Question 11

What does Lakoff believe about emphatic stress?

Answer 11

Women use a lot of this especially on words such as:

very , really , so , quite

Question 12

What does Lakoff believe about jokes?

Answer 12

Women are unable to tell them

Question 13

Overall what was Lakoff’s ideas about women’s language?

Answer 13

Their language is “deficit”: hesitant, uncertain and lacking in certain ways in which men’s language does not

Question 14

Summary of the 11 features of “women’s language”

Answer 14

Hedging
Empty adjectives
Super(polite) forms
Apologising more
Use of special lexicons
No swearing
Tag questions
Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation
Indirect requests
Emphatic stress
Not able to joke

Question 15

Who did a study evaluating Lakoff’s ideas and when?

Answer 15

O’Barr and Atkins 1980

Question 16

What did O’Barr and Atkins look at?

Answer 16

Courtroom scenarios and how the different genders reacted within the situations

Question 17

What did O’Barr and Atkins do to Lakoff’s “women’s language features”?

Answer 17

Renamed it “powerful and powerless”

Question 18

Why did O’Barr and Atkins rename the features?

Answer 18

Because their study of courtrooms suggested that they weren’t typical features of women’s language but of people with a lower status

Question 19

What did O’Barr and Atkins find in their study?

Answer 19

The features Lakoff mentioned were more relevant to status than gender.
Women of a higher status within the scenarios didn’t use the features as much as the people in the situation with a lower status.

Question 20

What is a flaw in O’Barr and Atkins’ study?

Answer 20

They only looked at courtroom situations. These features may be dependant on context rather than status like the suggest.