Language and Gender Flashcards
Difference Model
Tannen’s (1990) theory about gender and conversation which states that men and women have different objectives when they interact.
Jennifer Coates
Theorist who suggested all-female talk is essentially co-operative, with participants working to negotiate discussions and support each other’s rights as speakers. Studies used the difference approach. [1989]
Zimmerman and West (1975)
found 96% of interruptions were made by men, suggesting male dominance in conversation.
Robin Lakoff (1975)
she wrote Language and the Women’s Place in which she discussed many features of females’ language e.g. hedge phrases, empty adjectives, tag questions
her overall idea was that women are weaker and so use less direct langauge
Hedges
words and phrases which make statements sound more tentative
Hyper correct grammar and pronunciation
Being overly correct in what is being said to show overt prestige, often said to be used by women
Typical female language: difference model
Interested in forming relationships and bonds, polite, indirect orders, avoiding conflict, compromises and support.
Deborah Cameron (1995)
Said that language can be affected by many factors other than gender: diversity model
Fillers
‘Um’, ‘Ah’, ‘Er’ - sounds for thinking time
Overlapping
When people cut into conversations with no intention of dominance
Marked terms
Words that reveal a persons gender e.g policeman.
Unmarked terms
Words that do not reveal a person’s gender e.g police officer
Imperatives (commands)
A verb or statement whose primary purpose is to give orders e.g “go”
Otto Jespersen
Said that women talk too much, have a smaller vocabulary than men, and that women use half-finished sentences because they speak before they have thought about what they will say
Sex
the biological distinction between females and males
Gender
The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female
Coates
Theorist who suggested all-female talk is essentially co-operative, with participants working to negotiate discussions and support each other’s rights as speakers. Studies used the difference approach. Men’s talk is competitive and seeks status. Difference model.
Fishman
Women do the ‘conversational shitwork’
O’Barr and Atkins (1980) ‘Powerless Language’
Deficit - O’Barr and Atkins challenged Lakoff’s conclusion. Found context specific power was more important than gender.
Tag questions
a question added onto the end of declarative statement
Dominance Model
The idea that gender differences in language reflect men’s dominance and women’s subordination
Deficit Model
Recognised that features of women’s language reflects women’s inferior social status, and the language that they use makes them seem weak.
Deborah Tannen
Stated that the difference model sees women and men as belonging to sub-cultures who are socialised differently from childhood, which results in them having different problems when communicating in adulthood.
Typical male language: difference model
Concerned with status and independence, giving direct orders, don’t mind conflict, interruptions, factual information.
Diversity Model
Takes into account other influences that may affect language choices such as audience, context and purpose of the conversation.
Indirect requests
An implied influence attempt that involves suggesting or hinting without ever making a direct request.
Intensifiers/qualifiers
increase the intensity of the adjectives and other adverbs they modify (ex. awfully, extremely, kind of, more, most, pretty, quite, rather, really, somewhat, sort of, and too)
Semantic derogation
Semantic shift that results in a word acquiring more negative associations or meanings e.g. mistress
Lexical asymmetry
Pairs of words which seem to be equal (eg sir/madam) often are not, with the female term having been degraded in some way.
John Gray
argues that men and women find it very difficult to communicate; suggests that women should adapt their conversational style in order to communicate with men - for example, women should be more direct and give men time to consider their answers. Wrote the bestseller ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’
essentialism
males and females are biologically determined to behave in certain ways - our genetic and physiological gender make-up is deep-rooted and fixed at the centre of our being
perfomativity
males and females learn from their surroundings what it is to ‘act out’ being a man or a woman and this can and does change
Peter Trudgill
studied language use in Norwich and discovered that women of all classes are more likely to pronounce things with an accent approaching RP than the equivalent males in their classes. He suggests that women are more anxious toshow higher statu in the way they speak
Jenny Chesire
researched language used by teenagers in Reading and found that teenage boys are more likely than teenage girls to use taboo language and to use non-standard forms. She suggests girls are better than boys at switching from informal ‘playground language’ to more formal ‘classroom language’
Goodwin
analysed the language of children in America and discovered that boys playing are more likely to use imperatives whilst girls are more likely to direct what happens
Victoria Be Francisco
found that although women talked more than men, in her research this was not associated with dominance it was because women were less successful than men at getting their topics accepted
Charteris-Black and Seale
men and women both talk about emotions - women directly using evaluative adjectives, men indirectly using humour and taboo language
Dale Spender
in man made language, she argues that men dominate and control interaction with women and the language system itself
Komarovsky
men talked about money, business, sport and politics
women talked about family and relationships
