Language and Gender

Question 1

Difference Model

Answer 1

Tannen’s (1990) theory about gender and conversation which states that men and women have different objectives when they interact.

Question 2

Jennifer Coates

Answer 2

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]

Question 3

Zimmerman and West (1975)

Answer 3

found 96% of interruptions were made by men, suggesting male dominance in conversation.

Question 4

Robin Lakoff (1975)

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Hedges

Answer 5

words and phrases which make statements sound more tentative

Question 6

Hyper correct grammar and pronunciation

Answer 6

Being overly correct in what is being said to show overt prestige, often said to be used by women

Question 7

Typical female language: difference model

Answer 7

Interested in forming relationships and bonds, polite, indirect orders, avoiding conflict, compromises and support.

Question 8

Deborah Cameron (1995)

Answer 8

Said that language can be affected by many factors other than gender: diversity model

Question 9

Fillers

Answer 9

‘Um’, ‘Ah’, ‘Er’ - sounds for thinking time

Question 10

Overlapping

Answer 10

When people cut into conversations with no intention of dominance

Question 11

Marked terms

Answer 11

Words that reveal a persons gender e.g policeman.

Question 12

Unmarked terms

Answer 12

Words that do not reveal a person’s gender e.g police officer

Question 13

Imperatives (commands)

Answer 13

A verb or statement whose primary purpose is to give orders e.g “go”

Question 14

Otto Jespersen

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Sex

Answer 15

the biological distinction between females and males

Question 16

Gender

Answer 16

The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female

Question 17

Coates

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Fishman

Answer 18

Women do the ‘conversational shitwork’

Question 19

O’Barr and Atkins (1980) ‘Powerless Language’

Answer 19

Deficit - O’Barr and Atkins challenged Lakoff’s conclusion. Found context specific power was more important than gender.

Question 20

Tag questions

Answer 20

a question added onto the end of declarative statement

Question 21

Dominance Model

Answer 21

The idea that gender differences in language reflect men’s dominance and women’s subordination

Question 22

Deficit Model

Answer 22

Recognised that features of women’s language reflects women’s inferior social status, and the language that they use makes them seem weak.

Question 23

Deborah Tannen

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Typical male language: difference model

Answer 24

Concerned with status and independence, giving direct orders, don’t mind conflict, interruptions, factual information.

Question 25

Diversity Model

Answer 25

Takes into account other influences that may affect language choices such as audience, context and purpose of the conversation.

Question 26

Indirect requests

Answer 26

An implied influence attempt that involves suggesting or hinting without ever making a direct request.

Question 27

Intensifiers/qualifiers

Answer 27

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)

Question 28

Semantic derogation

Answer 28

Semantic shift that results in a word acquiring more negative associations or meanings e.g. mistress

Question 29

Lexical asymmetry

Answer 29

Pairs of words which seem to be equal (eg sir/madam) often are not, with the female term having been degraded in some way.

Question 30

John Gray

Answer 30

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’

Question 31

essentialism

Answer 31

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

Question 32

perfomativity

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Peter Trudgill

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Jenny Chesire

Answer 34

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’

Question 35

Goodwin

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Victoria Be Francisco

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Charteris-Black and Seale

Answer 37

men and women both talk about emotions - women directly using evaluative adjectives, men indirectly using humour and taboo language

Question 38

Dale Spender

Answer 38

in man made language, she argues that men dominate and control interaction with women and the language system itself

Question 39

Komarovsky

Answer 39

men talked about money, business, sport and politics
women talked about family and relationships