Language and Gender Flashcards
1
Q
What do the theories which fall into the Deficit Model believe in?
A
- Men’s language is the standard form and women’s language is deviating from that norm
- It’s the responsibility of women to become ‘bilingual’ in both male and female language to be able to communicate effectively
2
Q
What are the typical features of women’s language outlined by Lakoff? (Try and give some examples of such features)
A
- Hedging (sort of, kind of)
- Use of polite forms (Would you mind..)
- Use of tag questions (‘You’re going out tonight, aren’t you?’)
- Emphatic Language + Intensifiers (‘like’, ‘really’)
- Hypercorrect grammar + pronounciation
- Special lexicon (e.g. more words for colours)
- Use of indirect commands (‘My, it’s cold here isn’t it?’)
- Lack of humour
- Use of question intonation in declarative statements
3
Q
Why does using polite forms make women come across as weaker?
A
- Because society believes that women should be subordinate to men, therefore they have to be polite towards them in order to show respect to someone who is ‘in a higher societal position’
4
Q
Why does using hedging make women come across as weaker?
A
- It softens the force with which something is said/slows the conversation down
5
Q
Why does using emphatic language + intensifiers make women come across as weaker?
A
- Because it conveys a lack of precision/emotional exaggeration
6
Q
Why does using hypercorrect grammar make women come across as weaker?
A
- It can be perceived as an attempt to overcompensate for the deficiencies in women’s language
7
Q
Why does having a special lexicon make women come across as weaker?
A
- Because women tend to have a wider lexicon on topics such as colours and flowers while men have a wider lexicon in topics such as cars, sports
- This contrast makes it come across as if women have a wider lexicon in less important areas, making them inferior to men
8
Q
What are some features of men’s language as Lakoff outlined?
A
- A more direct style -> using directives and explicit commands
- Interruptions
- Use of explitives (swearing)
- Better sense of humour
- Simplified vocabulary in some fields
- Covert prestige
9
Q
What are the weaknesses of Lakoff’s theories?
A
- Her theories are mostly her own impressions/lack precise statistical evidence
- Overgeneralisation
- Essentialism: Her perspective doesn’t account for the social + cultural influences that shapes people’s language
- Language and gender norms have evolved since the 1970s
- Lakoff’s work was based on a binary understanding of gender: It doesn’t discuss other factors linked very closely to gender, e.g. sexuality and gender identification (which leads to performative behaviours)
- Lakoff didn’t consider that language use can vary depending on the environment, which complicates the idea of consistent ‘women’s language’
10
Q
What are the trends of female language as outlined by Jesperson?
A
- Women talk a lot
- Women have a smaller vocabulary than men
- Women know their limited vocabulary so well that they’re more fluent than men
- Novels written by women are easier to read and have less complex words
- Women use half finished sentences because they speak before they can think
- Use of empty adjectives
- Women often gain spoken mastery of foreign languages quicker than men
11
Q
What are the weaknesses of Jesperson’s theories?
A
- Lack of empirical evidence -> his theories were largely speculative and didn’t include any empirical evidence
- Essentialism
- Overgeneralisation
- Ignores other social factors
- Static view of language:
- He failed to consider that language norms/roles can evolve over time
12
Q
What did Jenny Cheshire research in 1982?
A
- Certain grammatical variations in the speech of young children
13
Q
What group did Cheshire focus on?
A
- Group of children aged 9 to 17
- All children were from working class backgrounds
14
Q
How did Cheshire conduct her research?
A
- She recorded the conversations of children on the playground
- Then, she conducted quantitative analysis of the recorded speech
- She then analyzed that data within a broader context (by including the consideration of factors such as status within peer groups + influence of social class)
15
Q
What were Cheshire’s findings in terms of boys’ language? (1982)
A
- Boys were more likely to use non-standard grammatical forms
- Boys were also more integrated into their peer groups and their language reflected it.
- This suggested that non-standard language was a marker of group identity and solidarity among boys
16
Q
What were Cheshire’s findings in terms of girls’ language? (1982)
A
- Girls usually tend to use less non-standard forms
- However, the girls that were a part of more tight-knit groups and partaking in activities that were more ‘boy-like’ also showed a higher usage of non-standard forms.
- Clear indication that social networks played a role in linguistic variations among girls as well.
17
Q
What were the weaknesses of Cheshire’s research?
A
- Her study only focused on children from a specific background (from Reading and children aged 9-17)
- Meaning her findings might not apply to younger children/adults
- The presence of a researcher can influence participants’ behaviour, also known as ‘observer’s paradox’
- Children might have modified their language knowing they’re being observed
- She only emphasised the use of non-standard grammatical features
- Leading to a limited view of linguistic variation as it doesn’t discuss the use of phonetics, pragmatics and discourse structures
18
Q
What does the dominance model suggest?
A
- That in mixed-sex conversations men are more likely to interrupt women
- Men dominate and control both interactions with women and the language system itself
- Differences in men and women’s speech is due to men’s dominance and women’s subordination
- Women use language in a way which reflects their subordinate position is society and men in a way which reflects their power
19
Q
How did Zimmerman and West (1975) conduct their research? What group was involved in the research? Where was it based?
A
- They recorded and analyzed a small sample of conversation at the Santa Barbara campus of the University of California, focusing on interruptions
- Subjects of the recording were white, middle class and aged under 35
20
Q
What were Zimmerman and West’s findings?
A
- They report that in 11 conversations between men and women, men used 46 interruptions while women only used 2
21
Q
Who pointed out the problems in Zimmerman and West’s theories?
A
- Geoffrey Beattie
22
Q
What did Geoffrey Beattie suggest?
A
- That in Zimmerman and West’s research, there could have been a ‘voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total’
- He also suggested that interruptions can be a sign of ‘reflecting interest and involvement’, and not dominance
23
Q
What were the weaknesses of Zimmerman and West’s research?
A
- Small sample size, possible unrepresentative
- Very specific
24
Q
How did Geoffrey Beattie conduct his research? What did his research find?
A
- He recorded 10 hours of tutorial discussion and 557 interruptions
- He found that women and men interrupted with more or less the same frequency (men - 34.1, women - 33.8)
- He ruled that men did interrupt more, however the margin was so slight that it wasn’t statistically significant
25
Q
What did Dale Spender’s research (1980) believe?
A
- That language perpetuates patriarchal structures, reflecting men’s perspectives and maintaining male dominance
26
Q
What did Dale Spender’s research (1980) find?
A
- Words associated with women often acquire negative connotations over time (e.g. ‘mistress’ vs ‘master’)
- Men tend to dominate conversations, interrupt women more frequently and control topics
- Efforts to introduce non-sexist language face resistance because they challenge entrenched power structures
27
Q
What were the weaknesses of Spender’s theories?
A
- Some argue that her theories are essentialist and binary, not accounting for the complexity of gender identities
- They also noted that there is a lack of empirical evidence for some claims, suggesting the need for more scientific data
28
Q
What did Pamela Fishman focus on? How did she conduct her study?
A
- She focused on tag questions
- Listened to 52 hours of pre-recorded conversation between young American couples
29
Q
What did Pamela Fishman argue?
A
- That conversation between the 2 sexes often fails not because of the way women speak, but rather due to the way men respond/don’t respond
- She argues that women ask questions because of their power, and not because of their personality weaknesses
30
Q
What did Pamela Fishman find?
A
- She found that Lakoff’s theory about women using more tag questions is indeed true, as Fishman found that women are four times more likely to use tag questions than men
- However she disagrees that tag questions are a sign of weakness, and argues that they are attributes of interactions instead
31
Q
What was Jennifer Coates (1980) research looking at?
A
- The differences in women’s and men’s speech in terms of men’s dominance and women’s subordination
32
Q
What key differences did Jennifer Coates find?
A
- Men talk more about impersonal topics while women talk more about sensitive aspects of life
- Men will sometimes hold the floor, trying to play the ‘expert’
- Men sometimes exchange comments in short, snappy style
- Men scarcely overlap during conversation, as they prefer to talk one by one
33
Q
Where was Peter Trudgill’s (1974) research based?
A
- Norwich
34
Q
What did Trudgil assume?
A
- That a person’s language would change depending on how conscious they are of their speech
- That working class speech has favourable connotations for male speakers
- Non-standard features are more accepted when they’re used by men than when they’re used by women
35
Q
What does the difference model believe in?
A
- That men and women belong to different sub-cultures, who, because they’re socialised differently, have different ways of communicating with each other
36
Q
What did Deborah Tannen identify as the 6 points of male vs female language use?
A
- Status vs Support
- Independence vs Intimacy
- Advice vs Understanding
- Information vs Feeling
- Orders vs proposals
- Conflict vs Compromise
37
Q
What does status vs support refer to?
A
- Men use language to show power and dominance while women are more likely to support and agree with others
38
Q
What does independence vs Intimacy refer to?
A
- Men use language to show they do not rely on other people; women use language to connect with other people
39
Q
What does advice vs understanding refer to?
A
- Men are more likely to offer solutions to a problem through their language choices; women will show empathy and understanding to a given situation
40
Q
What does information vs feeling refer to?
A
- Men are far more likely to be factual in their language choices; women, in contrast, will use language choices that are less factual.
41
Q
What does orders vs proposals refer to?
A
- Men are far more likely to be direct in their language using imperatives to command others; women will avoid such a commanding tone and be more suggestive in their language choices
42
Q
What does conflict vs compromise refer to?
A
- Men are more likely to use language to argue a point; women will use language to avoid such conflict and are far more likely to negotiate with others to try and find a solution or compromise.
43
Q
What did Jennifer Coates argue (1993)?
A
- That girls and boys develop different speaking styles early on and that this is because peer groups influence their social language development with gender being a key component
44
Q
What observations did Jennifer Coates make (1993)?
A
- A child’s peer group directly influences their social linguistic growth
- Girls tend to stay in smaller groups that involve talking
- Boys tend to stay in bigger groups that involve joint activity
- As a result of different interactions within their group, boys and girls develop different language habits
45
Q
What does Christine Howe’s research suggest?
A
- That gender is not a key factor; she claims that boys and girls develop differences based on other factors.
46
Q
What does Howe’s research suggest about the contrast between men and women?
A
- Women are active listeners and avoid strong language
- Men use language in a more competitive way than women to seek power
47
Q
What did Jane Pilkington argue?
A
- Women speak to maintain social relationships, focus on feelings and personal anecdotes
- Women agree frequently and complete each other’s utterances
- Men find long pauses unacceptable, frequently disagreeing and challenging each other
- Men are competitive to the point of verbal abuse
48
Q
What was Koenrad Kuiper’s research about?
A
- Male speech in sports teams
- One of his notable studies, published in 1991, explored the linguistic behavior of a male rugby team.
49
Q
What were Koenrad Kuiper’s findings?
A
- Men often use language to build solidarity through practices like banter, teasing, and the use of insults.
- Men ‘save face’ by using insults
50
Q
What idea did Deborah Cameron criticise?
A
- That there are innate differences in male and female speech
- ‘The idea of men and women…use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time’
51
Q
What did Deborah Cameron argue?
A
- That these myths have shaped our expectations of men and women and the types of linguistic behaviour that we deem to be normal or deviant
- In short, they continue to promote further myth-making
52
Q
What did Penelope Eckhert and McConnel-Ginet’s research support?
A
- The idea that gender differences in language are not inherent but are socially constructed and variable, aligning with the Diversity Model.
53
Q
What did Penelope Eckhert and McConnel-Ginet’s research find?
A
- They argue that gender intersects with other factors, and is not an exclusive factor that is unique in identifying the differences between male and female speech
54
Q
What did Mary Crawford suggest? What does she advocate for?
A
- That by focusing on differences alone in male and female language, stereotypes are constantly being reinforced
- She advocates for examining how language reflects and perpetuates social inequalities
55
Q
What did Janet Hyde find in her research?
A
- That men and women are much more alike than different on most psychological variables, including communication styles.
- Her research showed that gender differences are small and that the similarities between genders are more substantial.
56
Q
What does Hyde’s research suggest?
A
- That the impact of gender on language use is often overstated, promoting a view that focuses on individual differences and situational factors rather than gender alone.
