Language And Gender Flashcards
Reading Study - Language in Gender
• Jenny Cheshire
•The aim was to gain data about the relationship between the use of grammatical variables and adhering to a peer group culture of boys and girls
•She found that social group had an impact on your language
Group A girls who disapproved of swearing and carrying weapons were less likely to use the non-standard ‘s’, ‘was’, ‘what’, ‘come’, ‘ain’t’
• While Group B girls who approved of swearing and carrying weapons were more likely to use all non-standard except for ‘has’ and ‘never’.
Linguist Judith Baxter
•”Gender neutral term does help people change their view of reality over time”
Jean Scott
•Gender is not just about sex it also signifies a relationship of power
Oxford dictionary
•Defines the word ‘rabid’ with the example ‘rabid feminist’
What did Julia Stanley find about nouns
She found that 26 nouns denote male promiscuity and 220 nouns denote female promiscuity.
Motschenbacher findings
He found that cases where female terms were placed before male terms it was to depict traditional social roles of women
Linguists opniin on Gender pronouns in English
• If the English language had been properly organised, there would be a word that meant both ‘he’ and ‘she’
Norwich study - Language in Gender / Social class
•Peter Trudgill
•The aim was to find how and why people’s way of speaking varied.
•He studied the final consonant in words like walking, reunning
•He found that in all social class, the more careful they speech the more likely they were ‘walking’ rather than ‘walkin’
•The people in lower social class were likely to say ‘walkin’
•Women tend to think they say ‘-ing’ than they actually did.
Men tend to say they use the non-standard ‘-in’ than they actually did.
Trudgill Study
He studied the final consonant in words like ‘walking’ and ‘running’
•he found that men dropped the ‘g’ more than women
Deficit Model
•Otto Jesperson
•refers to the idea that the women use language contribute to their weaker position in society
•E.g use of hedging ‘sort of’, ‘kind of’, Tag questions ‘isn’t it’
Ottoman Jesperson
He said the vocabulary of a women is much less extensive than that of a man and ‘the highest linguistic genuine and lowest degree of linguistic imbecilic are very really found among women. The great oratory and literary artists have been men’
What was the hypothesis regarding women’s language?
Women’s language is largely a language of powerlessness, applicable to both genders.
Did O’Barr and Atkins believe that powerless language was a gendered concept?
No, they did not believe powerless language was a gendered concept.
Who conducted a study on courtroom language and what was the duration?
William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins conducted a 30-month study.
How many hours of courtroom footage did O’Barr and Atkins record?
They recorded over 150 hours of trials.
What was the sex distribution of lawyers, witnesses, and defendants in the study?
Almost all lawyers were male, but the distribution of witnesses and defendants was more equal.
According to O’Barr and Atkins, what were Lakoff’s speech patterns more related to?
They were more related to perceived power in society than to gender.
Fill in the blank: O’Barr and Atkins emphasized that a powerful position might derive from _______.
[social standing in the larger society and/or status accorded by the court].
Cultural vocabulary
•Sally McConnell-Ginet suggests that women are better at picking up on thoughts and feeling so they generally give men more space to talk.
•She suggested that he who shouts the loudest is more likely to be listened to.
What is the nature of conversation between women?
•Suggested by Jennifer Coates
More horizontal and malleable where everyone is an equal player
In what way do men view conversation?
As an arena for establishing hierarchies and expressing individual achievement. (Jennifer Coates)
What is ‘backstage talk’ in the context of women’s conversation?
A setting where women relax and let down conversational niceties
What does backstage talk suggest about women’s conversational niceties?
Women maintain conversational niceties to keep the flow, not due to deficiency. (Jennifer Coates)
Fill in the blank: Women’s backstage talk implies that they are not __________.
Naturally deficient
What is the primary purpose of women’s language according to Ann Friedman?
Building relationships
Language is often about making oneself understood and trying to understand others.
Hedging
•Janet Holmes suggests that although hedging is viewed as a deficit, it provides positive feedback and signals the listener is listening and invested in the discourse.
Hong Kong Study
•They found that the highest ranking men at a business meeting used uptalk 7x more than their subordinate
•It was used to assert dominance and make people listen.
Dominance approach
•It suggests that in a mixed gender conversation, men would be more dominant in the conversation
Zimmerman and West
•They found that men would interrupt more to display linguistic dominance. 46 for men and 2 for women.
What is the term Pamela Fishman uses to describe the effort women put into conversations?
Conversational shitwork
This term refers to the work women do to keep conversations flowing, often through questioning and engagement techniques.
According to Pamela Fishman, why do mixed gender conversations sometimes fail?
Because of how men respond or don’t respond
Fishman argues that it is not due to inherent differences in communication styles but rather the dynamics of interaction.
What does Fishman suggest about women’s use of questioning in conversations?
It is a method to gain conversational power
Fishman believes that questioning is a strategy women use, rather than a sign of insecurity.
How do men typically respond to declarative statements made by women, according to Fishman?
They often do not respond or respond minimally
This lack of response necessitates women to use questions to engage men in conversation.
What type of feedback do women use to encourage male speakers to engage?
Positive feedback
Fishman theorizes that this feedback helps maintain the conversation and encourages participation.
True or False: Fishman believes women’s questioning in conversations is a sign of weakness.
False
She argues that women’s questioning is a necessary tactic for effective communication, not a sign of insecurity.
What do women need to do to make conversations happen, according to Fishman?
Work harder
Fishman claims that women must exert more effort to ensure conversations occur, highlighting the different conversational dynamics.
Fill in the blank: Fishman argues that women’s questioning is required when speaking with _______.
men
This suggests a specific dynamic in gendered conversations where women’s approaches differ based on their conversational partners.
Difference Model
•By Deborah Tannen
•neither one or the other dominate conversation, but differences can cause miscommunication.
•our differences are innate
Male use for communication - Tannen
•To exchange information
•To show independence
•To show status
Female use for communication - Tannen
• To network
• To connect
• To develop intimacy
Diversity Model
•By Deborah Cameron
•Difference is a myth
•She suggests there is no biological difference, only one constructed by society.
Gender Performative theory
•Gender is a performance that we all agree as a society.
What did Jenny Cook-Gumprez record among three-year-olds in a kindergarten class?
A conversation where the girls played house and enacted domestic scenarios
This highlights how children explore gender roles through play.
How did the girls in Cook-Gumprez’s study portray motherhood during their play?
They sometimes did not act like perfect mothers, illustrating a lack of internalized expectations
This suggests that societal norms about motherhood are learned rather than innate.
Fill in the blank: Cook-Gumprez’s recordings reveal that children explore gender roles through _______.
play
Attitude towards Vocal Fry
•A report showed that women who use vocal fry are less likely to be hired.
•It is viewed as sounding insecure as a need for reassurance.
