language and gender Flashcards
language and gender theories
who said “women who talk like men are judged differently – and harshly. A woman invading the man’s realm of speech is often considered unfeminine, rude or bitchy”?
Dale Spender
who found that language use associated with women by Lakoff was exhibited by both women and men whenever they were in a powerless situation in the courtroom?
O’Barr and Atkins
who argues that in interaction between the sexes that conversation sometimes fails, not because of the way women talk but because of how men respond?
Fishman
who found that fathers interrupt more than mothers and both parents interrupt daughters more tha sons?
Esther Grief
who said that men reject a topic of conversation introduced by a woman but women will accept one introduced by men?
Coates
whos said that men pursue a style of interaction based on power, while women pursue a style of interaction based on solidarity and support?
coates
who are the key theorists for the dominance model?
Zimmerman and West
what is Zimmerman and West’s theory?
in mixed-sex conversations men are more likely to interrupt than women.
what was Zimmerman and West’s study?
recorded 11 mixed-sex conversations, men used 46 interruptions and women used 2.
what was Zimmerman and West’s conclusion?
pt more often, they are dominating/attempting to do so.
what theroists support the dominance model?
Esther Grief, Dale Spender, Jennifer Coates.
who advocates a view of language as embodying structures that sustain male power, referring to the work of Zimmerman and West to support her view of male as norm?
Dale Spender
who saud that women are most likely to initiate a conversation than men yet less likely to make a conversation succeed.
Jennifer Coates
main critic of dominance model?
Geoffrey Beattie
what did Beattie say about Z and W’s study?
“you might simply have one very voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total”
what does Beattie criticise about the interruptions in Z and W’s study?
“why do interruptions necessarily reflect dominance?”
“do some interruptions not reflect interest and involvement?”
what did Beattie find?
from his own recordings he found that woman and men interrupt conversation with more or less equal frequency.
who is the key theorist for the defecit model?
Robin Lakoff
what is the key idea of the defecit model?
women’s language reflects uncertainty and lack of power.
what are five features in women’s language according to Lakoff?
hedges, apologise more than men, tag questions, indirect commands, avoid slang
what theorists support the defecit model?
Jespersen and Ann Weatherall
who argued thatwomen’s speech is emotional, imprecise and hyperbolic?
Jespersen (also said that women have a smaller vocabulary than men)
who found that women hedge more, interrupt less, and focus on cooperative communication?
Weatherall
what theorists criticise the defecit model?
O’Barr & Atkins and Fishman
what did Fishman criticise about the deficit model?
women ask questions to drive interaction and gain conversation control, challenging the idea that questions show insecurity
what was wrong with Lakoff’s evidence?
her evidence was anecdotal and lacked statistic support - hard to validate
