Language And Gender Flashcards
What does variation refer to in the context of language?
Differences in how people (or the same person in different cases) speak or write.
What is social variation in language?
When people from different social groups use language differently from each other.
What anatomical reason contributes to differences in speech between men and women?
Men tend to speak with a lower pitch (deeper voices) than women after puberty.
What is the primary focus of the research by Sophie Holmes-Elliott and Erez Levon?
Understanding why differences in the pronunciation of ‘s’ exist between men and women.
What two British reality TV programmes were analyzed in the study?
The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE) and Made in Chelsea (MIC).
What are engineered reality shows?
Shows where scenarios and topics of conversation are decided in advance but the conversations are not scripted.
How many scenes were analyzed in the study?
88 scenes from the first two series of both programmes.
What was the total duration of the recorded speech analyzed?
Over six hours.
How many speakers were involved in the analysis?
24 different speakers (9 men and 15 women).
What is s-fronting?
A pronunciation variation where the further back a person’s tongue is in the mouth when saying ‘s’, the less sibilant it sounds.
How do men’s mouths affect their pronunciation of ‘s’ compared to women’s?
Men have larger mouths, which means their tongues are naturally further back in the mouth.
True or False: Differences in how men and women pronounce ‘s’ can be fully explained by anatomical factors.
False.
What social phenomenon did the researchers suggest might influence speech differences?
Speakers performing their gender and exaggerating feminine and masculine traits for social effect.
What is th-fronting in speech?
Th-fronting is the pronunciation of ‘th’ sounds as ‘f’, as in saying ‘fing’ instead of ‘thing’
Th-fronting is commonly associated with working-class speech in the UK.
How can th-fronting influence perceptions of social class?
Listeners may presume a speaker is working class if they use th-fronting
This is based on stereotypes and ideas about working-class people.
What linguistic features were studied by Erez Levon?
The three linguistic features studied were:
* Pitch
* Sibilance of ‘s’
* Th-fronting
These features have social meanings related to gender, sexuality, and class.
What is the Verbal Guise Technique?
The Verbal Guise Technique involves using different speakers to analyze listener perceptions
It is often used to study attitudes towards different speech styles.
What is the Matched Guise Technique?
The Matched Guise Technique involves presenting the same speaker using different linguistic styles to assess listener judgments
This method helps to isolate the impact of speech features on perceptions.
What social meanings are associated with pitch in male speakers?
Higher pitch in male speakers is often judged as more effeminate
Women typically speak with a higher pitch than men.
What is sibilance of ‘s’ and its implications?
Sibilance of ‘s’ refers to the hissing sound in the pronunciation of ‘s’
High sibilance may lead listeners to presume a male speaker is gay.
True or False: High pitch in a male speaker is associated with perceptions of masculinity.
False
Higher pitch is typically associated with perceptions of effeminacy.
What was the sample size of Levon’s study?
189 participants
All participants were speakers of British English living in the UK.
