Language And Gender

Question 1

What is meant by Gender

Answer 1

Gender refers to socially expected characteristics

Expecting women to be fond of babies is an aspect of gender

Question 2

What is Heteronormativity

Answer 2

Heteronormativity refers to the idea that Gender is closely connected with sexuality (E.G. Ideas about gender differences are often projected onto same sex couples)

Question 5

What is meant by Sex

Answer 5

Sex refers to biological differences

That women can biologically produce children is an aspect of sex

Question 6

What is the Dominance theory

Answer 6

The theory that in mixed-sex conversations men are more likely to interrupt than women

Question 7

What is the Difference theory

Answer 7

The theory that men and women use language differently

Question 8

What is Marking

Answer 8

Marking means that a language item stands out and is distinctive or unusual in some way - often creates and addition or contrastive meaning which tells you something about the original meanings of the term in question (E.G. The term ‘ a family man’ - the term ‘family’ modifies the noun ‘man’, marking the man as a particular type of man - someone who spends time with his family)

Question 9

What is Tautology

Answer 9

Tautology is the repeating of things in a different set of words
(The phrase ‘family woman’ sounds like a Tautology as the traditional idea of a woman is that she’s family-oriented)

Question 10

What did the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 prevent

Answer 10

The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 made it illegal to write a job advertisement in a way that implied people of only one sex could apply

Question 11

What are Connotations

Answer 11

Connotations are the associations that we have for a term ( can include the idea of who is normally the reference when a word or phrase is used )
The connotations that are built up around a term, including who it might be applied to, contribute strongly to meaning

Question 12

What did Hoey do

Answer 12

Uses the expression Lexical Priming to describe the way in which words and phrases come with a kind of undercoat layer, built from habitual usage in the same contexts

Question 13

What did John Sinclair say

Answer 13

Talked of the importance of analysing ‘the company that words keep’ - or their Collocations

Question 14

What theory is Dale Spender linked to

Answer 14

Dominance theory
“Man Made Language” - suggests that only men are allowed to grow up, Women were trapped in a world of language that was not of their making because men had historically controlled the meanings.

Question 15

What does Dale Spender do

Answer 15

Advocates a radical view of language as embodying structures that sustain male power. She claims that it is especially difficult to challenge this power system since the way that we think of the world is part of and reinforced this Male Power

Question 16

What is Paul Baker known for

Answer 16

Explores two dictionary equivalents - ‘bachelor’ and ‘spinster’ - and reports his findings on the words that collocate with these, and the discourses implied, in a chapter of Gender and Language Research Methodologies, a collection of linguists’ research

Question 17

What theory is Robin Lakoff linked to

Answer 17

Deficit theory
Women were disadvantaged by having to adopt forms of language that made them sound unconfident (hesitation, approval-seeking tag questions, euphemistic politeness terms.

Question 18

What did Robin Lakoff say

Answer 18

“Language and Woman’s Place” - ‘talking like a lady’
Use of :
Hedges, Super Polite forms, Tag Questions, Speaking in Italics, Empty Adjectives, Hypercorrect Grammar, a Special Lexicon, question intonation in Declarative Statements, Qualifiers, Apologise more, Modal Constructions, Indirect Commands and Requests, Intensifiers

Question 19

What is the dominance theory

Answer 19

Men dominate and control both interactions with women and the language system itself
Women use language in a way which reflects their subordinate position in society, and men in a way which reflects their power
Differences in men and women’s speech is due to men’s dominance and women’s subordination, therefore the language we use is more about power and status than gender

Question 20

What is the deficit model

Answer 20

The idea that there may be something intrinsically wrong with the language of a disadvantaged group
Theories which fall into the deficit model analyse the language by seeing men’s language as the norm and women’s language as deviating from that norm in various ways.

Question 21

What theory is Deborah Tannen linked to

Answer 21

Difference theory

Question 22

What did Deborah Tannen do

Answer 22

Difference Approach - 6 Contrasts between Men vs Women

Status vs Support
Independence vs Intimacy
Advice vs Understanding
Information vs Feelings
Orders vs Proposals 
Conflict vs Compromise

Question 23

What theory are Zimmerman and West linked to

Answer 23

Dominance theory

Question 24

What did Zimmerman and West do

Answer 24

University of California - recorded white middle class people under the age of 35 - produce 31 segments of conversation - in 11 conversations between men and women, men used 46 interruptions but women only 2
Concluded that since men interrupt more they are dominating or atleast attempting to do so

Question 25

Which theory is Pamela Fishman linked to

Answer 25

Dominance theory

Question 26

What did Pamela Fishman do

Answer 26

Argues in “Interaction : the Work Women Do” that conversation between the sexes sometimes fails - not because of how women talk - because of how men respond or don’t respond
Looked specifically into the way in which women and women interacted - research stretching across the 1970s-1990
Concluded that the way in which men and women contributed to conversations varied - women tended to ‘work hardest’ to help enable a conversation to take place

Question 27

What did Pamela Fishman categorise as four main features of interaction

Answer 27

Questions - Women asked three times the number of questions asked by men
Minimal response - Women used supportive minimal noises to show interest while Men delayed giving or didn’t give minimal responses
Attention Getters - Women used phrases like ‘D’ya know what?’ To gain husbands attention , Men made little or no use of attention getters
Topic Initiation - topics initiated by Women were not always taken up in the conversation while topics initiated by Men were always successful and were supported by the Women

Question 28

What conclusion did Fishman come to regarding the four interactions

Answer 28

Women became drawn into lower status work in the conversation, sustaining and encouraging the men’s utterances and topics
In turn women’s topics were not always taken up and were not encouraged by men

Question 29

How did Fishman question Lakoffs theories

Answer 29

Lakoff suggests that asking questions shows women’s insecurity and hesitancy in communication whereas Fishman looks at questions as an attribute of interactions - Women ask questions because of the power of these, not because of their personality weaknesses.
Fishman also claims that in mixed sex language interactions, men speak on average for twice as long as women

Question 30

What did Tannen say about misunderstandings in mixed sex conversations

Answer 30

Not every example of simultaneous speech was an interruption, and made some connections between gender and ethnicity that were a welcome step forward
Had the idea that the sexes were socialised into seeing themselves as having very different roles and so used different linguistic strategies in interactions
Claimed men monitor their interactions for signals of power and status and women monitor theirs for Donald of alignment and solidarity
Claimed that men and women could use exactly the same words but have very different understandings of them

Question 31

Criticisms of the Difference Theory

Answer 31

Men and women normally don’t grow up in different communities in the way suggested so they can’t be unaware of each other’s meanings
There is a power in the way that ‘difference’ is used in societies and this was being ignored, ideas about who is allowed to have a public voice and what they are allowed to say still needed to be explored

Question 32

What does Deborah Cameron do

Answer 32

Challenges the idea that men and women are essentially different
Argues that the idea of fundamental gender differences is misleading, suggesting that there are more differences within the genders rather than between them

Question 33

What are the common assertions about male and female language that Cameron suggests

Answer 33

1) Language and communication matter more to some than to men; women talk more than men
2) Women are more verbally skilled than men
3) Men’s goals in using language tend to be about getting things done, whereas women’s tend to be about making connections to other people
4) Men talk more about things and facts whereas women talk more about people, relationships and feelings
5) Men’s way of using language is competitive, reflecting their general interest in acquiring and maintaining status; women’s use of language is cooperative, reflecting their preference for equality and harmony
6) These differences routinely lead to ‘miscommunication’ between the sexes, with each sex misinterpreting the others intentions
7) This causes problems in contexts where men and women regularly interact, and especially in heterosexual relationships

Question 34

What is meant by Gender and address terms

Answer 34

The English speaking world has traditionally used Patronyms - names that relate to male lines of inheritance
Icelandic and other Nordic societies can use Matronyms - the mothers first name plus the term for ‘daughter’ or ‘son’ in Icelandic - ‘Dottir’ or ‘son’
In Spain, children can inherit names from both sides of the family and add them together to create surnames with multiple elements

Question 35

How has language changed over time

Answer 35

Previously, language was seen as the result of gender, Now language is seen as constructing identity
This newer idea fits with ideas in other subject areas about the ‘self’ as having multiple identities based on the discourses that you use and that are in play at any particular time
Gender is something that you do, not something that you are

Question 36

How are Gender and Occupation connected

Answer 36

Because if gender is a performance, then perhaps a certain kind of performance can be learned by people in work contexts, regardless of their gender

Question 37

What did Kira Hall do

Answer 37

Reports in ‘Language and Desire’ that some of the most successful sex-chat workers in the community she interviewed were a different sex and ethnicity from the identities they performed

Question 38

What did Anna Hultgren do

Answer 38

2008 study of British and Danish call centres showed that a stereotypical female ‘script’ was the model expected of workers (similar to Lakoff’s original picture of politeness, compromise and rapport)

Question 39

What did O’Barr and Atkins do

Answer 39

A 1980 study that looked at courtroom cases and witnesses’ speech
Their findings challenge Lakoff’s view of women’s language. In researching what they describe as ‘powerless language’, they show that language differences are based on situation specific authority or power and not gender

Question 40

What did O’Barr and Atkins’ study involve

Answer 40

Studied courtroom cases for 30 months, observing a broad spectrum of witnesses
They examined the witnesses for the ten basic speech differences between men and women that Robin Lakoff proposed. O’Barr and Atkins discovered that the differences that Lakoff and others supported are not necessarily the result of being a woman, but of being powerless.

O’Barr and Atkins concluded from their study that the quoted speech patterns were “neither characteristic of all women not limited only to women”. The women who used the lowest frequency of women’s language traits had an unusually high status (according to the researchers). They were well educated professionals with middle class backgrounds. A corresponding latter. Was noted among the men who spoke with a low frequency of women’s language traits. O’Barr and Atkins tried to emphasise that a powerful position “may derive from either social standing in the larger society and/or status accorded by the court”.

Question 41

What did Janet Hyde do

Answer 41

Discovered that male and females from childhood to adulthood are more alike than different on most psychological variables, resulting in what she calls a Gender Similarities Hypothesis. Using meta-analytical techniques that revolutionised the study of gender differences starting in the 1980s, she analysed how prior research assessed the impact of gender on many psychological traits and abilities, including cognitive abilities, verbal and nonverbal communication, aggression, leadership, self esteem, moral reasoning and motor behaviours

Question 42

What did Hydes research consist of

Answer 42

Hyde observed that across the dozens of studies, gender differences has either no or a very small effect on most of the psychological variables examined. Only a few main differences appeared : Compared with women, men could throw farther, were more physically aggressive, masturbated more, and held more positive attitude about sex in uncommitted relationships
Furthermore, Hyde found that gender differences seem to Depend on the Context in which they were measured. In studies designed to eliminate gender norms, researchers demonstrated that gender roles and social context strongly determined a persons actions. For example after participants in one experiment were told that they would not be identified as male or female nor did they wear any identification, none conformed to stereotypes about their sex when given the chance to be aggressive. In fact, they did the opposite of what would be expected - women were more aggressive and men were more passive.
Finally, Hyde’s 2005 report looked into the developmental course of possible gender differences - how any apparent gap may open or close over time. The analysis presented evidence that gender differences fluctuate with age, growing smaller or larger at different times in the life span. This fluctuation indicates again that any differences are not stable.