language and gender theorists Flashcards
Ann Weatherhall - 3 things
Women’s talk is cooperative and men’s talk is competitive
Women hedge, speak less and use tag questions.
Men interrupt
Pilkington - 3 things
Research in a bakery over 9 months
Women talk to affirm solidarity and maintain social relationships.
Men find long pauses acceptable and are competitive to the point of verbal abuse
Tannen - 3 things
Difference starts in childhood- parents use more words about feeling to girls and more verbs to boys
Came up with 6 differences e.g. Status vs Support, Advice vs Understanding, Orders vs Proposals
Males and females belong to different sub-cultures
Tannen Critique - Janet Holmes - 1 thing
Gender is not a culture, there are other intersectionalities to consider
Butler - 4 things
Language and gender is a fluid performance
We learn by copying those we think we are similar to.
We walk, talk and do things to consolidate gender
Gender is a phenomenon that society polices
Bing and Bergvall - 2 things
Every time differences are acknowledged, gender polarisation is reinforced
Diversity>Dichotomy
Deborah Cameron - 3 things
Difference approach is widespread, but false
People look for differences not similarities
To be successful in verbal hygiene, women need to re-invent language to fit into social norms e.g. “girl boss”- marked term
O’Barr and Atkins - 2 things
Courtroom assessment over 30 months
Because women were in a generally powerless position in society, powerless language became associated with them
O’Barr and Atkins Support - Karen O’Leary - 1 thing
Found the speakers role in the interaction was a better predictor of tag questions than their gender
Jespersen - 3 things
Women link sentences with “and” because they are emotional rather than grammatical
Women have a smaller vocab, so are more fluent.
Women use adverbs and adjectives e.g. “nice” too much
Jespersen Critique - 1 thing
Used observations so may be less accurate evidence
Trudgill - 2 things
“ing” suffix
Women use the standard form more to gain overt prestige
Lakoff - 8 things
Women…
Hedge
Use tag questions
Hypercorrect
Speak less
Use empty adjectives
Directly quote
Intonation in declaratives
Overuse qualifiers
Lakoff Critique - 2 things
Folk linguist
Only studied white middle-class women
Labov - 3 things
“r” sound
Women are likely to use the perceived correct term of pronunciation
Women hypercorrect more to gain prestige and respect
