Power and Status - Language Theories Flashcards
1
Q
O’Barr and Atkins - Speaking
A
- Women speak more than men and they break the ‘rules’ of turn taking.
2
Q
O’Barr and Atkins
A
- Women speak more than men and they break the ‘rules’ of turn taking.
3
Q
Tannen’s “Genderlect Theory” - Emotion and Rapport
A
- Women are likely to talk about emotions, relationships and people and encourage others to do the same
- They will also use intensifiers such as “so” and “much” to emphasize their emotions
- Men will avoid emotion When seeking status as they consider it a sign of weakness
- They will take an authoritative stance that puts them at a higher position than others and prevents interruption
- Men will avoid saying things that may be challenged. They tend to stick to solid facts.
4
Q
Tannen’s “Genderlect Theory” - Private and Public
A
- Women talk more in private conversations as they want to gain connection with others
- In public, there is much less opportunity to create individual relationship
- Women tend to talk less in public
- There is a higher chance that they will be overpowered by men in public conversations
- Men tend to talk more in public
as this allows their audience to recognize them and give men the power and status they seek
5
Q
Tannen’s “Genderlect Theory” - Listening and Interrupting
A
- Women will listen to others in order to create empathy and find common interests in order to connect better to the other person
- Women listen carefully for a long period of time without interrupting
- When they do interrupt, it is usually to express support or ask questions so they can better understand the situation/person
- Men use interruption to demonstrate status and gain attention
- In a male-dominated conversation, the topic changes frequently as they compete to take the lead
- Men interrupt by stating facts. They do not interrupt to ask questions as they think it exposes their limitations and gives power to the other person.
6
Q
Tannen’s “Genderlect Theory” - Jokes and Stories
A
- Women will talk about how they have been emotionally hurt
- They often talk about themselves in the position of the victim
- Men will use humor in order to tell emotionally detached stories
- They use jokes when explaining something that happened to them
- Men will put themselves as the heroes/intellectuals in the situation when telling stories
- Men put others down and raise their own status when telling jokes
7
Q
Cameron and Coates - Turn-taking
A
- Men are more likely to break the ‘rules’ of turn-taking and interrupt in a mixed sex conversation to show their dominance
8
Q
Cameron and Coates
A
- Men are more likely to break the ‘rules’ of turn-taking and interrupt in a mixed sex conversation to show their dominance
9
Q
Cameron and Coates - Direct and Indirect questions
A
- Men rarely directly ask something. Instead they are more likely to imply something through the use of an indirect question.
10
Q
Lakeoff’s - Woman’s place
A
Women:
- Speak less frequently.
- Show they are listening by using minimal responses (mm, yeah).
- Speak more quietly than men and tend to use the higher pitch range of their voices.
- Use hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Standard English and clear enunciation.
- Use a greater range of intonation and ‘speak in italics’: so, very, quite.
- Use questions intonation in declarative statements: women make declarative statements into questions by raising the pitch of their voice at the end of a statement, expressing uncertainty.
- Overuse qualifiers: (for example, “I think that…”)
- Hedge: using phrases like “sort of”, “kind off”, “it seems like”.
- Use super-polite forms: “would you mind…”, “I’d appreciate it if…”, “…if you don’t mind”.
- Apologize more: (for instance, I’m sorry, but I think that…”)
- Use tag questions: “You’re going to dinner, aren’t you?”
- Have a special lexicon: e.g. women use more words for colors, men for sports.
- Use empty adjectives to describe approximate amounts, around, about.
- Use euphemisms more than men
- Use direct quotation: men paraphrases more often
11
Q
Fishermen - Tag questions
A
- Women use 3x more tag questions to keep the conversation going
12
Q
Zimmerman and West
A
- Silences are longer in mixed gender conversations
- Men interrupted women more than other men
- Women interrupted other women more
13
Q
Kamarovsky - lexical choice
A
- Studied 58 working-class American couples
MALE:
- Money
- Business
- Sport
- Politics
FEMALE:
- Family
- Personal matters
14
Q
Hoas (1978)
A
- Girls laughed more in mixed-gender conversations
- Boys used more sound effects and direct requests
15
Q
Hoas
A
- Girls laughed more in mixed-gender conversations
- Boys used more sound effects and direct requests
