Transcript Do men and women speak differently?”

Language and gender
LO: to understand the gender
influence within language;
Assumptions about gender... And
language
• 5 differences between gendered speech.
• A man was driving with his son, when the car
was struck by another vehicle. The man was
killed instantly, but his son, injured, was
rushed to hospital. The surgeon came into the
operating theatre, gasped and said: “But this
is my son”.
Do we notice anything about this
sentence?
• Malevolence and hatred are not qualities we
like to associate with mankind.
• “Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to
dust thou shalt return.”
• Mrs. Anthony Bunter
“Do men
and women
speak
differently?”
Robin Lakoff’s, Language and
Women’s Place, 1975.
Lakoff provided a vision and a template for
generations of researchers.
Lakoff suggested that women are ‘more polite’
and have a ‘poorer sense of humour’ than men.
She suggested that specific linguistic/discursive
features marked the powerlessness of women,
arguing that women are socialised into using these
features as part of their subservient role to men.
Examples of these linguistic /
discursive features.
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Hedges – ‘I’d kind of like to…’, ‘It’s sort of…’, ‘I guess…’
(Super) polite forms – ‘I’d really appreciate it if..’
Tag questions – ‘This is nice, isn’t it?’
Speaking in italics – Intonational emphasis: ‘So’, ‘very’ etc.
Empty adjectives – ‘Divine’, ‘sweet’, ‘charming’
Hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation – More formal
enunciation.
Lack of a sense of humour – Said to be poor joke tellers, and
to ‘miss the point’
Direct quotations
Special lexicon – Specialised terminology when describing
things like colour. E.g. ‘magenta’
Question intonation in declarative contexts – Seeking
approval when making a statement. Uncertain questions as
answers. E.g. ‘When will dinner be ready?’ ‘Around 6’o clock?’
Why might women use
these linguistic
techniques?
Women are possibly less
secure than men in
terms of social status –
Feel the need to prove
their status through
language.
Using standard English
gives a person ‘overt
prestige.’
Use of prestigious
language.
Men are more likely to
seek covert prestige by
using non – standard
English to appear tough /
rebellious.
Expected to behave
like ‘ladies’ and use
‘ladylike’ language.
Is this still
a relevant theory
today?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XXVXxFH8w
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William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins
(1980)
• Studied the language variation between men and
women in courtrooms for 30-months.
• Recognised that although some women do speak
the way Lakoff described, so do some men.
• Therefore not characteristics of all women are
limited only to women.
• The women who used relatively few of the
features were of an unusually high social status.
More Recent Research
• Holmes (1984) – Argued that women’s
language does not display a weakness,
but a desire to co-operate.
• Cameron (2007) – Argues that there are
very few differences between men and
women’s language, and situation affects
how people speak more than gender.
‘Women’s Language’
or
‘Powerless Language?’
Although more women speak this
language this men, is this relative to
the greater tendency of women who
occupy relatively powerless social
positions?
Some General Differences.
Men
Women
Interrupt more. Zimmerman and West
Tend to talk less and agree more.
(1975) found that 96% if the interruptions
were by men, suggesting male dominance
in conversation.
Give more direct orders. Don’t mind
conflict.
Polite orders. Try to avoid conflict.
Some theorists suggest that these general differences
can be to do with the difference in topic of conversation
between men and women.
• Trugill 1983
• Women's pronunciation is closer to RP than
males.
• Cheshire 1982
• Boys tend to use more non-grammatical
forms, like ain't, than girls.
• Lakoff (Robin) 1975
• Women use: hedges + fillers; tag questions;
apologetic requests, indirect requests, speak
less, use fewer expletives, more intensifiers.
She argued that these features of speech
make women seem more inferior, weak and
needy and prevents women from being taken
seriously.
• O'Barr and Atkins 1980
• Disputed Lakoff, said that it was males and
females of low social status who used these
linguistic features.
• Tanner 1990
• Differences not similarities.
Men: more concerned with status - interrupt more;
gives more direct orders - don't mind conflict; more
intensifiers in getting facts and solving problems.
Females: more interested in for bonds - tend to talk
less and agree more; more polite indirect orders - to
avoid conflict; aim to show understanding by
compromising and offering support rather than
solutions.
• Beattie 1982
• Questioned Zimmerman and West's theory that men's
interruptions were a sign of dominance. He said it
could be to show support and understanding.
“(gender) identities are constructed
through talk relationally (creating contrasts
between self and other) and dynamically,
through constant re-negotiation of one’s
own subjectivity and position within the
hierarchy a group.”
- The New Sociolinguistic Reader
Do we ‘perform’ our identity?
Summary of guidelines for the nonsexist use of language
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When constructing examples and theories, remember to include those human
activities, interests, and points of view which traditionally have been associated
with females.
Eliminate the generic use of he by:
using plural nouns
deleting he, his, and him altogether
substituting articles (the, a, an) for his; and who for he
substituting one, we, or you
minimizing use of indefinite pronouns (e.g., everybody, someone
using the passive voice (use sparingly)
substituting nouns for pronouns (use sparingly)
Eliminate the generic use of man:
for man, substitute person/people, individual(s), human(s), human being(s)
for mankind, substitute humankind, humanity, the human race
for manhood, substitute adulthood, maturity
delete unnecessary references to generic man