Transcript Key Questions

Key Questions: In what ways is
sociolinguistic study relevant to
the study of language change?
Starter:
What is sociolinguistics?
Sex/Gender: What’s the difference?
• Sex:
A biological category; physically, you are either male or female
(or intersex or hermaphrodite)
• Gender:
The social expectations attached to sex (“all men are...”;
“women tend to...”; “that’s not very manly”; “don’t be such a
girl”)
• “You ____ your sex; you _____ your gender.”
What are the concerns/focusses of languageand-gender studies?
• The relationship/connection between language and gender
– How language represents gender?
– How gender affects language?
• Different assumptions can shape the study of language and gender:
– Language expresses natural gender differences
– Language reflects the socialisation processes through which we
learn our genders
– The way we use language shapes and changes what gender is or
means (performativity)
Which theoretical models have been influential & can
you name names? (No definitions needed... Yet...)
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Deficit (Lakoff)
Dominance (Zimmerman and West)
Difference (Tannen)
Performativity (Bergvall; Butler**)
Can you list at least 10 “deficit model” characteristics? (No definitions)
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Hedge: using phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “it seems like”,and so on.
Use (super)polite forms: “Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”, “...if you don't mind”.
Use tag questions: “You're going to dinner, aren't you?”
Speak in italics: intonational emphasis equal to underlining words - so, very, quite.
Use empty adjectives: divine, lovely, adorable, and so on
Use hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation: English prestige grammar and clear enunciation.
Use direct quotation: men paraphrase more often.
Have a special lexicon: women use more words for things like colours, men for sports.
Use question 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. For example, “What
school do you attend? Eton College?”
Use “wh-” imperatives: (such as, “Why don't you open the door?”)
Speak less frequently
Overuse qualifiers: (for example, “I Think that...”)
Apologise more: (for instance, “I'm sorry, but I think that...”)
Use modal constructions: (such as can, would, should, ought - “Should we turn up the heat?”)
Avoid coarse language or expletives
Use indirect commands and requests: (for example, “My, isn't it cold in here?” - really a request to turn the
heat on or close a window)
Use more intensifiers: especially so and very (for instance, “I am so glad you came!”)
Lack a sense of humour: women do not tell jokes well and often don't understand the punch line of jokes.
The Dominance Model/Approach
• Women talk differently to men because men tend to control
conversation.
• Lakoff’s features used because women are, typically,
responsible for “small talk” (getting people, often their
male partners, to “open up” and chat).
• Male and female language differs because of
“conversational rights”; in conversation, men tend to
control topics and interrupt more often than women do.
• Research under this model found that although women
were thought to be chattier than men, men spoke for up to
three times longer than women.
• Women’s verbosity was measured not against men’s
verbosity, but against silence. That is, women are “meant”
to be (or are preferred by men to be) silent.
The Difference Model/Approach (in your own words)
• Men & women should be thought of as coming
from ...
• We learn the cultural and conversational “rules” for
men and women. (Socialisation)
• Men “monitor” for _______ in conversation;
women “monitor” for _______
• Inequality/gender “clashes” occur when...
• This model is more aware than earlier ones of men
and women being socialised into certain linguistic
behaviours.
Problems with the Ds
• Deficit: Assumes that women’s language (and
by default women?) are somehow lacking
• Dominance: Assumes that all women are put
upon and helpless; all men are domineering
bullies
• Difference: Focussed on differences between
men and women; does not consider
differences amongst women, and amongst
men
The Performativity Model/Approach:
1 advantage, 1 disadvantage
• Potentially very liberating – makes it clear
that any assumptions about how/what men
& women are, are culturally constructed
standards. However...
• Can make it hard to talk about gender at all.
The Role of Ideology & Your Knowledge
• The theories we have discussed can be very helpful,
particularly if you are discussing a text which
contradicts aspects of one/some/all of them.
• However, it may be appropriate to write in more
general terms about “typical”/“stereotypical”
attitudes towards/representations of gender, and to
draw on your experiences of “gendered language.”
• [We might develop this further next lesson, through
textual analysis...]
The “Language Change” question(s):
How does language change over time?
• The sentences on the sheet come from
two make-up adverts, one from 1996
and one from 1935. In pairs decide
which advert they come from.
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Make-up Adverts from 1996 and 1935
Decide which year the advert comes:
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Face Powder must be used and not seen.
Just a touch of it on your nose in the morning, fluff on your powder and you’re safe all
day.
A shiny nose is so unnecessary.
Bare just became more beautiful.
Feels comfortable hour after hour.
So sheer, it gives you the look of impeccable skin, invisibly.
It must blend imperceptibly with your skin.
So innovative it compensates for oiliness or dryness.
One of the nicest things about Miss Arden’s powder is that it comes in a big box.
Enlighten is oil free, soothes even sensitive skin, protects with a non-chemical
SPF10.
[Our powder] has helped more than one bright young girl to present a smooth
unshining brow to the world from beneath her new Autumn hat.
So weightless and flexible it floats on the skin’s surface – never drying or settling into
pores or fine lines.
How easy was it to decide? What clues did you use?
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How does language change over time?
• Now look at the whole adverts. What
changes in lexis, phonology and grammar
do you notice?
• What role does social context play?
How does language change over time?
Homework
– Identify which aspects of the Lang. & Gender
unit you need to revise… and revise!
– Look at how language has changed in the two
car adverts using a similar structure to the
one we used for the make-up adverts.
• Due next week