gender and language

LANGUAGE AND GENDER

LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET

read the following cartoons

Task 1: what do they imply about how men and women communicate?

Who is Debora Tannen?

Let's watch a video:

Deborah Frances Tannen (born June 7, 1945) is an American academic and professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She has been a McGraw Distinguished Lecturer at Princeton University and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences following a term in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Tannen is the author of twelve books, including That's Not What I Meant! and You Just Don't Understand, the latter of which spent four years on the New York Times Best Sellers List, including eight consecutive months at number one.[1] She is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and TIME magazine, among other publications.

Task 2: Do you agree with what Professor Tannen says in this video?

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A married couple was in a car when the wife turned to her husband and asked, "Would you like to stop for a coffee?" "No, thanks," he answered truthfully. So they didn't stop. The result? The wife, who had indeed wanted to stop, became annoyed because she felt her preference had not been considered. The husband, seeing his wife was angry, became frustrated. Why didn't she just say what she wanted? Unfortunately, he failed to see that his wife was asking the question not to get an instant decision, but to begin a negotiation. And the woman didn't realize that when her husband said no, he was just expressing his preference, not making a ruling. When a man and woman interpret the same interchange in such conflicting ways, it's no wonder they can find themselves leveling angry charges of selfishness and obstinacy at each other. As a specialist in linguistics, I have studied how the conversational styles of men and women differ. We cannot lump all men or all women into fixed categories. But the seemingly senseless misunderstandings that haunt our relationships can in part be explained by the different conversational rules by which men and women play. Whenever I write or speak about this subject, people tell me they are relieved to learn that what has caused them trouble - and what they had previously ascribed to personal failings - is, in fact, very common. Learning about the different though equally valid conversational frequencies men and women are tuned to can help banish the blame and help us truly talk to one another. Here are some of the most common areas of conflict:

Let's read on

Click here to readCANT' WE TALK? by D. Tannen

Task 3: Can you relate any of the situations referred to by Prof. Tannen to your own experience?

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Now, let's learn about different approaches in sociolinguistics to discuss gender variation in language

GENDER AND LANGUAGE

There has been a great deal of research into the way gender affects language variation. The stereotype is that women speak more than men in interaction, and researchers have found this to be a common stereotype. They also found that this is largely only a stereotype - findings from Pamela Fishman and Dale Spender in the late 1970's - have suggested that men talk for approximately twice as long as women in mixed sex conversations.

DEFICIT - Robin Lakoff, 1975

• Women's use of language is inferior to that of men's.
• They are less assertive and certain in their speech style, which is reflected in their tag questions and hedges.
• Their use of features such as 'empty adjectives' ('lovely') and specialist colour terms ('beige') makes them seem weak and trivial in their speech in comparison to men who don't use these features.
• 'Women's Language`:a variety of English used by women.
• Her work explained the ways in which women's language varied by reference to their subordinate role in society.
• Put forward specific linguistic features of the speech of women that she suggested characterised the way that women spoke and revealed the impact of this subordinate role on their language;
• Affective Adjectives: describe feelings and emotions 'a charming house'
• Emphatic Stress: exaggerated pitch or volume stress on particular words.
• Hedges: phrases like 'you know' and 'sort of'
• Precise colour terms: 'scarlet' 'burgundy'
• Tag Questions: 'do you?' 'shall we?'
• Women's language is deficit: hesitant, uncertain and lacking in some ways in comparison to men's language.

You may find these ideas shocking and offensive, but take into account what society and the role of woman was in the 1970's

DOMINANCE, Spender, 1980

Women and Men learn appropriate language behaviour according to their gender expectations. e.g. women are socialised to believe that women do not swear, so they are less likely to use taboo language than men. Women have a powerless position in society compared to men, so consequently their language is not seen as powerful. Men's power is seen in the way in which they interrupt women more frequently than they interrupt men in mixed and single sex conversations

DIFFERENCE - Tannen, 1990

Men and Women have different conversational styles and goals when they speak (male-female interaction is 'cross cultural') neither sex is deficient. Men talk to 'get things done' while women talk to maintain and extend social bonds and relationships.

DIVERSITY - Cameron, 'The Myth of Mars and Venus' 2007

There are few differences in male and female speech styles and the idea that male - female talk is 'cross cultural' is a 'myth.' An analysis of previous researchers found few statistical differences in the use of language features such as interruptions or tag questions. Status, age, ethnicity and cultural background are just as significant as gender. He found women prefer more personalised forms of compliments (1st and 2nd) while men preferred impersonal forms (3rd person). Women in his study tended to compliment each other on appearance while men preferred to compliment each other on possessions or skill, and avoided complimenting each other on appearance.

That's all for today!

Have a nice day!