Language and Gender

Language and Gender

1. Marked terms - feminine suffixes suggesting male superiority (actress)

2. Generic terms - ignore females (mankind)

3. Lexical asymmetry - same literal meaning but different suggestions (bachelor / spinster)

4. Patronising terms - suggest superiority (girl not woman)

5. Lexical gap - gender-specific term with no equal opposite (slut / ??)

6. Neofeminism - after equality is achieved, neofeminists continue to campaign (some for feminine superiority, not equality)

7. 1975 - Lakoff's Deficit Model

   • Women lack authority, use more tag questions, hedging, no taboo terms, empty adjectives which would damage male reputation, precise colour terms, intensifiers (e.g. so), euphemisms
     • Outdated, but own research shows the colour could still be true
     • Janet Holmes
       • These features are used for other reasons (e.g. politeness strategies) and tag questions are multi-functional
     • Coates
       • Women speak more politely to avoid face threatening acts and to include cooperation and speaker support

8. Jennifer Coates' Socialisation Competitive and Cooperative Speech Styles

   • Males use competitive and adversarial talk whilst female talk is more collaborative and cooperative

9. 1990 - Debroah Tannen's Difference Approach

   • Men
     • Status
       • Independence
         • Advice
           • Information
             • Order
               • Conflict
   • Women
     • Support
       • Intimacy
         • Understanding
           • Feeling
             • Proposal
               • Compromise

10. 1975 - Zimmerman and West's Dominance Theory

    • 96% of interruptions were made by men, men had more dominance and used constraints whilst women had restricted linguistic freedom
      • 1982 - Beatie
        • Interruptions could be to show support and understanding

11. Giles' Accommodation Theory

    • We perform our genders and change our behaviour and linguistics to accommodate the situation

12. Other theories

    • Cameron (2007) - All theories were biased as they focused on few differences rather than many similarities
    • Cheshire (1982) - Males use more non-gramatical language
    • Tanner (1990) - men more interested in power, prestige and don't mind conflict. Whereas women are more interested in forming bonds and being polite
    • Trudgill (1983) - Women's pronunciation is closer to RP