Flashcards
Language and Gender
Cards in this deck (68)
- 1Language and Gendercbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcb
- 2DerogationNegative meaning or connotation that some lexical items have attached to them.
- 3DeteriorationThe process by which negative connotations become attached to lexical items.
- 4Lexical AsymmetryAn unbalance of two evidently matching words. E.g. Men and women should have opposite but equivalent meanings, however if you look at the dictionary definitions of being manly and womanly, they have very different meanings. Manliness – strength and womanliness – weak.
- 5PejorationWhere semantics move from positive to negative (e.g. gay meant happy and now it means homosexual or crap).
- 6AmeliorationWhere semantics move form negative to positive (e.g. cute used to mean cunning and sly but now it means sweet and attractive.
- 7Semantic DerogationThe negative meanings associated with certain words and how they are used to put down or belittle particular groups of people. Examples of words would be nigger, gypo, bitch and faggot. These words have negative connotations and can be used in order to insult people.
- 8Semantic ReclamationWhere a word that has previously had negative connotations can be reclaimed by the group it was used against and turned into something positive. The word nigger is the most known example which has a long history associated with it. The use of this word in hip hop and street slang has helped turn it from a completely negative meaning into a more positive one for some parts of the society.
- 9Marked and Unmarked TermsMany of the words used to describe occupation or job titles betray sexist attitudes. Terms such as Lady Doctor, male Nurse, Usherette and Actress are all marked in some way – the gender of the worker is marked in some way, either through a preceding word (lady or male) or a suffix (-ette or –ess). Some have termed the suffixes ‘trivialising’ or ‘diminutive’ in that they tend to indicate less respect being given to the female term. Others have pointed to the addition of these marking items as being evidence of default assumptions, so that the marking of the word draws unnecessary attention to the ‘strangeness’ of a man being a nurse, a woman being a doctor etc.
- 10Semantic Over-Representation, Lexical Gaps and Negative Semantic SpaceMany more words to describe a particular concept or group of people than their equivalent. Many of these words dehumanize women or associate them with a particular body part or sexual function rather than treat them as complete people. The equivalents for men tend to have positive connotations – stud, playa, cassanova, romeo etc.
Lexical gaps are when we find that there are no equivalents for certain words. For example, is there really a male equivalent for cupcake or female equivalent for stud?.
Even when they are moved into male space they bring their negative connotations that can only be balanced by adding male prefixes such as ‘male slut’ or ‘male bimbo’.
Muriel Schulz’s semantic rule proposes that all words that become associated with women slid down the scale of semantics or pejorate. - 11Generic Terms and PronounsThis is where prejudice has been noted is in the generic usage of certain words such as ‘mankind’ meaning men and women and leading to ludicrous statements as ‘mankind suckles his young at his breasts’ or pronouns such as ‘he’ being used to represent men and women (each student should had in his homework to his tutor). Alternative to these usages are words like ‘humankind’ which are seen as being more inclusive and the use of non-gender specific plural pronouns such as ‘their’ or ‘he/she’. These are etymological red herrings –’history’ has nothing to do with men but derives from Latins ‘historia’ meaning story.
- 12Patronizing and Demeaning UsagesSome examples of the demeaning uses that women have been subjected to by sexist men today are ‘Alright, darling’, ‘Cheer up, love’ etc. Many women have argued that these expressions assume too much intimacy on the part of the speaker towards his addressee and are a violation of their conversational space. However, you could argue that this isn't sexist. Many men call complete strangers ‘mate’, with few complaints. More controversial is the use of ‘girl’ to describe female athletes when they many be anything up to 50 years old. More importantly, are words used by men to objectify women (tart, sweetie, cupcake, baby etc), all of these either trivialise and infantilise women or make them appear to be sweet tasting consumables, there for the pleasure of men. The use of the female inanimate can be linked to this too – e.g. naming hurricanes, boats or cars after women and then describing them in the semantic terms often used by men to describe women emotions.
- 13Male and female speech stylescbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcb
- 14Deficit model (Robin Lakoff -1975):Language of women is weaker.
Features of women's speech:
-Hedges – kind of
-Empty adjectives – divine
-Indirect requests – I'm so thirsty – really asking for a drink’
-Tag questions – You don’t mind eating this, do you?
-Fewer expletives
-Apologise more
-Super polite forms – Would you mind..., Is it ok if?
Lakoff suggested that socialisation is important in ensuring female language remained less assertive and more insecure when compared to men and this implies that the differences were more socially constructed than biologically based. - 15Dominance model (Pamela Fishman 1983):Men are more dominant in speech –speaking more, interrupting, holding the floor (more turns), initiation and shifting topics. She believed that for females, tag questions are used to start conversations with males and to then continue and sustain dialogue. She claims that due to men often not always responding to a declarative sentence or will only respond minimally, females use tag questions to gain conversational power rather as a sign of nervousness. Women are the ones trying to initate a conversation and keep it going.
- 16Other dominance model theoryZimmerman and West (1975) found out that in mixed-sex conversation, 96% of all interruptions were made by men. They believed this was a sign that women had restricted linguistic freedom and that men sought to impose dominant status through applying clear constraints in conversational practice. From the research into mixed-sex talk, they concluded that women and men don’t have equal conversational rights. They also carried out a study of interactions between parents and children and came to the conclusion that parents interrupted and assumed power the same way men done in mix talk.
- 17Difference model (Deborah Tannen)The contrast in which men and women speak.
- 18Status vs SupportMen use language to show dominance in conversation and women are more likely to use language choices that support and agree with others.
- 19Independence vs IntimacyMen will use language which shows they don’t need to rely on others and women will prefer to use language to connect with others and maintaining closeness.
- 20Advice vs UnderstandingMen are more likely to offer solutions to a problem through their language choices and women will show empathy and understanding to a situation.
- 21Deborah Cameron (2008)Criticised the idea that there are innate differences in male and female speech. Cameron argues: ‘The idea that men and women use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one the great myths of our time.
Cameron outlines how these myths have evolved around ideas such as that women pay more attention to being good communicators than men; that men have a natural desire to be competitive that results in an aggressive speech style; and that women talk about people, relationships and feelings while men talk about facts and things. Deborah Cameron challenges various aspects of the research undertaken by Lakoff, Fishman and Tannen and offers a detailed re-evaluation of the stereotypes and discourse around male and female talk. She argues that these myths have acted to shape our expectations of men and women and the types of linguistic behaviour that we deem to be normal or deviant. - 22Jennifer Coates (1989)Girls and boys tend to belong to same-sex friendship groups when growing up and then develop different styles of speaking. Coates theorises that female language is co-operative in single-sex conversations and views that tag questions could modality as characteristics that help to make women’s talk supportive and co-operative.
Jennifer Coates showed that women used epistemic (relating to knowledge/conditions for acquiring it) modal forms such as ‘perhaps’, ‘sort of’ and ‘probably’ to avoid face-threatening acts when talking to other females. - 23Jane Pilkington (1992)Women in same sex conversations were collaborative and used positive politeness strategies. She found that men in same sex talk were a lot less collaborative, less complimentary and less supportive than women.
- 24Koenraad Kuiper (1991)In all-male talk amongst members of a rugby team, men were likely to pay less attention to the need to save face and they used insults to express unity.
- 25Other Theoriescbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcb
- 26HolmesSaying that lexical hedges and fillers are markers of indecision is wrong and misleading.
- 27Betty Dubois and Isobel Crouch (1975)Men used more tag questions than women.
- 28William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins (1980)In the language of the courtroom many of Lakoff's suggested features did occur in women's speech, also some men from a lower class tended to use similar features which led them to believe features of uncertain speech depended on power relations. They suggested that the term ‘powerless language’ pays more attention to social status than gender as a key variable in establishing dominance.
- 29Jenny Cheshire (1982)Looked at certain grammatical variations in the speech of young children. She considered the frequency of the children using:
-non-standard has (you has to)
-non-standard never
-non-standard what (are you the boys what hit)
-non-standard do (she do)
-non-standard come (I come here yesterday)
-Use of ain’t
Overall, boys used the non-standard forms more frequently than girls did. Cheshire concluded that ‘variation is controlled by both social and linguistic factors. In boys’ speech, variation is led by norms that are central to the vernacular culture and are transmitted through the peer group. Variation in girls’ speech appears to be more personal process and less rigidly controlled by vernacular norms’.
She analysed the talk of teenagers in Reading and found that boys used non-standard forms more than girls did. She explains this by drawing on the type of social network to the boys and girls belong to. Boys were members of much denser networks where their language converged towards the vernacular as a shared show of linguistic and social unity. - 30Gender or power?Recent work on gender has caused researchers to consider talk in a wider social context and ways speakers ‘do gender’ the same way they ‘do power’. This approach doubts the polarisation of male and female talk and on the status of male and female as static fixed identities. However, it focuses on how the notion of gender is a social construct. Some of the interesting questions about how gender is constructed have focused on how gender is performed in communication that isn't face to face such as that afforded by technologies of email and instant messaging.
- 31Gender Terminologycbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcb
- 32Peter TrudgillWomen use more received pronunciation and men more non-standard forms.
Women use more received pronunciation and men more non-standard forms.
Trudgill’s work was undertaken in Norwich and involved the study of how male and female speakers pronounced the suffix –ing in walking, laughing. He asked informants to choose between a standard and non-standard pronunciation of a word and found that men usually under-report (they marked themselves using non-standard forms even when they didn’t). Women over-reported. Trudgill came to conclusion that male speakers attached a covert prestige to non-standard forms. - 33Information vs FeelingsMen are far more likely to be factual in their language choices and women in contrast, will use language choices that are less factual and stem a more emotional viewpoint.
- 34Orders vs ProposalsMen are more likely to be direct in their language using imperatives to command others and women will avoid such as commanding tone and be more suggestive in their language choices.
- 35Conflict vs CompromiseMen are more likely to use language to argue a point and women will use language to avoid such conflict and are more likely to negotiate with others to try and find a solution or compromise.
- 36Folklinguistics: Attitudes and assumptions about language that have no real evidence to support them (that women are generally more ‘chatty’ or prone to gossip than men).cbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcbcb
- 37Gender Glossarycbcbcb
- 38ActorThe individual or entity responsible for the action of a verb process
- 39AffectedThe person or entity affected by a material action process
- 40ConnotationCultural and emotional associations or meanings linked to a certain word
- 41Covert/Overt MakingCovert - marking that is understood
Overt - marking that takes place through affixiation or modification - 42Covert prestigeA form of high-status given to non-standard forms
- 43DenotationThe literal meaning
- 44DiscriminationThe unfair treatment of different categories of people
- 45Epistemic ModalityWhen a modal verb is used to express the speakers opinions about a statement
- 46FaceThe concept of how all communication relies on presenting a face to listeners and audiences and how the management of positive and negative face needs to contribute to interaction
- 47FolklingusiticsAttitudes and assumptions about language that have no real evidence to support them
- 48GenderThe differences in behaviour and roles that are a result of societal expectations
- 49IdentityThe characteristics determining who a person is
- 50IdeologyA system of ideas
- 51Male/Female MiscommunicationThe lack of understanding between males and females
- 52Marked FormA form which stands out as different from a norm
- 53MorphologyThe study of word formation
- 54Overt PrestigeStatus that is generally recognized as better or more positively valued in the larger community
- 55PatriarchalA family, group or government controlled by a man or group of men
- 56PhallocraticResulting to or from masculine power and dominance
- 57Positive Politeness PrinciplesDistinctive ways in which speakers can choose to speak to avoid threatening face
- 58RepresentationThe portrayal of events, people and circumstances through language and other meaning-making resources (e.g. images and sound) to create a way of seeing the world
- 59Semantic DeteriorationThe process by which negative connotations become attached to lexical items
- 60SexBiological differences between males and females
- 61Socialisation ProcessA process by which individuals behaviours are conditioned and shaped
- 62StereotypingOversimplified representation of a person, group, institution or event
- 63Unmarked FormThe measured norm, against which marked lexical items can be compared
- 64Sara Mills (1990)Many female equivalents are marked as indicative of sexual promsicuity
- 65Muriel Schultz (1975)Some terms in English used to refer to women, have a strong connotation attached to them when compared to the corresponding term used to refer to men
- 66Julia Stanley (1973)Julia claims that there was a marked inequality in the number of words for sexually promiscuous female (200) compared to those used to describe males (20) and that most of the female orientated words had negative connotations
- 67Julia Stanley (1977)Women occupy negative semantic space due to the amount of marked forms that exist to describe female equivalents of male roles
-Through marked form affixiation - claims that women cant move into the positive space occupied by men because they will always carry a mark of femaleness and inequality with them - 68Deborah Cameron (1995)Some terms in English used to refer to women, have a strong connotation attached to them when compared to the corresponding term used to refer to men
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- A-Level English Language (Year 12) Flashcards on Language and Gender , created by Damita Dickerson on 20/03/2016.
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