Theorists - Language and Gender

Theorists - Language and Gender

1. Robin Lakoff (1975)

   • Had 10 features
     • Women don't swear
     • Women use hedges
     • Women use rising intonation
     • Women speak in italics
     • Women don't tell jokes
     • Women use tag questions
     • Women use intensive so
     • Women use empty adjectives
     • Women use hypercorrect grammar + super polite forms
     • Women are more precise in colour description than men
   • Deficit model
   • Criticisms
     • No statistical evidence
     • Just her 'impression'
     • Outdated
     • Groups all women together (people are different)

2. Otto Jesperson (1922)

   • Male language is the 'norm'
   • Women are 'deficient' to men
   • Beginnings of the deficit model

3. Zimmerman and West (1975)

   • Dominance Theory
   • Interruptions
     • 46 interruptions - MALE
       • Way of men showing dominance
     • 2 interruptions - FEMALE
   • Conversations
     • Mixed-sex conversations
     • only 11 conversations

4. Dale Spender (1980)

   • Males dominate women through language
   • Disliked words such as:
     • HIStory
     • MANager
     • chairMAN

5. Geoffrey Beattie

   • Disagreed with Zimmerman and West's theory
   • Only takes 1 voluble candidate to skew data
   • Men and Women interrupt equally
     • Interruptions can be for interests/clarification
     • Interruptions aren't about domination

6. O'Barr and Atkins

   • Looked at Court rooms
     • Female lawyers = assertive and interrupted
     • Witnesses (weak + powerful) used Lakoff's theory
   • Concluded that Lakoff's 10 features were 'powerless language' not 'female language'

7. Jennifer Coates (1989)

   • All female groups
   • Women are Co-operative
     • Negotiate discussion
     • Support other's views

8. Jane Pilkington (1992)

   • Women in same-sex conversations are more collaborative than all-male conversations
   • Women aim for positive politeness strategies
   • Men are less supportive and complimentary

9. Koenraad Kuiper (1991)

   • All-male talk
     • Looked at a rugby team
   • Results
     • Men = less polite
     • Men use insults to express solidarity

10. Deborah Tannen (1990)

    • "You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women in Conversation"
    • Controversial -> looked at mixed-gender conversations
    • Explains "male-female miscommunication"
      • Says it's "cross-cultural miscommunication"
    • Criticisms
      • Ignores power
      • Doesn't have enough research evidence for her claims
      • Outdated
      • Not all Men/women are the same (shouldn't be grouped)

11. Pamela Fishman

    • "Interaction: the Work Women Do"
    • 52 hours of pre-recorded conversation
      • Conversations between young USA couples
      • Looked at tag questions
    • Findings
      • Women used 4X as many tag questions as men
      • Women do "Conversational Shitwork"
      • Tag questions are used to start convos not due to uncertainty (As Lakoff suggested)

12. Jenny Cheshire

    • Studied language of young people
    • Findings
      • Boys use non-stand forms more than girls
        • e.g. "They was outside"
        • Truants/ delinquent subculture
      • Variation controlled by various social/linguistic factors