Language and Gender Theory

Language and Gender Theory

1. The Difference Approach

   • Men and women belong to different subcultures as a result of cultural differences and pressures and so speak differently
   • Highlights the positives of female speech without blaming males for being overly dominant
   • HOLMES (Tag Questions being multi-functional)
     • Modal tags: seek information the the speaker wants "Couldn't we?"
       • Affective / Facilitative Tags: Addressee orientated because they show the speaker’s concern for the addressee, either by softening a negative comment "Wasn't it?" or drawing the addressee into the conversation "Don't you?".
         • 75% of Facilitative tags were used by women
       • 61% of modal tags were used by men
   • KEITH & SHUTTLEWORTH
     • Women talk more, are more polite, hesitant, ask more questions.
       • Men insult each other frequently, are competitive and dominate in conversation.
         • KUIPER - Men are not concerned with saving face, instead of using insults as a way of expressing solidarity.
     • PILKINGTON - Women in same-sex conversations were more supportive whilst men were the opposite.
   • DEBORAH TANNEN (Six contrasts)
     • Conflict vs Compromise
     • Status vs Support
     • Independence vs Intimacy
     • Advice vs Understanding
     • Information vs Feelings
     • Orders vs Proposals
   • CHESHIRE (Diversity + DEBORAH CAMERON)
     • She was interested in male and female differences but also considered individual differences as well
       • Girls tend to change their language to what they want to be, more individually minded. More likely to be more creative with their language (gender paradox).
         • Boys tend to be more influenced by their peers
     • How language behaviours can be affected by the groups that we belong to, in regards to social network theory and the concept of communities of practice.

2. The Dominance Approach

   • Occurred during second-wave feminism
   • Men were seen as using language as a means of reinforcing or maintaining their power in conversations, and women were viewed as asserting their lack of power
   • ZIMMERMAN & WEST (1975)
     • College campus study: Men were responsible for 96% of the interruptions in conversations occurring between men and women
       • Parent and children study: Concluded that parents interrupted and assumed power in those interactions in the same way that men had done in mixed talk
   • SPENDER (1980)
     • More subtle than interruption
       • The generic use of 'he' when putting a pronoun to an unidentifiable noun asserts male dominance - perpetuating the inherent sexism in society.
   • FISHMAN (1980)
     • Women in her study used three times as many yes/no and ‘tag’ questions as the men (similar conclusion to Lakoff)
       • BUT, females use tag questions to gain conversational power rather than a sign or tentativeness.
         • Women do the conversational or interactional ‘shitwork’ as a result of inferior status and male dominance

3. The Deficit Approach

   • Male language is seen as the norm and women’s language is viewed as deficient to men’s.
   • JESPERSEN (1922)
     • Women’s language can be seen as ‘lively chatter’ since their roles consisted of: The care of children, cooking, etc. Women do not finish their sentence.
       • Criticism: Only observations, more anecdotal and not valid or reliable (folk linguistics)
         • However, women was being placed as worthy of linguistic study
     • Observed women's conversations
   • LAKOFF
     • Female language is deficient and lacking in authority compared to the male norm. She argued that socialisation was responsible for making women less assertive.
       • Female speech: Hedges, empty adjectives, tag questions, hyper-corrective, indirect requests.
         • Lack of authority in female speech: specialised vocab centred around domestic chores, tag Q, politeness, euphemisms, hedges.
         • Criticism: HOLMES - Tag Q's are not a sign of uncertainty, but a device to maintain discussion and politeness.
   • Identifying women’s language as different to that of men Judging women’s language as inferior.

4. The Variationist Approach

   • How language varies and changes in particular communities of speakers
   • LABOV (1966) - Women often use hypercorrection to gain overt prestige.
   • TRUDGILL (1972) - Women saw the standard form as a way of signalling or gaining social status (especially in formal settings) and, consequently, prestige.