Language & Gender
- Created by: Erin Barker
- Created on: 08-05-19 20:18
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- Language & Gender
- Difference between sex & gender
- sex- biological differences
- gender- behavioural characteristics as a result of social and cultural influences
- Masculine & feminine- sex
- Reasons for difference between male and female language use
- Women are more status-concious
- women make more effort to conform to Standard usage in an effort to demonstrate their status and respectability
- Societies expectations of women
- society expects 'better' behaviour from women than men
- women expected to behave in a 'ladylike' way
- must speak in an appropriate manner
- Subordinate role of women
- when speaking to men women must use polite, standard forms
- language is less direct and assertive
- Overt & covert prestige
- men associate non-standard forms with masculinity and toughness
- Men were proud of their use of non-standard felt covert prestige
- Women are more status-concious
- Marked Expressions
- lexical terms to describe females are marked
- shows they are different from the norm
- unmarked item is the norm- usually the male form
- e.g. the lady bus driver
- Generic terms
- masculine pronouns used when the gender is unspecified
- represents a male-centred world
- he/she is more widely used now than just 'he'
- Key terminology
- Adjacency Pairs
- two utterances by different speakers that link an idea together
- Non-fluency features
- noises and sounds which express engagements with a topic
- Topic shift
- an utterance which changes the topic of the conversation
- Back channeling
- non-fluency feature used by a listener to show disagreement or suprise
- Hedges & Fillers
- fragments of language, used by women 'sort of'
- Apologetic requests
- usually used by women, e.g. "i'm sorry but would you mind moving?'
- Tag questions
- questions added to the end of a comment/statement
- Indirect requests
- when people aim to be polite and do not say exactly what they mean
- Intensifier
- words that amplify statements, can be positive or negative
- Overlaps
- when people cut into a conversation with no intention of dominance
- Diminutive terms
- words such as 'sweetheart' and 'darling'
- Marked terms
- words that reveal a persons gender, e.g. policeman
- Unmarked terms
- words that do not reveal a person's gender e.g police officer
- Adjacency Pairs
- Features of male conversation
- use imperatives
- use taboo language and more slang and colloquial lexis
- use of covert prestige
- insult eachother to show affectionate solidarity
- aggressive and purposeful language
- silences used to communicate
- compete for and receive more attention
- more inclined to brag
- avoid eye contact
- Topic shift frequently
- overlaps are scarce
- Only appologise if they have to
- compliment women but tend to rinforce subordinate status
- Features of female conversation
- use more evaluative lexis, communicating feelings and emotions
- use more politeness markers than men
- initiate exchanges more than men
- more minimal responses
- use more declaratives
- use a rising intonation
- often have incomplete sentances
- use more diminutives and euphemisms
- use more first person pronouns
- tend to use more overlaps
- aim to establish a rapport
- lack a sense of humour
- Discuss ont topic for long periods of time
- Stereotypes of women
- The mother
- only females capable of looking after children
- The love interest
- Only shown as an object to the male
- Damsel in distress
- women that need to be saved/ cared for by a male
- Black women
- seen as strong and independent
- The mother
- Stereotypes of men
- The silent rock
- indifferent and emotionless
- takes up everything indpendantly to gain respect
- indifferent and emotionless
- The big shot
- defined by success and arrogance
- The joker
- will be rash and funny to gain social acceptance and recognition
- The jock
- doesn't show emotion other than aggression and lust
- does not show any weaknesses
- The silent rock
- Difference between sex & gender
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