Gender Theorists - Deficit

• 1973
• Women are less than men
• The male way of speaking is the normative, and the female dpearts from the norm
• Women's language acted to mainatin their subordinate status in society
• Claimed that many women's language features suggest low confidence
• Features = emphatic stress, hedges, hypercorrect grammar, precise colour terms, rising intanations, super polite forms, tag questions, intensifier 'so'

• 1922
• Male language is the normative
• The language of others (females) is considered extra to the norm and also deficit

• 1992
• Tag questions are not a sign of uncertainty, but a sign of politeness
• Help keep the conversation going

• 1991
• Sees feminine styles of speech as a mechanism of social control
• Women try to be 'nice' and 'ladylike' and carefully monitor their behaviour to ensure it is appropriate

• interrupt more
• more expletives 
• better sense of humour
• tell more jokes
• simplified vocab
• more direct approach

Overt:

• dialect that is generally one that is widely recognised as being used by a dominant group

Covert:

• percieved as inferior by dominant group, shows membership in an exclusive community

• social status
• overt / covert prestige
• society's idea of a woman's language
• dominant role of child reering