Language and gender theory's

wrote a book called 'Language and womans place' and made assumptions that women use:

• Hedges E.g. "it seems like"
• Super polite form
• use empty adjectives E.g. divine, lovely, adorable
• use indirect commands/requests E.g. "isnt it cold in here" really requesting that the windows get shut.
• lack of sense of humour
• use more intensifiers E.g. "im SO glad you came"
• tag questions e.g. "you're going to dinner, arent you?"

AND MANY MORE.

Zimmerman & West undertook a university campus study about language in mixed gender conversations.

They report that in 11 conversations between men & women, men used 46 interruptions, but women only 2. showing men try to DOMINATE more.

Tannen suggests that men and womens language contrasts.

• Men: INDEPENDENCE. Women: INTIMACY
• Men: ADVICE. Women: UNDERSTANDING
• Men: INFORMATION. Women: FEELINGS
• Men: ORDERS. Women: PROPOSALS
• Men: CONFLICT. Women: COMPROMISE
• Men: STATUS. Women: SUPPORT