People and features of gender in language

?

Robin Lacoff

  • Women have a special lexicon, use words such as lavender, violet etc.
  • If a male uses the words above they are seen as homosexual or imitating a women
  • Women use empty adjectives (adjectives that aren't necessary) e.g adorable/ divine.
  • Women are poor joke tellers
  • Women are polite, don't swear, use expletive terms such as 'oh dear'
  • Women euphemisms to appear politer such as 'i'm going to powder my nose'
  • Tag questions are more likely to be used by women, this shows they lack confidence in their claim
  • Women use more hedges e.g. 'well, 'y'know'
  • Women speak in italics e.g. 'he is so nice'
  • Lexical words to describe females are often marked to distinguish them from those for males e.g. master=mistress
  • The diminutive suffix- We have to add a word to clarify what sex it is eg 'female doctor' as we would assume the doctor is male.
1 of 6

Coultas (2003)

Gender is not a choice. We are socialized into our gender from an early age. 

2 of 6

Language differences for male and female

Overrepresentation: there are more insults for women than men.

Pronouns 'he' used as a generic form of reference e.g. two-man tent', these phrases make women seem inferior

Grammar: Masculine pronoun 'he' is used generally to refer to males and females.

Male words are used first to show they are of a higher status.

Marking/ modifier tells us that it is unusual for that sex to partake in that job e.g. 'male' nurse

Non sexist/ inclusive usage: eg headmaster/mistress- head teacher

3 of 6

Hoey (2005)

Some words/ phrases appear to be ready-made for certain meanings, as a result, their habitual use in the same contexts

4 of 6

Dale spender (1980)

Says: 'Language is inherently sexist and biased towards men. Women who speak like men are viewed negatively. 

5 of 6

Gender approaches

Deficit model: male language forms were the norm

Dominance model: Focused on men as dominant in speech

6 of 6

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Language resources:

See all English Language resources »See all Language and gender resources »