Women's speech is deficient relative to a males’. Idea: is something intrinsically wrong with language of a disadvantaged group?
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Otto Jespersen (1922) on women's language
Talk lots, half-finished sentences, “and” used (emotional not grammatical), hyperbole “so pretty/nice”, smaller vocab so more fluent in speaking vs. Men searching for precise word in their large vocabulary, delicate, men invent the new terms.
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The Dominance Theory: Robin Lakoff (1975)
Men dominate:
1) Interactions with women
2) The language system itself.
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The Dominance Theory: Robin Lakoff (1975)
Women’s language use reflects subordinate position in society vs. men’s power. Therefore language use is more about power and status than gender.
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Don Zimmerman and Candace West (1983)
99% of interruptions made by males which mirrors their dominance. They assume/feel entitled to take over the conversation.
Interruption is "a device for exercising power and control in conversation"
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Case Study
At the Santa Barbara campus of the University of California in 1975 conducted a small study of conversations. The subjects of the recording were white, middle class and under 35. They report that in 11 conversations between men and women, men used 46 inte
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Dale Spender (1980)
"It is the men, not women, who control knowledge, and I believe that this is an understanding we should never lose sight of” (Man Made Language)
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Geoffrey Beattie (1982)
"The problem with this is that you might simply have one very chatty man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total." (New Scientist magazine)
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Geoffrey Beattie (1982)
Beattie found that women and men interrupted with similar frequency (men 34.1, women 33.8) and the difference isn’t significant.
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Peter Trudgill (1970s)
Women use high prestige pronunciation = overt prestige because of social class.
Men use low prestige pronunciation = covert prestige showing they’re tough etc.
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The ‘Difference’ Approach: Tannen
In her book You Just Don't Understand:
Men and women are two separate cultures.
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6 differences between male and female language: Tannen
• Status vs. support
• Independence vs. intimacy
• Advice vs. understanding
• Information vs. feelings
• Orders vs. proposals
• Conflict vs. Compromise
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Cheshire (1982)
Boys use more non-grammatical forms than girls eg. ain't.
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Jennifer Coates (1998)
Women’s simultaneous talk is supportive and cooperative. They use tag questions to interact sensitively in conversations. These features are a means of communicating sensitively and appropriately, respecting the positive face etc the listener.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Talk lots, half-finished sentences, “and” used (emotional not grammatical), hyperbole “so pretty/nice”, smaller vocab so more fluent in speaking vs. Men searching for precise word in their large vocabulary, delicate, men invent the new terms.
Back
Otto Jespersen (1922) on women's language
Card 3
Front
Men dominate:
1) Interactions with women
2) The language system itself.
Back
Card 4
Front
Women’s language use reflects subordinate position in society vs. men’s power. Therefore language use is more about power and status than gender.
Back
Card 5
Front
99% of interruptions made by males which mirrors their dominance. They assume/feel entitled to take over the conversation.
Interruption is "a device for exercising power and control in conversation"
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