Language
Nature of Language
The Power of Language
Troublesome Language
Gender and Language
Language similarities and differences by gender
Content
Language is Symbolic
Meanings are in people, not words
Language is ruled governed
Sign Language
Spoken
Written
Symbols are more than labels, they are a way we experience the world
Ask 12 people what a symbol means
and get 12 different answers
Language contains
servers types of rules
Problems arise when people
mistakenly assume that others
use words in the same way
It’s rather how people make sense of them
For example Femisism
Women interpret feminism as
Men interpret feminism as
Phonological rules
Syntactic rules
Semantic rules
Pragmatic rules
How they sound when pronounced
The structure of language—the way symbols can be arranged
Meanings of specific words
How people use language in everyday interaction
Language influences other and reflects our attitudes
Language shapes our attitudes
towards values, attitudes, beliefs
and towards one another.
Naming
Credibility
Status
Sexism and Racism
The way others think of us, the way we view ourselves, and the way we act.
Ways of speaking
Dialects
Terms, Labels
What does your name mean? How choosen?
Terms to address/title
Doctor, Profesor
Accents
Word choice
Age
Speech rate
Stereotypes
Language reflects Attitudes
Power
Affiliation
Attraction
and Interest
Responsibility
His or her degree of control over a situation
Choice of vocabulary/ Slang
Demonstrative pronoun choice
“It”vs. “I” Statements
Powerful and powerless
Politeness
Culture
Rate of talking
Number and placement of pause
Level of politeness
click to edit
These people want our help (positive) vs. Those people want our help (less positive)
Negation
Sequential placement
It’s good (positive) vs. It’s not bad (less positive)
Mrs. and Mr.
It’s not finished (less responsible) vs. I didn’t finish it (more responsible)
“You” vs. “I” Statements
“But” Statements
Questions vs. Statements
Sometimes you make me angry vs. sometimes I get angry when you do that
Do you think we ought to do that? (Less respnsible) vs. I don’t think we ought to do that (more responsible)
But cancels everything that went before the word
“I” statements are more likely to generate positive reactions
The language of misunderstandings
Equivocal Language
Words or phrases with multiple meanings
Relative Words
Slang and Jargon
Evasive Language
Disruptive Language
Abstract Language
Euphemisms
Confusing Facts and Opinions
Confusing Facts and Inference
Emotive Language
Equivocation
Understanding gender differences in language use
Biological Factors
Transcending gender boundaries
Stereotypically male and female styles meet all communication needs.
Reasons for Communicating
Similarities
Differences
Female friends spend more time discussing relational issues such as family, friends, and emotions
Both men and women still talk frequently about work, movies, and television
Men, on the other hand, are more likely to discuss recreational topics such as sports, technology use, and nightlife
Similarities
Diffences
Conversational Style
Similarities
Differences
No gender Variables
Similarities
Differences
Build and maintain social relationships
Men emphasize making conversation fun.
Men and Women speak roughly the
same number of words per day
Women ask more questions
in mixed-sex conversation
Male and females supervisors in a similar positions behave the same way and are equally effective
Social philosophy plays a role
Women
Joking and teasing
Feelings, Relationships, and person problems
~Face to face
~Calling
Use conversation to pursue social needs, support, demonstration of equality
Use language to accomplish the job at hand than to nourish relationships
Men interrupt women
Women’s speech that is less powerful and more emotional than men’s
Social Factors
Feminist wives talk longer than their partners
Nonfeminist wives speak less than their hunsbands
Similarities
Differences
Similarities
Differences
Both Women and Men bodies make the same hormones, but the amount they produce differ
Men with high testosterone levels are more competitive than those with lower level of the hormones and respond more emotionally when faced with setbacks.
Men with higher level of testosterone are less likely than others to engage in emotional, socially connecting language.
Women are moody because of cyclic changes in estrogen, only 3 to 8 percent of women experience hormonal moods swings beyond the range of everyday emotions.
One language concept that connects to me is Nature of Language because I think Sign Language is very important to learn and is a big symbol in many cultures. I’m slowly learning Sign language and very excited to keep learning about it. I think it will help me with my future career.
Factual statements are claims that can be verified as true or false.
Opinion statements are based on the speakers beliefs.
Use Perception-check to avoid fact-inference confusion
Emotive language contains words that sound as if they’re describing something Whalen they are really announcing the speakers attitude towards something.
Euphemism is a pleasant term substituted for a more direct but potentially less pleasant one
“Restroom” instead of “Toilet” or “Full-figured” instead of “overweight”
Equivocation— a deliberately vague statement that can be interpreted in more than one way
“You look amazing. I’ve never seen an outfit like that before. Where did you get it?”
Men are expected to serve as the providers
Women have historically had less overt power and occupied more nurturing roles.
Shapes the way men and women communicate
Society, power and material success
Focus on the unexpressed-feelings part of a message , consider being more oriented.
First instinct is to be supportive, consider the value of offering advise.
Of advise is your reflexive way of responding, think about weather offering support and understanding might sometimes be more helpful.