Tannen argues that men and women come from two different cultures and explains the difference in male and female attitudes as cultural (1980)

Coined the term genderlect to describe male and female communication styles

Supports the difference model

4.) Advice vs understanding (women show empathy)

5) Independence vs intimacy (men do not rely on others)

6.) Information vs feelings (women use emotional lexis)

Criticises the notion that there is an innate difference between the use of male and female language

'The idea that men and women use language in very different ways and for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time'

Challenges the difference model that men and women use different language as well as Simon Baren-Cohen's view of essential difference and the distinction between the male and female brain

Language and the women's place, supports the defecit model (1975)

Describes male language as stronger, more prestigious and more desirable and claimed that there is a clear difference between male and female lexis

Argues that women are socialised into being 'ladies' and therefore use more hedges, empty adjectives, politeness markers, apologies and speak less

Men not only control women but also the language system

Men block women's meanings by stopping them from speaking, ignoring women's contributions, silencing them and only letting them speak when they are allowed, dominance approach

Language differences are situation-specific and rely on who has authority and power in each circumstance rather than being based on gender norms

Can be used to challenge the dominance approach as it explains how it is situation-specific and there is no clear hierarchy of gender in a conversation (1980)

Conversational shitwork- women have to do the majority of 'conversational shitwork' when interacting with men because men in their dominance are less concerned to do so (1983)

Supports the dominance approach and the idea that socially men are expected to be more linguistically dominant

Suggested male language forms were the 'norm' and the language of others (including women) were 'deficient'

Women's language is less effective, needing remediation due to a less expansive vocabulary

Defecit approach as female language is seen as a weaker and lesser version of male language (1922)

Women's conversational behaviour is less assertive and less confident than that if men precisely because they occupy a less powerful position in society (1975)

Dominance approach- men's language dominates women's

Observed that in same-sex conversations interruptions were fairly evenly distributed however in mixed-sex conversations most were carried out by men (1975)

Supports dominance approach as males interrupt and dominate the conversation to emphasise their social power

Women in same sex talk are more collaborative than men were in all-male talk, difference approach (1990)

Women aim for positive politeness strategies whereas men are less empathetic, supportive and complimentary

In all-male talk amongst members of a rugby team men were likely to pay less attention to the need to save 'face' and instead use insults as a way of expressing solidarity (1991)

Difference approach - men use language differently (insults)

Young women are more used to standard prestige forms than young males, suggesting there is an innate difference between male and female language which were already evident in childhood, difference approach (1989)

'Variation is controlled by both social and linguistic factors. In boy's speech variation is governed by the norms that are central to the vernacular culture, and are transmitted through the peer group yet girl's speech appears to be a more personal process, and less rigidly controlled by social norms (1982)

Challenged the concept of interruptions only signifying dominance, but instead they could show interest and involvement. Criticises Zimmerman and West and dominance approach (1982)

Tag questions can either be modal or affective- signalling the speaker's degree of uncertainty or expressing the speaker's attitude, challenges difference approach (1984)

Hedges are multifunctional depending on the situation, context and intonation. Could signal uncertainty or politeness, context-dependent (1990)

Identified elements of both cooperative and competitive talk in adolescent single sex conversation, challenge dominance (2002)

Gender trouble- coined the term 'gender performativity' and the idea we perform in a role as we communicate. Although we may conform to social norms, we are not biologically preconditioned and therefore she challenged the innate difference eg Tannen (1990)

Gender dichotomy- the boundaries between male and female language are indistinct. Day and night are a bipolar dichotomy that language imposes; the reality is a continuum (1996)

Gender similarities hypothesis- there are more similarities than differences between male and female language. Previous variation was as a result of contextual factors eg age, social class and sexuality. Challenges difference model (2005)

Heterogeneity not homogeneity- gender is a term that suggests that women/men are a homogeneous group but are a diverse group, subject to a range of influences

Deficit, Dominance, Difference

Deficit- weaker/lesser

Dominance- superior

Difference- variation/culture