Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The Importance of Gendered Language - Coggle Diagram
The Importance of Gendered Language
dominance theory
dominance theories examine language use in respect to men being more dominant
Schulz and Lakoff
conducted research into the terms in which women and men are referred to
suffix "-ess"
they looked at terms which are marked in a way to identify them as different
the research details that the "-ess" suffix marks out a feminine equivalent
e.g. "actress" to mark a female actor
semantic derogation
they also looked at semantic derogation
this is where words have gained negative connotations as time has progressed
e.g. the female equivalent of "master" is "mistress" which had connotations of prostitution
Janet Holmes
Holmes' research looked into the way in which women are referred to in affectionate nominatives (names)
she noted that the nominates used for women were predominately from the semantic fields of food and animals
e.g. women might be called "sugar", "honey", "bitch" and "cow"
Julia Stanley
Stanley's research from the 1970s examined the number of insults for women against those for men
she found that there were 220 insults to describe a promiscuous woman vs 20 for a promiscuous male
in 2015, Tyger Drew-Honey asked people in the streets how they would describe a woman who had slept with 30 men and how they would describe a man who had slept with 30 women
both men and women described the woman as a "slag" and "slut", whereas the man was labelled a "lad"
Dale Spender
"male as norm"
Dale Spender believes that there is a culture of "male as norm" in which men are the dominant models and women are add-ons
e.g. men are almost always introduced first (Lord and Lady, Mr and Mrs). When women are introduced first, it is symbolic of their lesser role (mothers and fathers - puts women in a maternal role)
words like "mankind" add to the idea that men are the norm
gender neutral words
there has been a recent backlash against the term "history" (his story) as an attempt to try to claim that history is the story of men
all of this has caused a reshuffling and reclaiming of words for more gender neutral terms
e.g. "headteacher" instead of headmaster and headmistress
Germaine Greer
Australian author Germaine Greer has tried to reclaim the term "cunt" in an attempt to remove the negative connotations attached to the female genitals
interruptions question
one argument
Zimmerman and West (1975) studied interruptions in conversations between men and women
they found that men interrupted 96-100% more of the time
challenging argument
Beattie's (1981) research considered over 10 times the amount of Zimmerman and West and discovered that there was pretty much an equal number of interruptions by men and women
evaluation
Zimmerman and West examined a small number of subject, all of whom were white, middle-class men under 35, which isn't a representative sample
as Beattie's research is based on a much larger sample, it is probably more accurate
additional study
Pamela Fishman's research discovered that conversations between men and women often fail because of how men act
she details that men use 1/3 of the number of questions as women, and gave minimal responses
this leads to, as Fishman describes, women doing the "conversational shitwork"
deficit theory
deficit theory essentially states that women's language is weak or contains weak traits
Otto Jespersen
deficit theory originates from Otto Jespersen's book published in 1922
Jespersen investigated non-fluency features such as fillers and pauses
Jespersen's research details that women speak without thinking and so use more non-fluency features (features which disrupt the fluency of speech)
Jespersen's research relies on evidence from literature and travellers. This means it is speculative and is often dismissed as folk linguistics
Onnela
Onnela disputes Jespersen's research
Onnela found that with masters students, there was a very similar MLU (mean length of utterance - average time span of a piece of speech)
Robin Lakoff
the deficit model was popularised by Robin Lakoff in 1975
Lakoff's research details a list of spoken language features that make women's language "weak":
a hypercorrect grammar e.g. avoiding double negatives
over apologising
empty adjectives e.g. "lovely", "brilliant"
tag questions (adding something to the end of a declarative sentence to make it interrogative) e.g. "you're going out tonight, aren't you?"
overuse of intensifiers e.g. "so"
special lexicon
less swearing
lacking a sense of humour
supporting study
Lakoff's study has been built on by "Kira Hall". who found that phone sex workers often made use of Lakoff's features to appear more feminine
challenging study
O'Barr and Atkins
Lakoff's work has been challenged by O'Barr and Atkins, who looked at a courtroom and found that lower class men use Lakoff's language features in court
O'Barr and Atkins' research implies that it is potentially to do with power rather than gender
this is denoted as "powerless language"
Lakoff's research is based purely on her own observations and not any linguistically rigorous testing
in 2017, research published by the
Economic and Social Research Council
discovered that there had been a 500% increase in the use of "fuck" by women since the 1990s
difference model
Deborah Tannen
Deborah Tannen first proposed the difference model, defining 6 clear continuums of difference between the genders
advice vs understanding (men would rather find a solution than just understand)
orders vs proposals (men use more imperatives and women use ameliorated requests, using nicer language)
status vs support (male conversations are characterised by a constant desire to be in control. Women prefer to be supported
information vs feelings (men tend to give factual information over women giving an emotional overview)
independence vs intimacy (men focus on being independent whereas women prefer the intimacy of a situation)
conflict vs compromise (women will often compromise rather than cause a conflict, unlike men)
types of speakers
Tannen has looked at speakers in groups and said there are 2 categories speakers can fall into:
high involvement (men)
tend to take a very active role in the conversation
could be by leading the conversation or backchanneling (not giving direct responses, but comments like "yep". "uh-huh" and "ok")
high considerateness (women)
tend to speak more slowly
avoid talking at the same time as someone else
types of talking
Tannen says there are 2 types of talking:
rapport
women use rapport talk
used to create and sustain relationships
report
men use report talk
report talk is direct (like reporting on something)
the difference model is concerned with the idea that men and women are simply inherently different
Jennifer Coates
Coates researched all-male and all-female groups
she states that the groups conversed differently, although topics of conversation tended to be similar
she also states that techniques used by women to maintain conversation aren't signs of inferiority, but signs of intelligence
Deborah Jones
other linguists have looked at what makes up the conversation between all-male and all-female groups
Jones researched gossiping amongst women and calls this "house talk", which comes in 3 parts
scandal - women discuss the behaviour of others (usually women)
bitching - expression of anger, not because they want something to change, just as a relief
chatting - this is an intimate form of gossiping where women mutually self-disclose and nurturing takes place
support
Deborah Jones' work has been built on by Deborah Cameron. She says that girls bitch because covertly (secretive) dominant behaviour is more acceptable for women