...Gender and Language Gender and Language is an interesting topic that results motivating to investigate about. It has been studied for a long time due to its importance on discourse analysis nowadays. There are many aspects that for me, we must consider before giving an opinion about it. Both genders have their own uniqueness and qualifications and at the same time these features turn to reflect on cultural aspects, which make this topic even more complex for a deeper study. So within this topic are various facets related to differences between men´s and women´s language as well as if women talk more or less than men, if women´s speech is less straight, precise and pertinent than men´s, and also there are biological factors to consider. Robin...
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...between two workmates aged 19. Linda starts the conversation with an incomplete construction “went to see stereophonics on…” the lack of an opener/greeting and the incomplete construction shows the informality between the two speakers. Linda starting the conversation and initiating the topic suggests that she is in power of the conversation and it supports the theory that women initiate more topics of conversation, in conversations analysed by fisherman- 62% of topics were introduced by women. The second speaker, Ed replies with a question, “where d’you go Manchester or Birmingham” the contraction highlights the informality and it supports the idea that men are less likely to use standard English than men, this is evident throughout Eds language such as the use of “cos.” Linda interrupts him with Birmingham although this interruption usually implies power in the conversation, Linda’s interruptions later on seem to be defensive, an evident example is when Ed tries to explain the mechanics of a car, he uses particular technical lexis, “jacking points” which Linda interrupts with “well no…” or “I have no idea”, this shows her lack of understanding/ Confidence in what he is saying. This presents the difference approach where the man is shown to be more familiar with stereotypically masculine things like cars while the woman is clueless. The difference approach is also evident when Linda tends to emphasise on her personal experience and emotions, “couldn’t get the jack to work so...
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...LANGUAGE AND GENDER 1. Introduction Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speech by something outside himself--like, for instance, he can't find any clean socks. (Jean Kerr) Do men and women speak differently? Can Language be sexist? Is there vocabulary that is more typical for women than for men? My term paper shall try to answer those questions, look at typical forms of language use in relation to gender and I will aim to find possible reasons that explain a gender-based difference. But first it is important to explain why in sociolinguistics the term gender is used rather than sex. While sex refers to biological characteristics, gender is “a social category that is connected to the roles of women and men in society” (Becker & Bieswanger 2010: 185). My term paper will start with some general definitions about gender and language like gender-exclusive speech difference, gender-preferential speech features and gender and class. I will focus especially on women´s linguistic behaviour and answer questions like “Do women talk more than men?”. I will try to find explanations for a different linguistic behaviour. After focusing on explanations for a possible different use of language I will finally give features of women´s language that will make differences obvious. At the end of my paper I will also try to explain what is meant by a “sexism in language” and whether or not English is a sexist language and what could be done...
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...Gender and Language Introduction: Kornheiser and Thompson wrote the articles about the topic of gender and language. We can discover some interesting similarities and differences between these two authors' main ideas about this topic. We can know more about their ideas of gender and language by comparing and contrasting them. Kornheiser's article, No Detail Is Too Small for Girls Answering a Simple Question, states that girls tell everything they have experienced, while boys like telling specific things and focusing on how things eventually go. Kornheiser gave examples of his daughter and son. He asked his daughter how was the camp she just came home from, but his daughter told every single detail during the trip to the camp. She did not tell him the most important part of the camp. Kornheiser explained why: "Because this is what girls do (and when they grow up and become women, they do it, too, as any man can vouch for). They gather information and dispense it without discrimination. Everything counts the same!" (306). He also asked his son about his camp, and his son gave him a short and straight answer. This also proved what he said: "Boys do not gather and retain information, they focus on results." (306). In He and She: What's the Real Difference? of Thompson, he reported a scientific way from Koppel's' group, a group of computer scientists to figure out how women and men communicate differently. He states that Koppel's group is the first to create an actual machine...
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...Gender Differences Many people growing up have noticed the language barrier between the male and female genders, which reflects upon their actions and everyday lifestyle in a civilized society. Men have always been aggressive with their actions while women have been known to be emotional. The gender difference has been a controversy for many centuries and many linguistics have studied and nearly found the answer. But what explains this phenomenon and what differentiates the two genders by how they act and how they talk? This essay will explain the basic general differences between the two genders and how it has to do with the world, in context with the in class reading, and my own experiences in my community. Do you consider that gender differences and how men and women talk effects lifestyle and the way women are treated according to Lakoff? Throughout history, men have always been depicted as the gender that has the right of way through their actions by the way they look and talk. Men are known to be fierce, strong, and stand as boss-like figure. In the past century, men have a distinct way of talking. Men are more prone to threatening to get what they want such as being a manager in a business or even in a relationship, as men are known to be power hungry. Another distinctive trait about how men talk would be that their vocabulary is not as descriptive as women and is less subtle. Men usually talk in a low pitch tone, which compliments their manly-ness and when upset...
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...Significance of gender in an interaction The text is a conversation between a manager of a shop and two trainees. The language each of them uses is different and shows the different levels of authority they have. The manager seems like he has the most power out of the three. This could be because he knows what he is doing and what is going on therefore has automatic control. This is shown by him talking the most out of the three which shows that he is mainly leading the conversation which shows authority. When Josh is speaking he has an informal register and is very abrupt and blunt when he speaks, and example of this is when he replies simply “cool”. This could be a type of covert prestige, where Josh is purposely trying to talk less formal. When the manager is talking to Suzie he is a lot more polite to her than he is to Josh. for example he says to Suzie “I’d like you to…” but he says to Josh “I want you to…”. This could be seen as a type of sexism as he is more polite and kinder to Suzie and he is kind of asking her whereas when he is talking to Josh it is like he is commanding him. Suzie is more polite when she speaks for example saying “that’s fine” to the manager and reassuring...
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...Sexist Language – How to Avoid Gender Inequality We all are aware of the idiom, “add insult to injury.” Simply, it means to make a bad situation even worse for someone by doing something else to upset them. Sometimes, we say hurtful things on purpose and a lot of the time we say hurtful things then immediately want to shove our fist into our mouth. However, what if your person dictionary contained words or phrases that were sexist and extremely offensive, but you had no idea? There is such a thing called sexist language and there is a way to not use it. Our society has come a long way when it comes to women’s rights; however, the battle is far from over. There are still plenty of obvious obstacles to overcome in the battle of gender inequality, but one obstacle that a lot of people do not sit and think about is language inequality. I am not referring to derogatory comments or words such as the too popular insults such as, “bitch”, “hoe”, “slut”, etc., but words that Sherryl Kleinman refer to as “male (so-called) generics.” (Kleinman, 2007). She goes on to explain this coined term. Male (so-called) generics can be found everywhere such as job positions, general expressions, generic descriptions, and very popular adjectives that we all use every day. Some examples that Kleinman pointed out were: postman, chairman, freshman, congressman, fireman, mankind, he, manpower, manmade , "Oh, man, where did I leave my keys?" , There's "manning" the tables in a country where children...
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...DDBA-8005 Handout What is Scholarly Writing? If you are just beginning your graduate studies, much of the next few years of your life will be devoted to scholarly writing. You will be reading, discussing, and producing scholarly writing. You will get feedback from peers, instructors, and the Writing Center staff about how to adapt to the expectations of scholarly writing. You hear about it so much, in fact, that you may hesitate to ask the basic question: "What is scholarly writing?" Scholarly writing is a type of writing rather than a level of writing (there is no hierarchy in writing genres). Scholarly writing is not any better than journalism, fiction, or poetry; it is just a different category. As with any type of writing, scholarly writing has traditions and expectations that you know about only if you read or write in that style. Because most of us do not use scholarly writing in our daily practice, it can feel unfamiliar and intimidating, but it is a skill that can be learned. The more you are immersed in it, the more you will get a feeling for its hallmarks. Here are a few of the most common characteristics of scholarly writing: • The wording in scholarly writing is specialized, requiring previous knowledge on the part of the reader. You will not be able to pick up a scholarly journal in another field and easily understand its contents (although you should be able to follow the writing itself). Scholarly authors assume that their audience is familiar...
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...Religion has played a vital role in the formulation and understanding of gender in society. Many religions which we are conscious and know off are primarily male oriented and male driven. This essay will discuss the role and understanding of gender in Catholic Christian church. The essay will be concerned with women in these churches, and how different gender theories conform with the observations witnessed during my visit. In this essay, I look at the prevalence of male centrism during the Sunday mass in the Catholic church I visited to, using Mary Daly’s theory of patriarchy in religion and how women are being oppressed due to a male God and conclude the ways in which we know of Christianity of being a heavily patriarchal religion. Secondly in this essay I will also look at the use of language in the church and how language can be deciphered as symbolic and reflect gendered perspectives using Luce Irigaray’s theory of symbolism to conclude how the use of language reflect a gender biases and how it is one sided. When I visited the church on Sunday I was amazed to see the statues and images of Jesus in the entrance area. Once, inside the main area there is a huge crucifix in the altar where I could see the the image of Jesus. There were other statues of Jesus in the church and then there was the one statue of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. Before the service began, there were male announcers who gave short speeches on the recent doings of the church and related matters...
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...caused by social factors. They believe that society has different expectations from men and women relating to their social statuses, family roles and job preferences which may influence women's linguistic behaviour. The difference in communication styles of males and females doesn't prove the existence of women's language; on the opposite, it shows that women have found the most convenient way to express themselves in the mainly male-dominant society. The entire literature review will investigate how social norms and expectations have influenced women's speech and whether there is discrimination on the basis of gender in speech. It will be organized using a thematic style of presentation. First of all, it will be shown whether there are differences in usage of linguistic forms, such as vocabulary, syntax and tone, between males and females. And then, the concept of report and rapport talk in women's and men's speech will be examined. There is no reason to deny that men and women tend to use somewhat different linguistic forms. However, it doesn't prove the existence of woman's language. The research done by Jim Vandergriff in the article “Is there a women's language?” presents the empirical evidences of differences in female's and male's speech. The study summarizes findings of other scholars in vocabulary, pronunciation, syntax and intonation in women's...
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...Women’s Language “The North Sea will sooner be found wanting in water than a woman be at a loss for a word”. It is commonly believed that women talk more than men. Moreover, some researchers argue that there is a significant difference in a way how men and women communicate. One group of scientists insists that differences in men’s and women’s speech prove a controversial idea that “Women's American English” exists. On the contrary, others assert that the reason why males and females tend to use certain words and phrases is caused by social factors. They believe that society has different expectations from men and women relating to their social statuses, family roles and job preferences which may influence women's linguistic behaviour. The difference in communication styles of males and females doesn't prove the existence of women's language; on the opposite, it shows that women have found the most convenient way to express themselves in the mainly male-dominant society. The entire literature review will investigate how social norms and expectations have influenced women's speech and whether there is discrimination on the basis of gender in speech. It will be organized using a thematic style of presentation. First of all, it will be shown whether there are differences in usage of linguistic forms, such as vocabulary, syntax and tone, between males and females. And then, the concept of report and rapport talk in women's and men's speech will be examined. There is no reason...
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...Discourse and gender Early work in the analysis of gender and discourse looked at the relationship between the use of language and the biological category of sex. Gender as a social category has come to be seen as highly fluid, or less well defined than in once appeared. In line with gender theory more generally, researchers interested in language and gender have focused increasingly on plurality and diversity among female and male language users, and on gender as performativity (something that is ‘done’ in context, rather than a fixed attribute). According to lakoff (1975) in her book language and women’s place, she proposed that what she called ‘ woman’s language’ is a use of language that is different from ‘men’s language’ or rather, what she termed’ neutral language’. This language included features such as the use of overly polite forms, the use of question tags, rising intonation in declaratives, the avoidance of expletives, a greater use of diminutives and euphemisms. An example of using particular items are “adorable, charming, and sweet” (woman’s language) versus “terrific, great, and cool (neutral language). According to mean’s (2001) she shows a similar example from the use of language with men’s and women’s football teams to’ do gender’ and to confirm masculine identity. She talks about sporting as a male category where values such as power and aggressiveness are highly valued. She found speed, loud talk and shouting to be ways in which these values were expressed...
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...Making sense of Gender and ICTs in Education: Exploring theoretical explanations for complex findings. Cheryl Brown and Laura Czerniewicz University of Cape Town Abstract This paper examines findings from two surveys of 10110 university students conducted in South Africa in 2004 and 2007. We report on the differences between male and females students access to and use of ICTs for learning. In particular we note that whilst equal opportunities do largely exist for both genders, there are subtle differences in terms of female students practical access and sense of personal agency. Findings about use are complicated with male students using ICTs more frequently particularly in the sciences disciplines and for activities such as information seeking and communication (in contrast to research elsewhere). In order to try and better understand our findings we explore four different theoretical perspectives namely; Bourdieu’s notion of habitus; Feminist Standpoint Theory; Critical Information Systems Theory; and Expectations States Theory. We then suggest using Bourdieu’s notion of habitus as we believe it offers us the most flexibility whilst enabling a gender focus to be maintained,. Introduction Research findings about gender differences and ICT access and use are complex and contradictory. While only a decade ago researchers were united about gender difference with regards to ICT access and use, recent discussions about gender divides are less emphatic, but more varied...
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...Gender Specific Profanity Use INTRODUCTION In the course of linguistics there has always been an underlying notion that males have a broader range of profanities in their arsenal opposed to females that have a more narrow knowledge and also that as individuals their of swear words differ in the presence of the same and opposite sex. Rarely are men openly expressive terms such as ‘Slut’ or ‘Bitch’ within conversation with a woman and like-wise woman follow a similar conduct with men, but when they are in a same gendered group this friction is no longer present and the use of swear words in both genders increase. It is within this notion that this survey tries to capture the context that adolescent men and woman use profanities. This assignment uses a variety of acclaimed swear words that are used in modern society in different youthful groups within Melbourne, hopefully identifying a certain culture of ‘do’s and don’ts’ in assimilation to addressing the opposite and same sex. HYPOTHESIS That males with have a greater knowledge in identifying the various swear words presented whereas females will have a more narrow understanding of the words presented. Also, that males will generally use more swear word and in a more frequent manner then females. Also that both woman and men will swear more in a same gendered group then when they are in a mixed gendered group. BACKGROUND Sociolinguistic theory and empirical research gives great detail and insights into gender based usage...
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...his essay “Sex Differences”, Ronald Macaulay believes there is no differences as such that affects language acquisition, although social factors interfere in the way they both talk. In contrast, Janet Holmes expresses in her essay “Women talk too much” that language is biased because it is men who have positions of power and seek authority, who judges when talk is too much, when its appropriate, and that women assert themselves less when speech is more valued. As we progress, we shall examine more closely their positions and expose the nature of their claims. In fact, the use and style in language has no bearing on one’s gender. The way one communicates with others has much to do with personal life experiences, self-image, and the overall make up of our personality and character. According to Macaulay, women are more straightforward and use the language in a simpler manner while men tend to be more creative. First of all, men are associated with toughness and aggression, sometimes boldness whereas women are associated with sweetness, being innocent, shy and loyal. These talks are not to be used to judge each of the sexes although in certain occasions they are. Secondly, the author discusses the difference between men and women in the way they develop the language to suit their tone and personality. Various studies prove that women are more likely to succeed in language aspects than men, as they prefer to adhere to the rules set by it. Their speeches are...
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