Language and gender summary

Deficit
Robin Lackoff(1975)- women use features within their language that make it appear inferior to men's language: fillers, hedges, intensifiers, hyper-correct grammar, tag questions, super-polite forms, apologise more, speak less, avoid coarse language, indirect requests, speak in italics, make less jokes.


Jenny Cheshire - boys use more non-standard English (less prestigious) disputes patriarchal hierarchy.


Pamela Fishman - tag questions don't represent uncertainty but are used to initiate the conversation. dominance?




Dominance
Zimmerman and West(1975) - in mixed sex conversations men tend to dominate by interrupting. reflect dominance or interest/involvement?


Deborah Cameron- women do in fact challenge each other.


Jennifer Coates - women use overlaps as a sign of support




Difference
Deborah Tannen(1990) - Summarises her book 'You Just Don't Understand' in a series of 6 contrasts between male and female language: status vs. support, independence vs. intimacy, advice vs. understanding, information vs. feelings, orders vs. proposals, conflict vs. compromise.


Janet Hyde(2005) proposed a gender similarities hypothesis "there are substantially more similarities than differences, and where there are differences, they are due to other contextual factors for example age, occupation, education etc. More contemporary

Eight words that reveal the sexism at the heart of the English language - The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/27/eight-words-sexism-heart-english-language
Mistress
The female equivalent of "master"
Hussy
"A disreputable woman of improper behaviour"
Madam
The female equivalent of "sir"
Governess
Compared to "Governor" a lady who has particular power over someone
Spinster
A woman beyond usual age for marriage equivalent for bachelor
Courtesan
Female equivalent of "courtier"
Wench
An unmarried woman, a mistress
Tart
A female of immoral character


Thinking about the male equivalents of some of these words throws their sexism into sharp relief. Master for mistress; sir for madam; governor for governess; bachelor for spinster; courtier for courtesan – whereas the male list speaks of power and high status, the female list has a very different set of connotations. These are of either subordinate status or sexual service to men.

Language and gender

Dominate a conversation by topic initiation, topic shifts, holding the floor, lack of turn-yielding clues, interrupting and generally speaking more.	More submissive in a conversation and likely to speak less. Unlikely to interrupt, initiate or change topics or attempt to hold the floor.
Use a more informal register through their use of accent, taboo, slang, dialect, sociolect and grammatical variations. Likely to use covert prestige to sustain a masculine identity.	More likely to use overt prestige to help create a feminine identity and succumb to stereotypes on how a ‘lady-like’ woman should talk (more formal lexis and less phonological variations).
More likely to be factual, competitive, direct and detached when speaking while maintaining a need for status.	More likely to be supportive, cooperative, polite, apologetic and emotional when speaking.

The 3 Ds

Deficit

-Robin Lackoff (1975)

-women use many techniques in their speech that are deficient to men's speech. These include:

• fillers
• hedges
• intensifiers
• hyper-correct grammar
• tag questions
• super-polite forms
• apologise more
• speak less frequently
• avoid coarse language or expletives
• indirect requests
• speak in italics

-Jenny Cheshire (1982)

-Boys use more non-standard forms than girls.

-Pamela Fishman (1983)

-Tag questions- Lackoff claimed they represent uncertainty, Fishman says they are used to initiate conversation

-She refers to setting the agenda as the 'conversational shitwork' and says men are reluctant to do this as they perceive to be the dominant role 

Dominance

-Zimmerman & West (1975)

-men dominate a conversation by using more interruptions

-Deborah Cameron (1995)

-challenges views, says that women do in fact challenge each other

Difference

-Deborah Tannen (1990)

-Men and women speak very differently in conversation, six contrasts to show this difference:

• Status vs. support
• independence vs. intimacy
• advice vs. understanding
• information vs. feelings
• orders vs. proposals
• conflict vs. compromise

-Janet Hyde (2005)

-proposed a 'gender similarities hypothesis'

-"substantially more similarities than differences...and where there are differences, they are due to other contextual factors for example education, occupation etc."

-argument