Cours 9 : Gender Flashcards
do we talk about gender or sex in sociolinguistics ?
about gender :
> biology VS sociology
objective VS social construct
nature (= innate) VS nurture (= acquired)
so i am not born a woman, i become a women by an active social construction on my part.
gender in language
gender-exclusive features : used to refer to a particular group (ex. aunt, sister)
preferential features : used to refer to more frequently by or about a particular group than the others (ex. guy)
direct indexing : we say directly to which gender to person belongs
> identification of a referent : s/he
> identification of the speaker : “teina” for the younger same sex sibling in Maori
indirect indexing (ex. casualness or vernacular as a sign of masculinity)
preferential features in gender
constitutive VS reflexive features : it actively constitutes a group identity
one constitutes one’s identity through a variety of activities including language
group identity is reflected in language
gender practices
sociological concept referring to a group of people who associate with one another in some joint activity and who share a set of social practices
we use language to mark our belonging to a gendered community of practice
gender and language change : Labov’s 3 principles
- women use more standard variants than men in cases of stable variation (ex. -ing in Norwich)
1.a. in cases of an ongoing change from above the level of consciousness, women use the innovative/prestigious/standard form more than men
- in cases of ongoing change from below the level of consciousness, women use the innovative/non-standard variant more than men.
Labov’s principles of language change and gender :
- women use more standard variants than men in cases of stable variation (ex. -ing in Norwich)
women use more standard variants than men when there is no ongoing change
lower-class women usually use it systematically less than their male counterparts, but we observe a crossover effect when they do not monitor themselves (with no monitoring, they use the non-standard variant more than men)
> bigger contrast when women monitor themselves and when they don’t
> women are constantly overcompensating, especially the LMC ones
ex. Tyneside English : women stay away from the non-standard form and largely prefer the standard variant
Labov’s principles of language change and gender :
- in cases of an ongoing change from above the level of consciousness, women use the innovative/prestigious standard more than men
in cases when the language is changing and everyone is aware of it, women tend to use the new innovative standard form
ex. NYC : women lead the change towards rhoticity
Labov’s principles of language change and gender :
- in cases of ongoing change from below the level of consciousness, women use the innovative, non-standard variant more than men.
when a change is happening and people are not aware that it is happening, women use the non-standard variant more than men.
> communities of practice interact with gender
ex. Texas : “full = fool” and “feel = fill” : younger women use the new innovative forms more than younger men
conclusion based on Labov’s principles of language change and gender
gender causes change between male and female communities of practice
there are generally more innovative forms during an ongoing change or more standard forms in standard variations from the female community of practice
Arabic counter-example for Labov’s principles
Classical Arabic VS local varieties of Arabic : men use the overtly prestigious variant more than women because high-variety is learned through education and used in public life and high-profile jobs
male speakers tend to receive higher education and being more represented than their female counterparts, so these high-profile jobs were more available to male speakers
-> gender determines the social roles we can play and the networks we can participate in
criticism of the counter-example
it ignores the speaker’s active construction of their identity
it implies that biological factors (ex. sex) could determine language variation
it creates a gender paradox
gender practice
gender-preferential variants are indirect indexes determined by :
> a given stance and a speech act (assertive, hesitating, suggesting)
> social practices
> discourse types
gender practice in English
tag questions (ex. “isn’t it ?”)
generally, women use more tag questions
> it reflects a social norm about women’s attentiveness and collaborative discourse strategies
Japanese example of gender practice
“ze” (masculine) marks assertiveness and “wa” (feminine) marks hesitation
communities of practice can redefine these norms : hierarchically, women that occupy higher positions tend to use the “ze” form more to indicate that they are as important as anyone else
performing gender
individual actively construct social identities, which is why we can say that we are performing a gender
people can socially point at part of their identity using language
