Diveristy - Gender Flashcards
Lakoff 1975 theory:
‘women’s language lacks power’
Lakoff’s assumptions of women’s language:
super polite forms
tag questions e.g ‘aren’t you?’
empty adjectives e.g lovely/nice
avoid expletives
evaluative points of Lakoff’s theory:
❌ not an actual linguistic study
❌ nearly 50 years old - dated
O’Barr and Atkins (1980) study:
30 month study of courtroom footage recorded over 150 hours of trials.
hypothesis was that powerless language was associated with women due to their position in society.
not a characteristic that can be limited to only women.
evaluative points on O’Barr and Atkins’ theory:
✅ 30 months
✅ thorough study
✅ visual evidence
❌ 44 years old
❌ language is hugely considered in a court room
Zimmerman and West (1975) theory:
observed 11 conversations
established that men interrupt women in the ratio 46:2.
‘men like to be in charge of a conversation and women prefer to be submissive’
what are some evaluative points on Zimmerman and West’s theory?
- same year as Lakoff
❌ only 11 conversations
❌ doesn’t consider personalities
❌ are interruptions a feature of doninance?
Spender’s theory:
suggests social constructions enforce “male power”
Beattie’s theory:
studied 10 hours of material and concluded that men and women interrupt with equal frequency.
what is the conflict with Beattie and Zimmerman & West’s theories?
Beatties work is rarely quoted despite its reliability and Zimmerman & West’s is regularly rolled out to prove a point.
confirms Spender’s theory that as a society we choose to believe in male dominance rather than truly assessing the evidence.
Fishman (1983) study:
listened to 52 hours of pre-recorded conversations between young American couples.
mixed-gender conversations sometimes fails because men fail to respond to declaratives.
women use questions to gain conversational power.
evaluative points on Fishman’s study:
✅ 52 hours is a long time
✅ challenged Lakoff’s ‘simplistic’ views
❌ only young American couples
❌ 1983 = study is old
