Diversity: Gender

Question 1

What are the three approaches to Gender AO2

Answer 1

1. Dominance model
2. Deficit model
3. Diversity model

Question 2

From the three approaches to Gender what approach does Lackoff take.

Answer 2

Deficit model, women’s language is inferior to men’s

Question 3

Robin Lakoff published a book in 1975 what is the book called and what did she propose about gender and language?

Answer 3

Robin Lakoff’s language and a Woman’s place
that language and gender is undeniable

Question 4

List three features Lakoff believes are distinctively associated with women’s language

Answer 4

1. indirect requests
2. hedges
3. apologising more

Question 5

What are some limitations of Lakoff’s work

Answer 5

1. she doesn’t have precise statistical evidence, it is completely theoretical
   “many men”, “men tend to”- very vague

Question 6

In contemporary society, how applicable is Lakoff’s work

Answer 6

Still remains an integral part of the discussion regarding gender and language.

Question 7

What framework of features was Jenny Cheshire interested in analysing the use of by young children

Answer 7

certain grammatical variations:
1. non-standard -s (she calls me..)
2. multiple negation
3.use of ain’t

Question 8

What did Jenny Cheshire find out about the study with the young boys

Answer 8

Boys tended to use grammatical non standard forms more than girls. That variation is governed by social and linguistic factors and in boys speech are transmitted through peer groups.

Question 9

What did Jenny Cheshire find out about the study with the young girls.

Answer 9

Where as girls it is more of a personal process and less rigidly controlled by external factors

Question 10

O’Barr and Atkins research in an essay

Answer 10

This research could be use to provide evidence that Lakoff’s findings are limited. This is because both men and women used language from the deficit model when they appeared to be in powerless situations.

Question 11

Keith and Shuttleworths features a similar to Lakoff’s features, list 3

Answer 11

1. indecisive and hesitant
2. are more polite
3. ask more questions

Question 12

Fishman falls into what Gender model

Answer 12

The dominance model

Question 13

Explain Fishman’s research titled ‘The Work Women Do’, what linguistic feature of women’s language was she analysing that Lakoff also identified and what did she find in her research?

Answer 13

Looked at the use of tag questions. 52 hours of recorded conversations, and found that women were 4 x more likely to use tag questions. however drew a different conclusion that women did this to direct the conversation as men don’t often respond to declaratives. It is not because of uncertainty rather to govern conversational power as men are reluctant to carry the ‘ conversational shitwork’ men have to do because of they perceive as their dominant role

Question 14

Zimmerman and West’s research explored interruptions in mixed-sex conversations. What did they find?

Answer 14

men attempt to be dominating bu=y using interruptions more than women
fairly old study conducted in 1975 concluded that men used 46 interuptions while women only two
small sample, all white and under 35

Question 15

What were some of the weaknesses of Zimmerman and West’s research?

Answer 15

Fairly old study in 1975
all white
small short sample 31 segments
and all under 35

Question 16

How can you use Beattie’s research to evaluate Zimmerman and West-what did he find about interruptions in his larger study?

Answer 16

Was critical of zimmerman and Wests findings, claiming that there could be one more voluble man that could disproportionately affect the findings
and questioned if interruptions were necessarily bad, could show engagement and involvement
10 hours of his recording found there was only a marginal difference between men and women interrupting but wasn’t significant

Question 17

Explain Spender’s radical views on how language embodies structures that reinforce patriarchy.

Answer 17

That language is governed by a patriarchal order that is hard to challenge

Question 18

Deborah Tannen’s research falls into which of the three approaches?

Answer 18

difference model

Question 19

What are the 6 contrasts that Tannen proposes about language - explain 2.

Answer 19

1. status vs support -men use language to show power and status where women use language to support and agree with others
2. information’s vs feelings - use more factual language but women more stemming from an emotional view point
3. independence vs intimacy
4. orders vs proposals
5. advice vs understandings
6. conflict vs compromise

Question 20

What does Coates propose about friendship groups for girls and boys and how does this lead to different speech styles of each gender?

Answer 20

women use tag questions to be more cooperative and supportive
that girls and boys that grew up in same sex friendship groups use language differently

Question 21

What two features, according to Coates, help women be cooperative and supportive in
conversations?

Answer 21

Tag questions and modality

Question 22

What did Pilkington find about single sex conversations of men and women?

Answer 22

women are more supportive and collabartive in same sex conversations opposed to men

Question 23

Cameron, Talbot and Hyde present what kind of model of language and gender?

Answer 23

Diversity model

Question 24

What does Cameron believe is the biggest myth of all time?

Answer 24

that gender and speech are not interlinked at all !

Question 25

According to Cameron, what does the traditional research (Deficit, dominance and difference models) do to stereotypes and attitudes towards the language of men and women?

Answer 25

that these ‘myths’ have acted as a force that have further shaped our expectations of how women and men should speak

Question 26

What did Hyde mean by the ‘gender similarities hypothesis’?

Answer 26

More similarities than differences in women speech and men’s speech
more important eternal factors such as sexuality politics and occupation

Question 27

What does Talbot believe and gender?

Answer 27

gender is socially constructed and language helps to shape this