gender

Question 1

definitions of gender and sex?

Answer 1

gender: how we identify
sex: biological - chromosomes

Question 2

Anne Bodine (1975) ?

Answer 2

• There is a bias in the English Language in the favour of males
• e.g. ‘mankind’ , ‘deer’

Question 3

what is Androcentric language?

Answer 3

language that is in the favour of men
e.g. mankind, deer

Question 4

diminutive suffixes?

Answer 4

‘ess’, ‘ette’ e.g. ‘kitchenette’

Question 5

what does patronyms and matronyms mean?

Answer 5

patronyms: men
matronyms: women

Question 6

Julia Stanley (1977) ?

Answer 6

She argued that there was a negative semantic space for women.
Women couldn’t be writers, surgeons, doctors, these words didn’t apply for women.
women could only be women writers, female surgeons, lady doctors. It is suggested that male roles are more important because the standard, unmarked terms refer to them.

Question 7

Sex discrimination act (1975) ?

Answer 7

After this was published, it became illegal to write a job advertisement in a way that implied that only one sex could apply.
There are still some exceptions

Question 8

Lexical Asymmetry

Answer 8

e.g master and mistress / king and queen.
The male titles have retained the og positive meanings, wheras female titles have frequently gone downhill slide - often ending with a sexually debased meaning
Words for women assume negative connotations

Question 9

Spender (1980) ?

Answer 9

According to Spender, there are 220 terms for promiscuous females but only 20 for males.
e.g. females - slut, whore, hoe, slag
males - manwhore, stud, player, cheat

Question 10

Goddard (1983) ?

Answer 10

Terms of endearment e.g. kid, dear, mate, love, son, lad, flower, sunshine
There are terms of endearment for different groups

Question 11

Stacy Smith (2011) - Media Representation

Answer 11

Researched representation of women on screen and found men outnumber women by 3 to 1

Question 12

Robin Lakoff (pronouns)

Answer 12

Thought the focus on pronouns was misguided and that any attempt to change them would be futile

Question 13

Laura Paterson

Answer 13

Looked at third person references in British newspapers and found that 56% was ‘they’ and 44% was ‘he’

Question 14

Hoey (2005)

Answer 14

He used the phrase ‘lexical phrasing’ to describe the way words and phrases have an undercoat layer, built from usage in the same contexts

Question 15

Muriel Shute (1975)

Answer 15

Argues that it’s not an accident that there are more negative words for women. It represents patriarchal order and is male governed.
Words that are ‘marked’ for women become pejorated.

Question 16

Janet Holmes (1992)

Answer 16

The english language discriminates against women.
Animal imagery - women are labelled considerably less positive than men.
Food imagery - presented as objects
ANYTHING BUT HUMAN

Question 17

What is the deficit theory?

Answer 17

Proposes women have a different style of speech that is lacking.
Otto Jeperson argued that male language was the norm and the language of others was deficient.
Due to societal and self-imagery, not inherit views.
1960s/1970s

Question 18

Robin Lakoff (1975)
Deficit Theory

Answer 18

listed 1 features that marked women’s language different to men.
Hedging, use polite forms, use tag questions, speak in italics, use redundant qualities, hypercorrect grammar, poor at recounting jokes, use direct quotations, special lexis, use intonations for questions in declarative contexts

Question 19

What is The Dominance model?

Answer 19

Majority of the research was conducted in the 1970s/1980s.
Focuses on how men are dominant in speech by speaking more, interrupting, holding the floor and shifting topics.

Question 20

Zimmerman and West (1975)
The Dominance Model

Answer 20

They recorded 11 mixed sex conversations (reductionist) and 98% of interruptions were made by men.
However, the finding were found with a particular image of male speakers at the time, which was as dominating and oppressive to women.

Question 21

Dale Spender - Man Made Language (1980)
The Dominance Model

Answer 21

Women were trapped with a language that was not of their making, as the pragmatics of lexis was historically controlled by men.
Women couldnt use certain language as it was offensive to them.

Question 22

Beattie’s argument to Dale Spender’s Man Made Language
The Dominance Model

Answer 22

“The problem with this is that you might simply have one voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total… Why do interruptions necessarily reflect dominance?”

Question 23

Beattie
The Dominance Model

Answer 23

Beattie found that women and men interrupt with equal frequency.
Men interrupted only slightly more.

Question 24

William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins
The Dominance Model

Answer 24

Studied language in the courtroom and found female lawyers to be assertive and interrupt.
Found witnesses of both sexes to use Robin Lakoff’s weak ‘female’ language.
Concluded that weak language is actually a powerless language, not a female language.

Question 25

Pamela Fishman (1983) and The Dominance Model

Answer 25

Agreed that tag questions were used 4x more by women. Said that tag questions imply power, as women are able to carry on a conversation. She accepts that this is due to the dominance model - men are reluctant to use this as of what they perceive to be as their dominant role.

Question 26

Personality and Social Psychology Review (2007) The Dominance Model

Answer 26

Men tended to talk more in convos, in situations were the topic was disagreement. Women dominated men when with classmates, parents, children and feelings - maternal?

Question 27

What is the Difference Theory?

Answer 27

Focuses on the difference between males and females. Date back to a persons childhood eg boys - competitive girls - cooperative

Question 28

Deborah Tanning (1980) The Difference Theory

Answer 28

Suggests men and women are socialised to follow certain gender scripts

Question 29

Status VS Support

Answer 29

Men grew up in a world in which language is competitive. For women, talking is a way to gather support and affirmation for their feelings. Men see the world as a place where people try to gain status and keeping it. Women see the world as "a network of connections seeking support and consensus"

Question 30

Independence VS Intimacy

Answer 30

Men use language to show they don't rely on others. Women use it to connect. Tannes says a woman will check her husband before inviting a guest to stay however, a man will not because he'll see it as a loss of status.

Question 31

Advice VS Understanding

Answer 31

Tannes states that to many men, a complaint is a challenge to solve a problem. However, women want empathy.

Question 32

Information VS Feeling

Answer 32

Men will talk in brief utterances. Women will talk in longer, emotional utterances.

Question 33

Order VS Proposals

Answer 33

Women are indirect "Why don't we?" Women are direct "We will"

Question 34

Conflict VS Compromise

Answer 34

Tannes think women "should assert herself, even at the risk of conflict"

Question 35

Christian Howe The Difference Theory

Answer 35

Men have strategies for gaining power Men are more likely to put their view across, finding it difficult for the listener participate. Women are more active listeners and use back channelling e.g 'uh huh'

Question 36

Ann Weatherall The Difference Theory

Answer 36

Women's talk is cooperative. Men's is competitive. Women are more likely tp use hedging. Women speak for less time and are less likely to interrupt Women use more tag questions.

Question 37

Jennifer Coates (1989) The Difference Theory

Answer 37

Argued that girls and boys tend to belong to same sex friendship groups. Therefore, develop different styles of speaking.

Question 38

Koenraad Kuiper (1991) The Difference Theory

Answer 38

Studied all male talk on a rugby team and found that insults were used as a way to express solidarity.

Question 39

Jane Polkington (1992) The Difference Theory

Answer 39

Found that women in same sex convos were collaborative and used positive politeness strategies. Men were less collaborative, less complimentary and less supportive.

Question 40

Deborah Cameron and destroying the myths (2008)

Answer 40

States that gender roles are a myth and tat creating theories creates more myths. These myths shapes our expectations.

Question 41

Judith Butler

Answer 41

Gender isnt performative. It's important to resist gender norms. Gender is cultural formed.

Question 42

Eckert and McConnel-Genet quote?

Answer 42

"An aggregate of people who came together around mutual engagement in some common endeavour. Ways of doing things, ways of talking, beliefs, values, power relations - in short practices - emerge in the course of their joint activity around that endeavour"

Question 43

Construction of female identity (Berguall 1996)

Answer 43

Looked at verbal interaction among engineering students. Conflicting demands to which female students must respond switching between two gender identities. 1. Social need to behave in stereotypically feminine ways. 2. In competition with fellow students - assertive stereotypically masculine behaviours. Found categories of masculine and feminine are not helpful in accounting for speech patterns of the fem engineering student. OCCUPATION ALSO??

Question 44

Lucy Jones (2012)

Answer 44

Studied a lesbian hiking group. Used words like 'butch' and 'dykey' in a positive way and 'girly/ in a negative way.

Question 45

Emma Moore (2010)

Answer 45

Focused on the language of school girls in Boston. Found that 'were' e.g 'I were happy' is used. Less about location but from social groups.

Question 46

Hetronormity and feminism

Answer 46

This bias can lead to negative stereotypes. Many can be marginalised and has led to the semantic derogation of certain groups and pejoration of words such as 'gay' and 'queer'

Question 47

Podesva - falsetto in constructing persona (2007)

Answer 47

Looked at the use of falsetto by a gay male in constructing a persona. Argued that falsetto is used for expressive purposes to signal emotion. Links to femininity.