Gender Flashcards
(28 cards)
what is gender?
biological classification of a person at birth
what are the three models?
- deficit
- difference
- dominance
what is the idea of the deficit model and who are the associated theorists ?
idea = women’s language is inherently weak, if a women incorporates “strong” language deatures into her idiolect she is een to be acting like a man
- Jesperson
- Robin Lakoff
- O’barr and Atkins
describe jespersons theory
-1922
- defines mens language as standard and others such as womens language as deficient arguing that:
o Women have a smaller vocabulary and can have a damaging effect on language
o Women’s language is weak and contains weak traits
o Women talk a lot yet have a smaller vocabulary than men
o Women use non fluency features because they speak before they have thought about what they will say
Critique – not a linguistic report, its based on public perception
describe Lakoffs theory
- 1975
- Robin lakoff was one of the first linguists to look at the social implications of the differences in men and woman’s use of speech.
- Her book ‘Language and the Woman’s Place’ was extremely influential, despite being met with widespread criticism at the time.
- Working from a feminist perspective, she attempted to explain how language contributed to women’s lack of power and status in western society. She said that women’s language gives the impression that women are weaker than men, which justifies mens treatment of women as having low status.
- Lakoff named her ideas about women’s language The deficit model. Lakoff’s model proposed 10 features of what she called ‘women’s language’
1. Hedges – expressing weak opinion eg ‘sort of’
2. Super polite forms
3. Tag questions – show uncertainty and lack of power
4. Empty adjectives – adjectives that contain a small value eg “nice”
5. No humour
6. Apologise more
7. Avoid expletives or coarse lang
8. Use more intensifiers eg “very”
9. Correct grammar + pronunciation
10. Back channelling – passively agreeing and supporting eg “mhm” “yeah”
what is O’barr and Atkins critique of Lakoff?
o O’barr and Atkins studies courtroom cases for 30 months, observing a broad spectrum of witnesses and examining them for the ten basic speech differences between men and women that lakoff proposed (her 10 features of women’s language)
o Discovered that lakoffs proposed differences were not necessarily the result of being a woman, but of being powerless
what is the idea of the difference model and who are the associated theorists ?
idea = men and women communicate differently
- Deborah Tannen
- Holmes
- Coates
describe tannens theory
- Deborah Tannen (1990) wrote a book “you just don’t understand” in which she suggests that In single sex groups, men and women understand each other but when they come to together there are misunderstandings.
- She also suggests that men and women speak differently because they are socialised into seeing themselves as having very different roles and positions in life.
Tannen represents male and female language use in a series of 6 contrasts
- Status vs. support
- Independence vs. intimacy
- Advice vs. understanding
- Information vs. feelings
- Orders vs. proposals
- Conflict vs. compromise
explain tannens status vs support
- For men conversation is competitive. They strive to achieve dominance within a conversation
. - For women conversation is a way of gaining reassurance and support
Explain Tannens independence vs intimacy contrast
- Men strive for more independence, whereas women think in terms of closeness and support.
Tannen gives the example that a woman would check with her husband/partner before inviting a guest for tea, but the man would invite someone without asking because to check with his wife would be seen as a sign of low status.
Explain Tannens advice vs understanding contrast
- Men seek to find solutions and take control to solve the problem.
- Women offer sympathy and
understanding instead of offering immediate solutions or advice.
“When my mother tells my father she doesn’t feel well, he invariably offers to take her to the doctor. Invariably, she is disappointed with his reaction. Like many men, he is focused on what he can do, whereas
she wants sympathy.”
Explain Tannens information vs feelings contrast
- Men are concerned with gaining and imparting information
- women are more focussed with feelings and the discussion of emotions
Explain Tannens orders vs proposals contrast
- Women often suggest that people do things in indirect ways “let’s”, “ why don’t we?” or “wouldn’t it be good, if we…?”
- Men use and prefer to hear a direct imperative.
Explain Tannens conflict vs compromise contrast
- Men will openly oppose something they disagree with.
- Women will feign agreement but oppose it later, possibly in private.
describe Holmes theory
- Suggest that women prefer more collaborative conversations and try to encourage participation whereas men are more competitive.
- Argues against Lakoff’s women’s language and says that though tag questions are present in female speech, they are not linked to lack of power. Instead, they are a device to maintain discussion, be polite and include others in the conversation.
- She also argued that hedges and fillers were not necessarily a sign of weakness but used for a variety of functions. Women in all female conversation were more likely to offer compliments then men.
- Also suggests that women are often referred to as food and animals eg “cow” “sugar”
describe Coates theory
Jennifer coates looks at all female conversation and builds on Tannens ideas. She looks at gossip and categorises it in terms of house talk, Scandal, Bitching and chatting.
- House talk – the exchange of information and resources connected with the female role as an occupation
- Scandal – a considered judging of the behaviour of others, and women in particular.
- Bitching – this is the overt expression of woman’s anger at their restricted role and inferior status. They express this in private and to other women only. The women who bitch are not expecting change: they want only to make their complaints in an environment where their anger will be understood and expected.
- Chatting – this is the most intimate form of gossip, a mutual self disclosure, a transaction where women use to their own advantage the skill they have learned as part of their job or nurturing.
what is the idea of the dominance model and who are the associated theorists ?
idea = men are more dominant in language
- Zimmerman and west
- Geoffrey Beattie
- Pamela Fishman
describe Z+W study
- Looked at a small sample of conversations in California. All participants were higher, middle class and under 35
- They discovered that men interrupted significantly more than women 46 times to 2
- They argued this shows male dominance
Critique = it’s a very small study, it assumes that all interruptions are to demonstrate dominance and that they are successful in their aims
describe Beatties theory
- Beattie criticises Zimmerman and wests study
- “the problem with this is that you might simply have one very voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total.” Beattie also questions the meaning of interruptions: “why do interruptions necessarily reflect dominance? Can interruptions not arise from other sources? Do some interruptions not reflect interest and involvement?”
- His own study: recorded discussions between men and women, and noted 557 interruptions (compared with 48 by Z & W). - - Beattie found that women and men interrupt with more or less equal frequency
Describe Fishmans theory
- Argues that the conversations between sexes sometime fail not because of anything specifically to do with woman’s use of language but how men respond or do not respond.
- She looks specifically at tag questions, which women use four times more than men. She agrees that women use them more than men but criticises Lakoff’s assertions that tags show uncertainty. Instead, she argues that women use them to start or sustain conversations. Therefore, tags can gain conversational power rather than indicate tentativeness (because men do not always respond to declarative statements)
- Says that women are left to do ‘conversational shitwork’ and if they do not do it the conversation would fail as she concedes that men do less ‘shitwork’ which is because of their perceived dominance
what are some other gender theorists not associated with the 3 models?
- Deborah Cameron
- Jenny cheshire
- Peter trudgill
- Julia Stanley
- Sara Mills
describe deborah camerons theory
- Cameron criticises the idea that there are innate differences between mens and women and their use of language. She is critical of Lakoff, Fishman and tannen
- She outlines myths that have evolved around language and gender such as women are better communicators and men prefer a competitive speech style.
- She suggests these myths shape our expectations of language use.
- She challenged these stereotypes and suggested that there are far more similarities in male and female speech than suggested and that these distinctions are somewhat contrived
describe Jenny cheshires theory
- Cheshire recorded the natural speech of 13 adolescent boys and 13 adolescent girls in playground and in school in reading.
- She studied their use of non-standard features, such as the non standard was (eg “you was…) and multiple negotiation ( eg I’ve not got none)
- Cheshire found that only the nonstandard auxiliary “do” was used by the girls more often then the boys. The other non-standard features were used less frequently by the girls than the boys.
