Language and Gender Flashcards
(15 cards)
Who created the 6 gender contrasts?
Tannen
What are the 6 contrasts?
Status vs Support Independence vs intimacy Advice vs understanding Information vs Feelings Orders vs Proposals Conflict vs Compromise
Who is the most linked to the deficit theory?
Robin Lakoff, Jespersen
What is the deficit theory?
The idea that women’s language is inferior to male’s
What is the dominance theory?
The ideology that language is driven by a hierarchical position
What is the difference theory?
Men and Women have separate linguistic subcultures: neither is bettor/worse
What is the dynamic theory?
We adopt and construct our own versions of masculinity and femininity depending on situations.
What is the Jespersen theory?
Women talk lots, women dont know a lot of words.
He claimed that women didn’t know a lot of words and that they could not understand complex language. He also said that women couldnt read as quickly as men.
What is the O’barr and Atkins theory?
Powerless Language.
These theorists are best known for developing the idea that language is specific, depending on who has the authority and power rather than the gender.
A simple example to explain their theory may be that in an interview situation if a man were interviewing a woman then perhaps the man would be more assertive in the conversation, not due to his gender but due to the fact he has more authority and power.
What is the Beattie theory?
Interruptions.
He recorded 10 hours of tutorial discussion and 557 interruptions.
Beattie found that women and men interrupted with more or less equal frequency (men 34.1, women 33.8)
What is the Coates theory?
Hedges, Minimal responses, turn-taking.
Coates’ theory also examined the functionality of the language development of both genders. She makes comparisons between different age groups, coming to the conclusion: “men pursue a style of interaction based on power, while women pursue a style based on solidarity and support.”
What is the Tannen theory?
Six male-female contrasts.
Tanned suggested that males and females miscommunicate. Cross culture contamination. Men and Women have different ways of communicating.
What is the Kuiper theory?
Insults and face.
Kuiper found that in all male talk amongst members of a rugby team, men were likely to pay less attention to the need to save face and instead used insults as a way of expressing solidarity.
Similar findings on all male talk have also highlighted this difference in cooperation amongst all male grouped.
What is the Zimmerman and West theory?
Interruptions.
The findings supported the Dominance Model as data from their findings show that most interruptions or overlaps in conversations are made by men especially in cross-sex conversations. However in same sex conversations interruptions and overla0ps are very balanced between the speakers. This suits the dominance model as it gives the impression that men obtain power and authority in conversation.
What is the Hyde theory?
Men and women are more alike than they are different. A few notable exceptions are some aspects of sexuality, which show large gender differences, and aggression (which shows a moderate gender difference). Gender differences can vary substantially at different ages and depend on the context in which measurement occurs.
