Language and Gender

Question 1

What is androcentrism?

Answer 1

being male is the norm and being female is a deviation of the norm

Question 2

What is socialisation in terms of gender?

Answer 2

the process by which we learn behaviours associated with our gender.

Question 3

What is a stereotype?

Answer 3

assigning a basic set of characteristics to represent a group as a whole.

Question 4

What are collocations?

Answer 4

Words frequently paired together e.g. busy blonde, dumb blonde.

Question 5

How do pronouns tend to be an issue when relating to the lack of female contribution in the english language?

Answer 5

3rd person masculine pronoun he or his is often used to refer to men and women.

Question 6

What is a marked term?

Answer 6

A word which refers to a specific gender through sex specification using feminine suffixes - actor / actress, usher / usherette.

Question 7

What is an unmarked term?

Answer 7

Where no gender is explicit. But these often come with pre-expectations.

Question 8

What is lexical asymmetry?

Answer 8

how words referring to men and women have the same literal meaning but different suggested meanings. (bachelor / Spinster)

Question 9

What are patronising terms?

Answer 9

terms that suggest superiority over someone (bachelor / spinster)

Question 10

What are lexical gaps?

Answer 10

when no equivalent word appears for one gender - there are no words to praise promiscuous woman.

Question 11

Otto Jesperson

Answer 11

Deficit model
1922
most of his evidence is merely anecdotal
men have greater vocabulary than women
women’s minds were quick but shallow, whereas men’s minds were slower but think more deeply
Women construct sentences in a less articulate way
while men use subordinate clauses, women will string ideas together by saying …and…and….and

Question 12

Robin Lakoff

Answer 12

Deficit model
Interested in the way that woman’s subordinate status in society has influenced their speech
Girls / women are ‘taught’ to speak in a way that confirms their status as the weaker sex
gathered data mainly through introspection
Weak language patterns of women:
- hedges - sort of, kind of, probably
- super polite forms
- lack of humour
- extended descriptive vocabulary
- tag questions
- weak expletives

Question 13

William O’Barr and Bowman Atkins

Answer 13

Criticism of Lakoff
Researched in courtrooms
Found that speech patterns she identified in women were also present in the speech of men from lower - class backgrounds
They are more closely tied with a lack of power than gender

Question 14

Zimmerman and west

Answer 14

dominance model
conducted research into mixed - sex conversations
found that 96% of interruptions were from men and in same sex conversations, these interruptions were much less frequent
Used this evidence to suggest that men use interruptions to dominate conversation and maintain control
- small sample with lack of diversity
- Geoffrey Beattie - questions whether interruptions are a form of control but of showing interest in the conversation.

Question 15

Dale spender

Answer 15

Dominance model
language is biased against women
by being more active in public life, men have been more able to get their opinions heard
men traditionally hold more power than women
terms used to describe men were more favourable than their female equivalent
Patriarchal nature of language allows men to maintain and sustain dominance.

Question 15

Pamela Fishman

Answer 15

Dominance model
Interactional shitwork
Use sympathetic circularity (check if the listener is listening)
Women have to work harder to keep men interested
‘Conversational shitwork’ - using more small talk to keep men interested
This is evidence of Men failing to regard the contributions of women

Question 16

Deborah Tannen

Answer 16

Difference model
miscommunication between men and women was due to male-female speech being ‘cross-cultural’
They dont want the same things from conversation
e.g.
- independence vs intimacy
- advice vs understanding

Try to bring in Sandra bem’s gender polarisation

Question 17

Deborah Cameron

Answer 17

Dynamic model
there is a misguided desire to identify differences between men and women
there are many versions male speech and many versions of female speech
It is too simplistic to claim that gender can exist separately from other factors such as age, class, occupation, region and ability