Language + Gender

Question 1

Dominance

Answer 1

Men’s language dominates women’s.

Question 2

Deficit

Answer 2

Women’s language is inferior, men’s language is superior.

Question 3

Diversity

Answer 3

Language is not only about gender, there are other factors to be considered.

Question 4

Difference

Answer 4

Men and women’s language is different, one is not better than the other.

Question 5

LEXICAL ASYMMETRY

Answer 5

Terms that denote men often have female equivalents with negative connotations (e.g., wizard vs witch, master vs mistress)

Question 6

Marked terms

Answer 6

A word that stands out as non-typical (male nurse)

Question 7

GENERIC TERMS

Answer 7

Using gendered nouns when referring to both genders (mankind, history etc.)

Question 8

Order of precedence

Answer 8

The male word comes before the woman’s (boys and girls, man and wife)

Question 9

Pejoration

Answer 9

When words acquire negative connotations over time (the word ‘silly’ meant ‘happy’ or ‘fortunate’ but now means foolish)

Question 10

Semantic rule

Answer 10

Words associated with women tend to undergo pejoration (witch, mistress, hussy (used to mean housewife))

Question 11

SEMANTIC OVER-REPRESENTATION

Answer 11

There are many more words to describe sexually active females than males (whore)

Question 12

LEXICAL GAPS

Answer 12

When there are no equivalents for certain terms (bloke)

Question 13

DEFAULT ASSUMPTIONS

Answer 13

Stereotypical prejudices (assuming a doctor is a male)

Question 14

OBJECTIFICATION

Answer 14

Words that compare people to objects (sweetie), people say that these words are used to belittle/infantilise women

Question 15

ZOOMORPHISM

Answer 15

Words that compare people to animals (sex kitten, bitch)

Question 16

VOCAL FRY

Answer 16

Glottalization (Kim K accent)

Question 17

UP-TALK

Answer 17

Up at the end of the sentence, even when you’re not asking a question