Robin Lakoff - Deficit model Flashcards
(20 cards)
Language and Woman’s place (1975)
her theory states that all children’s first language is ‘women’s language’ learnt from their mothers before they go to school. Boys then unlearn this language and begin speaking the language of power whilst girls continue using the weaker version.
- Women’s work words
related to a women’s specific interests i.e sewing and colour terms. (unimportant subjects)
- Adjectives of approval
women only adjectives include ‘adorable, charming, lovely’ which for a man, is damaging to his reputation.
- Weak expletives
instead of swear words, Lakoff states women are forbidden to display anger or to express opinions forcefully.
- Using the intensifier ‘so’ inconclusively
this is again supposed to be a way of avoiding strong statements or committing yourself to an opinion
- Extensive use of tag questions
to add uncertainty to a statement, so that the speaker doesn’t impose her point of view on anyone
- Use of hedges
I.e ‘sort of, kind of’ which also adds uncertainty
- Hypercorrect grammar
women are more likely to comply with grammatical rules
- rising intonation
weakness and uncertainty
Extras
high level of polite forms, implication, euphemisms and they cannot tell jokes
Lakoff explains:
to succeed in a male-dominated world, women must become bilingual
Evaluation weakness:
for women’s work words, those with an occupation of decorating will know more terms for colours
Evaluation weakness:
lacks temporal validity, old theory
Evaluation weakness: Dubois & Crouch (1975)
recorded speech at an academic conference and found that the men used tag questions far more than women
Evaluation strength: Fishman (1980)
recorded 52 hours of conversation between young American couples and found that the women used three times as many yes/no and tag questions as the men. BUT they were trying to keep the conversation going
Janet Holmes (1984)
61% of modal tags were used by men (seeking information) and 75% of facilitative tags were used by women (softening comments and finding solidarity)
Dale spender
suggests that intensifiers and qualifiers are taken as evidence as certainty and authority when men use them
O’barr & Atkins (1980) renamed ‘powerless language’
analysed 150 hours of trials and found that women’s language was not used by all women, men used it and the speakers status & experience determined their language use
Candace West
look at doctor-patient conversations and found that doctors interrupt their patients unless the doctor is a woman and the patient is a white man
Nicola Woods (1989)
recorded conversations between colleagues and found that even when the woman in the group had the highest status, it was the man who dominated the conversation
