Week 6 - Gender

Question 1

Two historic views on women’s language

Names
Dates
Views

Answer 1

Cicero 55bc
- Women preserve language because they don’t have conversational experience

Jespersen 1922

• Women have smaller vocab
• Speak with little prior thought
• Use simpler sentences that men

Question 2

Features of female speech

Name
Date

Answer 2

• Deficit model (Lakoff 1973)
• Tags and hedges
• Fewer interruptions
• Talk more than men
• Colour terms
• Weak expletives g. fudge

Question 3

Dominance theory

Name
Date

Answer 3

Zimmerman and West 1975

• Delayed minimal responses by men
• Women silenced by male overlap, delayed minimal response or interruption by male
• Men deny women equal status as conversational partners

Question 4

Criticisms of WL

Answer 4

• No evidence from systematic study
• Form and function issues
• Biology doesn’t affect language
• Not all women use it
• Not just women

Question 5

Two studies that test the WL

Name
Date

Answer 5

Erman 1993

• Face to face convos
• Focus on discourse markers
• Use varies depending on function
• Men use 25% more DMs

Holmes 1992

• Hedging use
• Women use to facilitate more
• Men use for uncertainty

Question 6

Men Vs Women’s narrative

Names
Dates

Answer 6

Johnstone 1990

• Men’s focus on personal exploits and success
• Women underplay protagonist’s roles

Cheshire 2000

• Boys tell the most important aspects
• Girls tell the whole story

Homes 1997

• Women focus on relationships and people
• Men focus on events

Question 7

What were some statements based on language change variation data?

Name
Date

Answer 7

• Women use standard more often (Trudgill 1983)
• Women deviate less from prestige in modern society (Cameron and Coates 1988)
• Women are more sensitive to prestige than men (Labov 1972)
• Females show more sensitivity to socially evaluative linguistic forms (Wolfram 1969)

Question 8

What are some pieces of evidence for the statements about women and language?

Answer 8

• Wolfram multi negative Detroit 1969

- Trudgill -ing Nowich 1974

Question 9

Why do men and women use prestige features differently?

Name
Date

Answer 9

• Trudgill 1974 Norwich
• Women are more status conscious
• Women’s status is less secure
• Men are rated by occupation, women are rated by language
• WC speech connotes masculinity, not desirable feminine traits

Question 10

What are Labov’s 3 principles?

Answer 10

1. In stable sociolinguistic stratification men use more non-standard forms than women
2. In change from above, women favour the incoming prestige more than men
3. In change from below, women are the innovators

Question 11

Define overt prestige

Answer 11

• Attaches to the speech forms of the socio-economically dominant classes
• Status marker
• Standard English

Question 12

Define covert prestige

Answer 12

• Attaches to speech forms which are locally valued within small groups/communities
• Marks in-group solidarity

Question 13

What are the results of self-reporting prestige use?

Name
Date

Answer 13

Trudgill 1972

• road pronunciation
• Men under report and are least accurate
• Women over report more than men

Question 14

Evaluation of local forms

Answer 14

• Men evaluate local forms more highly
• Local group solidarity important
• Overrides attempt to gain status through language

Question 15

Effects of women being care givers

Answer 15

• Child rearing role leads to sensitivity of what is good/bad
• Women keen for children to attain social acceptance
• Language use is symbolic of status
• They correct children

Question 16

Positive views on women’s language

Name
Date

Answer 16

Chambers 1992

• Greater linguistic repertoire
• Greater linguistic flexibility
• Greater sociolinguistic competence

Question 17

Study of conservative and innovative behaviour

Name
Date
Findings

Answer 17

Nichols 1998

• Black women
• 3 groups: Islanders, educated elite mainland and less educated mainland
• Island women are innovators to push up in society
• Mainland women use archaic forms, less mobile