Gender and Language
The ideology of gender categories is typically
enacted in linguistic practices; indeed, it is
through language that the individual cultural
understandings of gender categories are learned
and the coordination of gender roles achieved
(Foley 2001: 289)
LANGUAGE AND GENDER
• Sex versus Gender
• Sexual differences: masculine and
feminine
• Gender categorization: Social construct
• Daily practices: social interaction
• Habitus
Habitus
• (Pierre Bourdieu) denoting the totality of
learned, bodily skills, habits, style, taste etc
• Gender habitus: Culture inscribed in the
body
Anthropology of Gender: Study
of the asymmetry of between the
sexes: universal
• Rosaldo, 1974
• Leacock 1978
• Moore 1988
Main Question
• Why is the asymmetry between the sexes
widespread?
Public realm and private realm
hypothesis
• Women (work practices): private, viewed inferior
• Men: Public, risky activities, economic and social
capital, politics
• Why does this lead to women typically viewed
inferior?
• Widespread: Hunter and gatherers, developing and
developed world
Socialization influences
• Perpetuation of asymmetrical patterns
between the sexes: family
• Learning gender categories and rules in
childhood: social roles
Is the Asymmetry of the Sexes
Universal?
• Errington and Gewertz (1987)
• Gender can be complementary: Separate
but equal
• Western versus Chambri (New Guinea)
Western: Separation of the private and
public: Exclusion
• Chambri: person define by his/her
relations: manipulation of kinship links
What is the connection between
Gender and Language?
• Gender as Ideology:
• Language as a tool for learning gender
categorization: Commonly highly valued
ways of speaking
• Example: Malagasy speech norms:
Indirectness in speech: male activities
• Kabary Speech
Gender Styles: English
• Alternatives: pronunciation, word
selection, grammatical construction.
• Language styles: reflection of gender
differences
• “You’re driving rather fast, aren’t you?
“Well, I guess it’s approximately four feet
high.”
Why?
•
•
•
•
Socialization
Cultural values
Gender roles and cultural values
Social norms: construct and reinforce
gender attitudes
Gender Roles Reflected in
Language Styles
• Pronunciation: tone, intonation, volume
• Grammatical forms
• Choices of vocabulary
Sociolinguists look at:
• Conversational interactions ( styles of
interactions)
• Tendencies in language use: Phonological
variations:
--Example: New England study, “-ing”; the
progressive suffix on verbs-
Fischer’s study(1958)
–prefer –ing
– Boys
– Girls
5
10
prefer –in
7
2
Intonation: rhythm, volume, pitch
• Different intonation
• Women: Wide range of pitches, rapid shift in
volume and velocity (more emotional)
• Men: Atonal (control, restrain)
• Cultural interpretation: cultural valued or
negatively evaluated behaviors
Grammatical Variants: Standard
versus non-standard grammar
• Cheshire (1982) in Reading, England
• Present tense –s with non-singular subjects:“We
goes shopping on Saturdays.”
• Has with first-and second-person subjects:“We
has a little fire keeps us warm.”
Tag Questions
• Tag questions are sentences in which the
speaker makes a declarative statement and
add on a tag in the form of a question about
the assertion
• Louise and Lucille didn’t leave together
last night, did they?
• Bill took Luke to the park last night,
didn’t he?
Why?
• --are reluctant to make direct assertions
• --thus avoiding coming into conflict with
the addressee
• --construed as polite
• --uncertainty lack of definite opinion
Choice of Vocabulary
• Different social and cultural domains:
--assumption of expertise
--profanity
Gender Bias in English
• Nouns, adjectives, and verbs
• English covertly and overtly degrades
females
• normative roles and secondary roles
• Creating a context for interaction of genders
---term opposite sex
---covert and overt inequality
The child caught the ball.
The ball was caught by the child.
Conversational Styles
• Assumptions about conversational
domination
• McConnell-Ginet (1988)
---Men: 12 min
--Women: 3.17
• Edelky (1981)
--25 to 400% longer
Summary
•
•
•
•
Differences: sex and gender
Biological given: contested
Culturally constructed category
Language reflects the way we internalize
the construction of gender categories
Discussion Questions
• In what ways are the relationship
between language and gender similar or
different to the relationship between
language and race?
How are intonational and
phonological variants an
indication of sex or gender
differences? Explain.