Language and Gender 侯钰璐 2011.5.27 Two Concepts Sex Vs. Gender v Sex is what you’re born with. Gender is what you’re given. v Sex: one’s biological property, a matter of physiology v Gender: one’s social property, learned behavior The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use Major Models to Explain the Differences Linguistic Sexism Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication You are what you say. By Robin Lakoff The Importance of the Issue Language is a mirror of society, through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better. Sociolinguistics v Why is it important? Society provides language with a suitable context of use, in which we can enjoy aspects of language vividly and truthfully v Why is it critical not to overlook the social aspect of language? Social Parameters Class Age Religious Belief Education Language Gender Ethnic Identity Background Two millenniums ago: ancient Greek drama 1922: Otto Jespersen, Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin 1960s: feminist movement, the rise of gender studies . 1970s: Lakoff, Labove, Trudgill. Since then, gender and language has become a focus in the linguistic field. 1999: the 44th International Linguistic Association took “Gender and Language” as the central subject under discussion The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use Major Models to Explain the Differences Linguistic Sexism Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication Gender Differences in Language Use v Robin Lakoff, Language and Women’s Place, 1975 v Lexical differences v Syntactic differences v Other differences Gender Differences in Language Use Lexical Differences v 1. Color-words v E.g. The wall is mauve. v I prefer the lavender wallpaper. v beige, ecru, aquamarine… v 2. Swear-words v E.g. (a) Shit, you’ve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again. v (b) Oh dear, you’ve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again. shit, damn, hell, fuck.. oh dear, fudge, goodness, dear me… v Gender Differences in Language Use Lexical Differences v 3. Empty adjectives v E.g. (a) What a terrific idea! v (b) What a divine idea! v divine, adorable, gorgeous… v 4. Intensifiers v E.g. terrible, awful, so, very, quite Gender Differences in Language Use Syntactic Differences v 5. Tag-question v E.g. (a) Is John here? v (b) John is here, isn’t here? v v You don’t mind eating this, do you? v 6. Hedges v phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “I guess”, “it seems like”… v Gender Differences in Language Use Syntactic Differences v 7. Intonational patterns v E.g. --When will dinner be ready? v --Oh…around six o’clock? v v v v v v v v v v 8. Compound requests E.g. (a) Close the door. (b) Please close the door. (c) Will you close the door? (d) Will you please close the door? (e) Won’t you close the door? “Would you mind…” “If it’s not too much to as…” “Is it ok if…” “I’m sorry, but I think that…” Gender Differences in Language Use Other Differences v v v v 9. Topic Selection Men: Politics, economy, sports, religion… Women: children, food, health, family, fashion… Serious Vs Trivial? v v v v v 10. Amount of Speech “Women never stop talking”. “Three women and a goose make a market”. Is this true? Public Vs Private v Gender Differences in Language Use Other Differences v 11. Turn-taking v Women are more likely to obey the rules of turntaking, while men often take other speakers’ turn to gain control of the whole conversation. v 12. Overlap and Interruption v Zimmerman and West (1975) recorded 31 conversations in public (20 single-gender, 11 mixedgender), all of the overlaps and 46 of 48 interruptions were caused by male speakers. v The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use Major Models to Explain the Differences Linguistic Sexism Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication Major Models to Explain the Differences Deficit (Robin Lakoff) Dominance (D. Zimmerman, C. West, P. Fishman) Difference Deborah Tanne, M.H. Goodwin) Politeness (Janet Holmes) Constructionism (Deborah Cameron) The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use Major Models to Explain the Differences Linguistic Sexism Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication Linguistic Sexism v Language of Women v Language about Women v Def. of linguistic sexism: v A term used to refer to sexbiased phenomena in language use. Examples of Linguistic Sexism v 1. Masculine forms in English v Man is mortal. v The emergency room is manned (be operated by man) by… v (When writing a letter) Dear sir… v v v v salesman- sales assistant storeman- sto re assistant postman - letter carrier, mail carrier, postal fireman- fire fighter Examples of Linguistic Sexism v v v v v v 2. suffix: –ess, -ette, -rix, -enne, actress actor ambassadress ambassador suffragette suffragist usherette usher comedienne comedian v v v v v v 3. Implied derogatory words Master- Mistress Governor- Governess Bachelor-Spinster (a) He is a professional. (b)She is a professional. The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use Major Models to Explain the Differences Linguistic Sexism Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication v Identifying Differences in Language Use v Increasing Mutual Cognition v Trying to Be Flexible