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Juliza Brands
Comm 1050-004
October 5, 2012
L. Jay Williams
“Tech Check” Paper
Deborah Tannen’s Genderlect Styles Theory is focused not on what people say
but the way it is said, also known as conversational style. She describes adult men and
women as speaking “different words from different worlds,” and even when they use the
same terms, they are “tuned to different frequencies” (Griffin, 429). According to
Tannen, the term genderlect is a view of masculine and feminine communication
observed as two distinct cultural dialects. Men want to gain status while women want to
feel a connection through their communication.
This theory is one that I really enjoyed exploring because it is something
that pertains to everyone, male, female, old or young. This theory can assist us in
educating all of us in the reasoning behind this cross-cultural language between
genders. Furthermore, it will help each of us understand this theory more significantly
and enhance our knowledge on Tannen’s Genderlect Styles Theory.
In this paper I will provide various updated information on gender linguistics and
communication based on Tannen’s theory. I have used modern technology, books, and
searched the internet in attempt in locating the most up to date data since the
publishing of our text by Em Griffin in 2008. I was able to come across professional
journals, books, and popular press containing newer information pertaining to
Genderlect Styles theory by using several different key words in the text book.
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Professional Journals
Deepika Nelson and Julia Devardhi wrote “Gender Perspectives in Language” in
Star Journal. Their writing centers on the distinctive styles in which men and women
employ communication and how the structure of language indicates and/or advertises
gender division within a society. It analyzes the correlation of gender perceptions in
dialect with special emphasis on “Sociolinguistic Patterns of Class, Style, and Gender
and the Approaches of Social constructionist” (Nelson, and Devardhi). Some of the
sources included Deborah Tannen and Deborah Cameron, two well recognized persons
and authors of several books containing to this philosophy. After comprehending the
abstract and introduction to this article, I perceived that it encompassed accountability,
verifiability and thoroughness.
Books
In my search to find the most current books that applied to this theory, I came
across “Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender & Culture” 1oth edition by Julia T.
Wood. The author of this text book is a leading gender communication scholar. This
text contains the most up-to-date research, balanced perspectives of masculinity and
femininity, a personal introduction to the field, and a conversational first-person writing
style, this engaging text encourages you to think critically about gender and our society
(Wood 383). Although she mostly discusses inequalities between men and women, she
does discuss the important role that communication has with our society. This book had
great reviews from students everywhere who had used the text for a college course.
Looking through the table of contents she also included valuable information regarding
communication to assist in making a change and even be empowering in many ways.
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She does use this to help her improve future editions of this text book. There is
accountability, verifiability and thoroughness in these writings.
Popular Press
I struggled in trying to locate a magazine that had anything to do with this theory
specifically. Audrey Nelson is an international corporate communication consultant,
trainer, author, and keynote speaker (Nelson). She is also a gender communication
expert who resolves the mystery of how men and women interconnect. In Psychology
Today in her blog called He speaks She speaks, she writes about whether men are better
negotiators than women in her editorial titled, “Can Men Play the Negotiation Game
Better than Women?” (Nelson). She describes how women in the workplace are nervous
in asking for a raise or extra vacation time. In fact, they would much rather not
negotiate. Men, on the other hand are more aggressive, competitive in behavior and they
are looking to win. They are not afraid to ask for things. In several studies they found
that “women frequently use a collaborative style and men use a competitive style”
(Nelson). I am unsure as to whether this is an accurate source or if it is verifiable. It does
show thoroughness throughout the article.
Conclusion
In this paper I was able to use several research options to find current
information on Deborah Tannen’s Genderlect Styles Theory and how studies have gone
further into researching the countless ways of gender communication in order to better
understand one another. Much of the articles I found included more than just
communication, they also involved gender roles and culture in order to try and put
things together to gain more knowledge on this theory.
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Work Cited
Griffin, Em. Communication A First Look at Communication Theory. 7th ed. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 486. Print.
Nelson, Audrey. "Can Men Play the Negotiation Game Better than Women?."
Psychology Today, He Speaks She Speaks. 19 June 2011: n. page. Web. 5 Oct.
2012. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/he-speaks-shespeaks/201106/can-men-play-the-negotiation-game-better-women>.
Nelson, Deepika, and Julia Devardhi. "General Perspectives in Language." Star
Journal. N.p., 02082012. Web. 5 Oct 2012.
<http://www.starjournal.org/uploads/starjournal/61-65.pdf>.
Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender & Culture. 10th ed. Boston,
Massachusettes: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 383. eBook.