Gender Theories







Robin Lakoff (1973) -




 Robin Lakoff notes for essay


 Women do use paraphrases like “kind of” and “sort of” much more often than men do, this is called “hedging” which is a term that was primarily used by Lakoff’s ex-husband George Lakoff

  • Women tend to use ‘empty’ adjectives or adjectives that are more common for women’s speech, like “divine”, “adorable”, “gorgeous”, “terrific”


  • Women’s speech is often super polite and contains a lot of politeness-phrases like “… if it is not too much to ask”, “Would you mind …? or “Is it ok …?” that state wariness


  • Coincidentally women tend to apologize more than men by saying things like “I’m sorry, but I think that …” when men would just come up with their opinion


  • Women do not speak very frequently and they barely use any coarse or explicit language


  • Besides the hyper-correct (prestige) grammar and pronunciation, women turn declarative statements or imperatives into questions (“This is the right button, isn’t it?”); Lakoff came up with a new term for this: tag questions


  • Women tend to state indirect requests so that they must not say directly what they want: “Hm, I think I’m hungry” for “I want something to eat”


  • And last but not least women ‘speak in italics’ by using small words like “very”, “quite”, “like” or “so” to fill gaps and to emphasize other words






    • Theory-women lack power and status

    1) Hedges: Phrases like 'sort of' 'kind of' 'it seems like'

    2) Empty adjectives 'divine' 'adorable' 'gorgeous'

    3) Super polite forms : 'would you mind' 'is it ok if?'

    4) Apologise more :' I'm sorry but I think that.'

    5) Speak less frequently ( are quieter)

    6) Avoid coarse language or expletives

    7) Tag questions ' you don't mind eating this do you?'

    8) Hyper- correct grammar and pronunciation: use of prestige grammar and clear articulation.

    9) Indirect questions 'I'm so hungry'- really asking for food

    10) Speak in italics: Use of tone to emphasise certain words e.g. 'so' 'very' 'quite'

      Robin Lakoff

    Robin Lakoff's,1975 Language and Woman's Place identifies ‘women's' language forms:
    1. more intensifiers: especially so and very (for instance, “I am so glad you came!”)
    2.     tag questions :“You're going to dinner, aren't you?”
    3. modal constructions: (can, would, should, ought - “Should we turn up the heat?”)
    4.     hedges: using phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”.
    5. more apologies: (for instance, “I'm sorry, but I think that...”)
    super polite forms: “Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”
    6. Listen to the audio again. Can you identify any of these characteristics?







    Language and Theory

    Deborah Tannen and The difference - http://www.deborahtannen.com/

    1) Status vs. Support-  Men grow up in a world in which conversation is competitive - they seek to achieve the upper hand or to prevent others from dominating them. For women, however, talking is often a way to gain confirmation and support for their ideas or to provide this for others. Women's speech has often been referred to as cooperative.

    2) Independence vs. Intimacy-





    Women often think in terms of closeness and support, and struggle to preserve intimacy. Men, concerned with status, tend to focus more on independence.


    3) Advice vs. understanding-





    Deborah Tannen claims that to many men a complaint is a challenge to find a solution where for a woman it is a request for understanding or sympathy.


    4) Information vs. Feeling-





    A young man makes a brief phone call. His mother overhears it as a series of grunts, but he has exchanged information quickly. A young woman makes a phone call - it lasts half an hour or more but has been mostly grooming-talk and comment on feelings.



    5) Orders vs. Proposals-





    Women often suggest that people do things in indirect ways - “let's”, “why don't we?” or “wouldn't it be good, if we...?” Men may use, and prefer to hear, a direct imperative.



    6) Conflict vs. Compromise- Occupational Lexis

    Deborah Tannen says, "Denying real differences can only compound the confusion that is already widespread in this eror of shifting and re-forming relationships between women and men"



























    Language constructs ideas about gender, represents them to us and often helps establish them as 'common sense'. When people write about gender, they often articulate many of the existing discourses - that gender interaction is like a battle of the sexes, a form of combat, or that debates about gendered pronouns are about a form of repression or policing of natural language.https://xtlearn.net/CCache/2/epic_FK2_Language%20and%20ideology,%20Mens%20and%20womens%20language%20use/images/transparent.gif
















    https://xtlearn.net/CCache/2/epic_FK2_Language%20and%20ideology,%20Mens%20and%20womens%20language%20use/images/transparent.gif

















    Blurred Lines Documentary
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOce0pijzE0

     Robin Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place (1973) - https://robinlakoff.com/
    Theory-women lack power and status


    1) Hedges: Phrases like 'sort of' 'kind of' 'it seems like'
    2) Empty adjectives 'divine' 'adorable' 'gorgeous'
    3) Super polite forms : 'would you mind' 'is it ok if?'
    4) Apologise more :' I'm sorry but I think that.'
    5) Speak less frequently ( are quieter)
    6) Avoid coarse language or expletives
    7) Tag questions ' you don't mind eating this do you?'
    8) Hyper- correct grammar and pronunciation: use of prestige grammar and clear articulation.
    9) Indirect questions 'I'm so hungry'- really asking for food
    10) Speak in italics: Use of tone to emphasise certain words e.g. 'so' 'very' 'quite'




    Language and Theory
    Deborah Tannen and The difference - http://www.deborahtannen.com/


    1) Status vs. Support-  Men grow up in a world in which conversation is competitive - they seek to achieve the upper hand or to prevent others from dominating them. For women, however, talking is often a way to gain confirmation and support for their ideas or to provide this for others. Women's speech has often been referred to as cooperative.
    2) Independence vs. Intimacy-









    Women often think in terms of closeness and support, and struggle to preserve intimacy. Men, concerned with status, tend to focus more on independence.
    3) Advice vs. understanding-








    Deborah Tannen claims that to many men a complaint is a challenge to find a solution where for a woman it is a request for understanding or sympathy.
    4) Information vs. Feeling-








    A young man makes a brief phone call. His mother overhears it as a series of grunts, but he has exchanged information quickly. A young woman makes a phone call - it lasts half an hour or more but has been mostly grooming-talk and comment on feelings.
    5) Orders vs. Proposals-







    Women often suggest that people do things in indirect ways - “let's”, “why don't we?” or “wouldn't it be good, if we...?” Men may use, and prefer to hear, a direct imperative.

    6) Conflict vs. Compromise- Occupational Lexis




    Deborah Tannen says, "Denying real differences can only compound the confusion that is already widespread in this eror of shifting and re-forming relationships between women and men"

    Dale Spender - http://dalespender.com.au/Topics/whats-wrong-with-women/page/2/
    Dale Spenders website consists of a manuscript called 'What's wrong with women?'
    These points are included as subtitles in the Manuscript, which are transcript blogs.


    1) The meaning of words
    2) How to make meanings
    3) More good words for men
    4) The master and the mistress
    5)Slut talk
    6) What's in a name?
    7) women's status: Miss Mrs and MS
    8) No names of our own
    9) That's a good idea Ms Jones WE WILL WAIT UNTIL A MAN THINKS OF IT
    10) Women's talk




    "I am a feminist campaigning to remove inequalities in the language that discredit women."

     Video links
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbmbMSrsZVQ
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR3nPbWnOyw&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIhJ9_XEHqI&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5jLmXA_VpY&feature=relmfu
    This is an article link, which I found that talks about Language, Gender and Equality-
     http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/sticksandstones2.shtml
    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=language+and+gender+documentary
    All of these documentaries are useful to look at as it can allow you to have a different perspective on language and gender.

     
    Notes for writing a language and gender essay.
    http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-77022-CEX.PDF
    Go over old exam questions on Lang and Gender

    Notes on how to write an English Language gender essay.

    DOMINANCE
    DEFICT
    DIFFERENCE


    -references to case studies


    Lakoff makes sweeping generalizations.
    This means that lexically and semantically a gap has been closed as there is much more common ground between men and women now in the topics they discuss compared to, for example, the 1960’s. -include how things have changed.

    Zimmerman and West found that 96% of interruptions were by men
    -use data


    -recent work about gender-
    JANET HYDE-
    mention class, social standing
    -read questions carefully
    HYDE CRITIQUES LAKOFF


    Deborah Tannen- start paragraph






























    https://xtlearn.net/CCache/2/epic_FK2_Language%20and%20ideology,%20Mens%20and%20womens%20language%20use/images/transparent.gif








    https://xtlearn.net/CCache/2/epic_FK2_Language%20and%20ideology,%20Mens%20and%20womens%20language%20use/images/transparent.gif














     






























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