Gender

• define androcentrism


  when something is male-centred
• Who is Dale Spender? 


  A linguist who wrote a book called 'Man Made Language'. Her book made some strong claims about the way that language is organised. She argued that our social world is described using language which is biased against women. She said that language is man-made because men have been in power and been able to speak out so language is more male dominated
• What is lexical overrepresentation?


  Linguist Julia Stanley suggested there were 220 terms for promiscious female and only 20 for a male. Most of the female terms are derogatory (sexually insulting). On the male side the terms are often seen as less insulting and many of them are effeminate (feminising the male)
• What is meant by marked and unmarked terms?


  Marked-specify a non-dominant group, it is used to describe the female or feminine version of something for e.g: manageress, (the -ess is known as a female suffix) woman doctor etc

  Unmarked- The default neutral terms that are used to refer to the dominant weapons society typically for males, for e.g; ‘doctor, pilot’ etc
• What is meant by lexical asymmetry?


  What pairs of words, which should have the similar meaning for both genders actually have unequal connotations as the female form has gained negative or sexual connotations. For e.g; bachelor/spinster, master/mistress
• What is meant by order of precedence?


  Placing the male word first in a phrase suggests male dominance. for e.g; ‘Mr and Mrs, Brothers and Sisters, His and Hers.’ Etc
• What is terms of address/honorifics?


  Titles or words used to address someone respectfully. They can reflect gender, social status or the factors. Women have different titles whether they are married or not, but men don’t for example: Mrs or Miss, and only Mr
• What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?


  Language we learn, determines the way we view the world and our language affects our thinking. Language provides a framework for our thoughts - it is difficult to think of something we don’t have a word for.

  Linguistic determinism- linguist determines our thoughts and perceptions.

  Linguistic relativity- language influences our thoughts, but it doesn’t completely determine them
• What 4 models do our theorists fit into within genderlect?

  The deficit model

  The dominance model

  The difference model

  The diversity model
• What is the deficit model?


  Robin Lakoff is an American linguist who published her book ‘Language and a Woman’s Place’ in 1975. She suggests that women’s language are in heavenly weaker and more limited than men’s language, reflecting and reinforcing the lower social status. She believes women use hedging, tag questions, avoid expletives, apologise more and use super polite forms.
• What is the major criticism of the deficit model by Lakoff?


  Linguists (O’barr and Atkins) study language in courtroom cases and witnesses speech. That findings challenge Lakoff’s view of women’s language. They said the reason women use these language features is due to power and status not gender. They argue that men and women use this where they felt less powerful or certain
• what is the dominance model?


  Zimmerman and West used a small sample of conversations recorded in a coffee shop at the University of California. They found that in 11 conversations between men and women, men used 46 interruptions, but women only two.

  The criticisms of this research was that there was a small sample size (only 11 conversations) therefore it was not representative and cannot be generalised

  Also, you might simply have one very chatty man in the study therefore interruptions don’t necessarily reflect dominance, some interruptions reflect interest and involvement
• In the dominance model, what research did Pamela Fishman carry out?


  In 1978. She looked into the ways in which men and women interacted. She analysed conversation of three white, American middle-class, heterosexual, couples and categorise the variation between them, focusing on four main features of the interaction;

  Women work hardest to enable conversation

  That conversation fails between sexes because men don’t respond or respond dryly
• What are the criticisms of Fishman’s study?

  Her focus on heterosexual couples may not fully cancel for the complexities of communication in diverse relationships.

  It emphasises the role of gender communication without considering context, cultural and other personality traits
• In the dominance model, what were Fishman’s findings?


  Women asked 3x more questions than men, men gave delayed or minimal responses, women used attention getters to gain their husbands attention, and topics initiated by the women were not always taken up in the conversation, but those of the men were always successful and supported by the women
• what was the Difference model?


  Based on linguist Deborah Tanner who published a book called ‘You Just Don‘t Understand’ in 1990. She emphasises the separate unique linguistic characteristics for men and women reinforced since childhood. She argues that men and women often speak for different purposes.
• (Difference Model) men ’Status’ vs women ‘Support’


  men grow up in the world in which conversation is competitive - they seek to achieve the upper hand, or to prevent others from dominating them. Women, however, find talking is often a way to gain confirmation and support for the ideas. Men see the world as a place where people try to gain status and keep it whereas women see the world as a network of connections, seeking support and consensus.
• (Difference Model) men ‘Advice’ vs women ‘Understanding’


  Tannen claims that many men find a solution to a complaint. She said in her book that when the mother tells the father, she doesn’t feel well. He offers to take her to the doctor. However, the mother is disappointed with his reaction because the husband is focused on what he can do whereas she wants sympathy.
• (Difference Model) men ‘independence’ vs women ‘intimacy’


  Women often think in terms of closeness and support and struggle to preserve intimacy however, men is concerned with independence and status. Professor Tannen give the example of a woman who would check with a husband befor inviting a guest to stay because she likes telling her friends that she has to check with him. However, the man invites a friend without asking for his wife first, because if he told his friend, he must check it leads to him having the loss of status.
• (Difference Model) men ‘Report’ vs women ‘rapport’


  A young man makes a brief phone call his mother, overhears it, and says that it is a series of grunts later when she asks him about it it emerged that he has arranged a whole day to go to a specific place with his friends. A young woman makes a phone call it lasts half an hour or more, and when the mother askEd about it. It emerges that the woman has been talking about stuff and that conversation has been mostly comments on feelings.
• (Difference Model) men ‘Order’ vs women ‘Proposals’


  Women often suggest that people do things in indirect ways ”let’s..why don’t we…wouldn’t it be good if we?…” . Whereas men may use and prefer to hit a direct imperative “Let’s go to…’
• (diversity model) what is the gender similiarities hypothesis?


  It was Shibley-Hyde's study. Hyde conducted a series of meta-analyses (previous research) that documented how similiar males and females are on most psychological variables which contrasted with how different they are often percieved to be.

  She claims any difference between the genders are not different linguistically.

  Claimed that men and women are NOT different linguistically
• (diversity model) Why is Shibley-Hyde's research good?


  It is based on 46 meta-analyses. This is a statistical technique for combining the findings from multiple studies so therefore her findings are more trustworthy than most of our other theorists
• (diversity model) What did Deborah Cameron say in the diversity model ? 


  That deficit, dominance and difference theories focused on a stereotype of gender and those that studied were usually 'white, straight, middle class and monolingual'. She says that there's no such thing as a generic man or woman, that masculinities and feminities come in 'multiple varieties' and are interlinked with other parts of a persons identity, (age, ethnicity, class, occupation).
• (diversity model) In Deborah Cameron's essay 'Sex and the power of speech', why does she argue that 'common sense' claims about men and women speaking differently are too simple?

  Speech varies so much depending on where you look, for example; where you live and your culture.
• (diversity model) In Deborah Cameron's essay 'Sex and the power of speech', how does she criticise the claim that women talk more than men?


  Differences in speech is not based on gender but rather status and power
• (diversity model) In Deborah Cameron's essay 'Sex and the power of speech', alongside femininity and masculinity what are other social attributes which make up a person?


  Age, ethnicity, social class and nationality
• (diversity model) In Deborah Cameron's essay 'Sex and the power of speech', summarise 3 main reasons why she says gender influences language:


  • Affects what people habitually do (gender affects your habits)
  • Gender is limited to power and status (plays a part in dynamics of verbal interactions)
  • Gender is in an element of personal identity. (people use gender as something that defines them as a person)
• What research did McCulloch do that goes against previous models?

  He challenges traditional gender-based communication models by suggesting that the differences in how men and women speak are not as clear-cut or universal as previously thought, he found McCulloch found that these gendered communication differences are influenced more by context, power dynamics, and social roles rather than being inherently linked to gender.
• What are the criticisms of Lakoff's deficit model?

  • Overgeneralization- ideas about women’s language seen as too simple and don’t apply to all women. Different women speak differently depending on the situation or their background.
  • Reinforcing stereotypes- suggests that women’s language is weaker or less confident, which can strengthen harmful stereotypes about women being passive or inferior to men.
  • Ignoring power dynamics- didn’t focus enough on how power or the situation affects how people speak, not just gender
• *Language and Sexuality* What is meant by heteronormativity?

  sums up the idea that its natural or normal to be heterosexual. Has led to negative stereotypes and homophobic discourse.
• *Language and Sexuality* What is queer theory?

  In this theory the word 'queer' isn't necessarily a synonym for 'gay' but rather a position that looks at any kind of identitity or behaviour that would fall outside of the 'typical mainstream'. It's a set of ideas based around the idea that identities aren't fixed and do not determine who we are. Therefore suggests it's meaningless to talk in general about women or any other group as identities consist of so many elements that to assume that people can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic is wrong
• *Language and Sexuality* What did Robert Padosva discover in 2007?

  Studied into the use of falsettos (gay men speaking in a higher pitch). He recorded 1 openly gay male in 3 different contexts,

  • a BBQ with friends
  • Talk with his father
  • Meeting at work
• *Language and Sexuality* What was Robert Padosva's findings?

  Falsetto use was not only more frequent at the BBQ, it was longer in duration, higher in pitch and involved a wider range. There were 35 falsetto utterances here, and 10 with his friends.

  • Conclusion: Falsetto is used to construct social meaning and to be more expressive of his emotions and of his gay identitity and a more 'diva' personna.
• *Language and Sexuality* What did Paul Baker research about Polari?

  Found that it was a variety of language which differed from standard english in terms of incentive lexicon. It was predominantly developed and used by gay men and centred around London.
• *Language and Sexuality* What is an anti language?

  a type of language used by a particular social group to resist or oppose the dominant culture or mainstream society. It often develops in subcultures, such as gangs, outlaws, or marginalized communities, and its purpose is to create a sense of identity, secrecy, or rebellion.
• *Language and Sexuality* What is Polari?

  a form of slang or secret language that was used primarily by the LGBTQ+ community in Britain, particularly among gay men - often used as a way to communicate discreetly and safely in a time when homosexuality was criminalized and not widely accepted. It allowed individuals to identify each other and converse without being understood by outsiders
• *Language and Sexuality* Give some examples of Polari:

  e/g

  • "Vada" – To see (e.g., "Vada that!" – "Look at that!").
  • "Naff" – Unfashionable or bad (e.g., "That’s so naff!" – "That’s so uncool!").
  • "Drag" – Clothing, particularly women's clothes (e.g., "She’s in full drag today!" – "She’s dressed up in women’s clothes today!").
• (Diversity Model) What did Judith Butler do?

  Gender Performativity