Gender

• Sex according to the World Health Organisation

  According to the World Health Organisation 'sex refers to biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women'
• Gender according to the World Health Organisation


  According to the World Health Organisation 'gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls, boys that are socially constructed'
• Toy Shop Sexism by Kirsten Taylor (modern adverts and stereotypes)

  Even modern adverts that try to appear more progressive revert back to some gender stereotypes for example in the 2014 Monster High Doll ad they introduce 'rules' of 'freaky fab friends' and 'lend a hand' whereas a 2014 ad targeted young boys encourages boys to 'test your limits' 'speed down the track' 'fly high' 'be the first to land the ultimate jump' 'suffer the plunge into the pit' 'dare to dual'
• Toy Shop Sexism- Kirsten Taylor (advertising and gender norms)

  Kirsten Taylor concluded in her article that advertising towards children continues to present gender in a way that pushes gender norms, even seemingly progressive female representation often hints at old-fashioned themes. Potentially limiting the way children are socialised about different identities even in modern society.
• Socialisation


  The process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society
• The three D's of the gender debate

  Deficit, Dominance, Difference
• Otto Jespersen

  In 1922 Otto Jespersen published 'Language; It's Nature, development and Origin'. It contained a chapter called 'the woman' with no corresponding chapter for men and said women's language could be described as 'lively chatter' as their roles consisted of 'the care of children, cooking, brewing, baking, sewing, washing etc. things that for the most part demanded no deep thought'

  • This is obviously out dated particularly now women have more opportunities
• Robin Lakoff 'Language, a woman's place'

  In 1975 Robin Lakoff published an influential account of women's language. She identified 10 features of Women's language.
• Robin Lakoffs 10 features of women's language

  lexical hedges e.g. perhaps, maybe, sometimes

  tag questions e.g. haven't you?

  rising intonation on declarative

  empty adjectives e.g. divine, cute

  precise colour terms e.g. baby pink

  intensifiers e.g. rather, extremely

  hyper correct grammar

  super polite forms e.g. if you don't mind

  avoidance of strong swears

  emphatic stresshypercorrect
• Dominance Model

  The dominance model occurred against the back drop of 2nd wave feminism, and sees men as positioned above women due to their social and political power
• Zimmerman and West's study

  In 1975 Zimmerman and West theorised in mix-sex conversations men were more likely to inturrupt than women. All subjects were middle class, white, under 25. They used 31 conversation segments and found in 11 conversations men used 46 inturruptions whereas women used 2. They concluded since men inturrupted more than women they are dominating or attempting to dominate more in conversation.
• Limitations of Zimmerman and West's study

  Zimmerman and West's study lacked generalisability as all participants were middle classed, white, and under 25. Further only 31 segments of conversations were used which really is not a lot.
• Pamela Fishman

  In 1978 Pamela Fishman published a book 'interaction: the work women do'. She stated the work women do in conversation (use of questions to start and continue conversations) can be called interactional shit work, they have to work harder in conversation due to the way men respond rather than something inherit in the way women talk.
• Dale Spender, Language and Male Power

  Dale Spender argues language sustains male power e.g. In Zimmerman and West's study, they use more interruptions and it is seen as the norm- suggesting it is a male trait and consequently in a patriarchal society, suggests power and reinforced this idea
• Difference Model


  The difference model states men and women have innate differences in style and function of speech and writing.
• Male as the norm

  Deborah Tannen proposed the idea male is seen as the norm 'human' 'mankind' 'men', used as general terms.
• Genderlect

  Deborah Tannen coined the term 'Genderlect' to express how men and women's language is not right or wrong, superior of inferior, just different. "denying real differences can only compound the confusion that is already wide spread in this era of shifting and re-forming relationships between men and women"
• Deborah Tannen's six comparisons Male vs Female

  status vs support

  independency vs intimacy

  advice vs understanding

  information vs feelings

  orders vs proposals

  conflict vs compromises
• Susan Githens

  Susan Githens said " a woman invading the men's realm of language is often considered unfeminine, rude or bitchy"

  (relates to Deborah Tannen's 6 comparisons)
• Diversity Model


  The diversity Model proposes language is influenced by our roles in society
• Social groups studies that relate to gender

  Jenny Cheshire- made a distinction between boys & girls, found they conformed to the group, but conforming boys conformed the most

  Milroy- distinguished between men & women, their social networks and how gender expectations impacted language

  Labov- studied young men who sought to identify as Vineyarders

  Trudgill- compared standard vs non-standard pronunciations in men and women
• Debrah Jones Study

  In 1990 study of women's oral culture which she calls gossip

  House talk- the exchange of information and recourses connected with the female role as an occupation

  Scandal- judging of behaviour of other, particularly women usually made in domestic morality, of which women have been appointed guardians

  Bitching- overt expression of women anger at their restricted role and interior status. They express this in private only to other women, not expecting change but aim to make their complaints where they will be understood and expected
• Jennifer Coats

  Jennifer Coats in 1995 looked at all-female conversation, investigating in detail some of Lakoff's ideas that Tannen carried further, and found 'lexical terms such as perhaps, I think, sort of, probably as well as certain prosodic and paralinguistic features are used to express epistemic modality, women use them to mitigate the force of utterance to respect face needs'. Using pitch, voice and body language to respect face needs by being gentler and more kind.
• Deborah Cameron

  Deborah Cameron (1995) said wherever and whenever the matter has been investigated, men and women face expectations about the appropriate mode of speech for their gender. Women's verbal conduct is important in many cultures; women have been instructed in the proper ways of talking just as they have been instructed in the proper ways of dressing and in the use of cosmetics and in other "feminine" kinds of behaviour
• Social Constructivism


  Social constructivism is an approach taken in the 1990s which places importance on social interaction as constructing identity and people coming together to form a shared construction of the world. It sees gender as an active, negotiated and sometimes self-positioned construct. This moves from a fixed identity view to an interpreted identity view.
• Judith Butler

  in 1990 Judith Bulter proposed that gender is a performance in her book 'gender trouble'. She argues that we are constantly engaged in constructing our gender. She argues that gender is something we do rather than what we are. The way we present ourselves and repeat these presentations constructs our gender rather than reflects it. This idea stems from speech act theory where we perform certain 'linguistic acts'
• Variational sociolinguistics

  the study of interaction between social factors and linguistic features
• Dale Spender Male-firstness


  Dale Spender pointed out how language is very man-centric- reflecting men's historical dominance over all areas of public and private life
• Marked terms

  Marked terms are those identified as different from the norm, symbolically seen as less-powerful than unmarked terms

  Terms may be marked by

  Adding Suffices e.g. -ess -otte -ina

  Asymmetry (meanings are not equal) e.g. master and mistress

  Associating job roles with a gender and modifying nouns e.g. male nurse

  Compounding e.g. man bag, man bun, man cave, man flu
• Jane Sunderland's 4 function of discourse

  Resistant- a discourse that challenges accepted views

  Subversive- a discourse that undermines accepted views

  Conservative- a discourse that shows a more traditional and unchallenging attitude

  Progressive- a forward-thinking discourse
• Theo Van Leeuwen (1996) Social Actor Theory- representation


  4 ways writers represent social actors:

  Functionalisation- roles and occupations

  Classification- aspects of identity e.g. class, age, gender

  Relational identification- in relation to others eg. family

  Physical identification- aspects of appearance e.g. blonde
• Theo van Leeuwen social actor network theory- Verbs

  Activation- when a social actor is represented as the subject of the sentence, the forceful element in the activity

  Passivation- when a social actor is represented as the receiver of an event of action

  • These can indicate who is in control in a extract
• Nomination (Theo Van Leeuwen)

  Nomination is the naming of a social actor and one of the main aspects of representation.
• Polari

  Polari is a form of slang used by gay people, popularised in the 1950s and 1960s when it was used for a BBC radio series called Round the Horne. It is derived from many sources such as rhyming slang, circus back slang, Romany, Latin and criminal cent. It is now however a dying language as there is less need for a hidden language, people are more openly identify as homosexual and speak freely, therefore it is being passed on less.

  Examples include- bevvy, dolly, palone (woman)
• Vocal fry

  Vocal fry is the lower register (tone) of voice characterised bu its deep, creaky, breathy sound. It can be the result of a person's natural vocal tone, a medical issue or a learned social habit, seen particularly amongst millennial Women. It is seen used by the Kardashians, Katey Perry etc. May imply boredom and lack of ambition.
• Uptalk


  Uptalk is speaking using a rising intonation at the end of a declarative, making it sound like a question. This is often used to soften communication and to come across as polite. It is more commonly used by women and is subconscious, not deliberate.