Language and gender

• How is language used to degrade women?

  Amanda Montell (2020)- if you want to insult a women, call her a prostitute. If you want to insult a man, call him a women. ❌ most of our negative terms for women carry out sexual connotations- either frigid virgins or grotesque, easy skanks.
• How is language degrading women?

  Julia Stanly (1970)- found 220 popular sexual slang terms for women, the metaphors underlying them being negative. Men - 22- positive connotations.
• Semantic pejoration: meaning of a word has become worse and more negative.
• What is the deficit model?

  Refers to the idea that the way women use language contributes to their weaker position in society. Women’s language is making women a lot weaker than men.
• Otto Jesperson (1922)- He believed men’s language was seen as “normal”. He wrote a book “language”. He believed if men were to speak in the way that women speak, language would become weaker and uninteresting. Otto said that women talk a lot, use simpler vocabulary and speak before they think. He believes women are emotional rather than grammatical and use too many adjectives.
• What model does Otto Jesperson support?

  The deficit model. Otto Jesperson believes that men and women speak differently and use language differently which makes women‘s language weaker.
• Robin Lakoff (1975)- She wrote a book called “ language and women’s place”. She identified the ways that women use language and the differences. She called it “ women’s language ”
• What were some of the features of Women’s Language?

  More hedging, polite forms, use empty adjectives, use modal verbs more, use more uptalk, lack a sense of humour and more tag questions.
• What model does Robin Lakoff support?

  She supports the deficit model and believes that men and women use language differently.
• O’barr and Atkins- They believe that women’s weaker language use is a large part of language powerlessness and that this can apply to both men and women. At the time, weaker language was associated with women as women had less power due to the patriarchal society. They believe that deficient language isn’t due to gender, but to lack of authority and power.
• Do O’barr and Atkins agree with the deficit model?

  They don‘t agree with the model as they believe that the difference in language isn’t due to gender, but to due to authority and powerlessness.
• Evaluation of deficit model: The model and the ideas that the model presents are outdated as we are no longer in a patriarchal society. Its and unfair idea that women are weak as women are now more present in the workplace.
• What is the dominance model?

  The idea that men like to be in charge of conversations and women prefer to be more submissive. Its states that men are more dominant in conversations and hold the most power.
• Zimmerman and West (1975)- They believed that men were more likely to interrupt in a mixed sex conversation. They transcribed 31 conversations in coffee shops and other shops. All participants were under 35 and white. There were 10 conversations recorded between women , 10 between men and 11 were mixed conversations.
• What did Zimmerman and West find?

  They found that men interrupted more in mixed sex conversations but rarely interrupt when talking to another male. They also found that most interruptions lead to silence of the other speaker. In mixed sex conversations, 96% of interruptions were by men and the other 4% were by women.
• Did Zimmerman and West support the dominace model?

  Yes. They believed that men were more dominant in mixed sex situations and women were more submissive- evidence from their study.
• Geoffrey Beattie (1982)- He criticised Zimmerman and West and their study. He questioned the reasons why people interrupt- not necessarily due to gender but maybe due to the personality of the person. He conducted a study of his own. He listened to 10 hours of conversation and found 557 interruptions. He found that men and women interrupted the same.
• Why might Geoffrey Beattie’s study be more reliable than Zimmerman and West?

  He listened to more conversations.
• What model does Geoffrey Beattie disagree with?

  The dominance model. He believes that interruptions and dominance may not be due to gender, but the personality of the person.
• Jenifer Coates (1993)- found that men dont interrupt other men as they tend to speak in monologues to each other. Men will often reject topic of conversation introduced by a woman but women will not reject a topic introduced by a man. Women are less likely to make a conversation succeed.
• Pamela Fishman- She conducted an experiment that involved listening to 52 hours of conversation between young American couples. She argued that mixed sex conversations often fail due to how men do/do not respond. She feels women must work harder to keep a conversation going- conversation shitwork. This links to the dominace model.
• What is the difference model?

  The difference model argues that men and women‘s language is different as they have different priorities in communication.
• Deborah Tannen: She acknowledged that men and women use language in different ways - due to them being socialised differently. She believes men and women want different things out of a conversation. She came up with the genderlect theory- male and female types of communication can be best understood as coming from two different culture dialects.
• What did Deborah Tannen believe?

  That men ‘report talk’ - talk for information and to show independence and status. Women ‘rapport talk’- talk to build relationships and intimacy.
• What are some examples of differences in the way men and women communicate according to Deborah Tannen?

  Status vs Support- men see conversation as a competition and a way to gain authority and build status. Women take conversation as a way to exchange confirmation and support.
• What are some examples of differences in the way men and women communicate according to Deborah Tannen?

  Independence vs Intimacy- men tend to focus on independence as they are more concerned about their status. Women like the idea of being intertwined with someone and like intimacy.
• What did Janet Holmes believe?

  She believed that women were more polite than men and show more consideration. Women use language to establish nurture and develop personal relationships. She argues against Robin Lakoff. She argues that hedging doesn’t mean powerlessness.
• What are the two types of tag questions that Janet Holmes found?

  • Modal Tags- request for information and affective tags- to engage someone in conversation.
• What is the diversity model?

  The diversity model suggests our biological sex does not necessarily make a difference to the language we use - instead our language is influenced by the roles we have in society and the way we interact socially with others.
• What is the meaning of sex?

  Biological characteristics
• What is meant by gender?

  Characteristics that are socially constructed
• How do O’barr and Atkins link to the diversity model?

  They also believe that language is due to powerlessness and not gender
• Deborah Cameron (2007)- She believes that difference is a ‘myth’. She researched the relationship between language and gender. She believes that men and women speak differently but believes that any noticeable difference in gender is due to the expectations placed on us in society.
• Judith Butler- They wrote a book ‘gender troubles’. Argues the idea that gender is performed and someone’s gender identity is a result of recurrent behaviours that emulate gender roles and norms. She believes that this who identify as a woman will perform feminine roles set by society.
• Judith Baxter- challenged the idea that men hold more power in conversations and that women lack power. She believed that women were as capable as men. She focused on the relationship between language and leadership. She applied the notion of power to women in the workplace, believing women are capable of taking empowered leadership roles.
• Why might the diversity model be more relevant?

  Its more up to date.
• What is uptalk?

  Uptalk is when someone’s pitch goes up at the end of a sentence making it sound more like a question. It is often criticised as it makes the speaker sound unsure.
• When was the first wave of feminism?

  1848-1920: Movement on getting women the right to vote and the right to education.
• When was the second wave of feminism?

  1960s- 70s: Challenged what women’s role in society was. Traditional family roles were questioned.
• When was the third wave of feminism?

  1990s: Women had more rights and power. Individuality was welcomed and race was more considered.