Language and gender

​​In a nutshell

Stereotypes, though harmful, simplify the ways of the world and how people interact with each other. As such, transactional language evolves along with societal norms. In this summary, you will assess the question: Is a person's language different depending on whether they are male or female, or do we assume this because of how we treat individuals based on their gender?

Nature vs nurture

Recent research contests the idea that women are disproportionately talkative when compared to men, in spite of various long-held prejudices. For instance, theorist Deborah Cameron claims that this notion is based on concern over the disappearance of gender stereotypes. According to recent surveys, women barely speak 0.1% more than men. Regardless of a person's gender, it appears that their social and cultural background is what affects the ways, and extent to which they engage in conversation.

Gender and Standard English

The numerous speech patterns that men and women who participate in same-sex and mixed-sex discussions utilise have been thoroughly explored by sociolinguistics. Context is paramount because it affects the linguistic choices and speaking patterns that speakers make. Because Standard English is a social dialect for academic and professional success, the majority of people would surmise that its users are presumably from the middle and upper socioeconomic strata. Edina Eisikovits, a theorist, found that younger teens of both sexes regularly utilised non-standard formulations. Yet, older males used non-standard forms more frequently than older females did. It seemed that while older females accepted the prestige of conformity, older males seemed to make their decisions based on the concealed prestige of rebellion.

Assertion 

"Language and Woman's Place" by Robin Lakoff (1975) came to the conclusion that women, compared to men, generally adopted less commanding stances. He found women:

• Use more questions
  
• Use more filler words
• Use empty adjectives such as 'divine' and 'amazing'
  
• Use standard grammar 
• Use precise colours
• Are more polite 
• Avoid taboos
• Utilise emphatic stress on specific words such as 'it's a LOVELY day'
  

Lakoff argued that societal conditioning was to blame for women using more subservient language. Lakoff's research was conducted in the 1970s, a time of male dominance in the sociolinguistics field. As a result, many academics misread his findings and believed that they proved that the disparities between men and women's speech were caused by biological factors.

Dominance theory 

This is the simple notion that men are naturally more domineering than women. In reality, Don Zimmerman and Candace West's 1975 study revealed that 96% of the interruptions in mixed-sex conversations were initiated by men. As long as they are not contested and gender-neutral language is not used, proponents of dominance theory contend that language usage in patriarchal civilisations reinforces male supremacy. As a result, the difference is caused by socioeconomic status and environment more than by gender. This theory holds that women's language was less prevalent because social conditioning said it would be. 

The difference approach

This model investigates how the linguistic choices of men and women are influenced by the various subcultures and experiences of each group. A study by theorist Janet Holmes in 1994 discovered that women complimented each other much more frequently than males, suggesting that their interactions may be more about mutual support than about the competitive nature of men. Conversely, theorist Deborah Cameron suggests the manner in which women use compliments in specific situations may be intended to advance their standing and become more well-liked. Other theorists have also put forward that men are more likely to respond directly than to backchannel using phrases like "uh huh" and "oh really" as women tend to, and that men have linguistic techniques for acquiring authority. 

Deborah Tannen is a strong proponent of this method. According to her, the disparity first manifests itself in early life when parents speak about girls' emotions more often than they do about boys'. According to this hypothesis, there are six key distinctions between how men and women use language:

Gender representation 

When it comes to the portrayal of gender in language, a variety of scenarios have been investigated. Theorist Michael Halliday coined the term "ideational metafunction" as a useful instrument to assist in the deconstruction of gender construction in language. By examining the metafunction of a book, one can determine who does what to whom, when and how. You can determine who is in charge of the action and who is not. The investigation of how men and women are portrayed in texts can be enlightening when using Halliday's "ideational metafunction". It is possible to identify who is powerful and who is helpless by analysing the material, mental and relational processes.

Advertising and gender

Advertising's main objective is to encourage customers to buy items. It creates a universe that is true to life and in which preconceptions are used for financial benefit. In order to understand the ways in which advertising reflects gender inequality, it is imperative to examine how it reflects the differences between women and men.

Example 

"We keep our Sheilas happy by supplying fabulous 5 Star de facto rated car and home insurance, and that's helped us to become one of the UK's leading direct insurers. Our UK based call centres are full of friendly staff that go the extra mile to provide great customer service, whatever your query may be. If you would like to see what Sheilas’ Wheels could offer you on your car, home and multi-car insurance, get a quote today. You could save a small fortune!" - Sheilas’ Wheels 

This example is from a car insurance website. When examining it, look at the way in which they use language and tone to reflect their desired clientele. Sheila's Wheels has a friendly, customer-focused approach that uses feminine stereotypes and a female idealised client to push forward business.

References

Cameron, D. (2010). Sex and the power of speech. InDepth. Association for Qualitative Research. 

Eisikovits, E. (1981). Inner-Sydney English: An investigation of grammatical variation in adolescent speech. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1746

Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). Language, context and text: Aspects of language as social semiotic. Deakin University Press.

Holmes, J. (1994) Learning about Language: An Introduction to sociolinguistics. Longman p. 337.

Lakoff, R. (1973). Language and Woman's Place. Language in Society, 2(1), 45-80. Cambridge University Press.

Tannen, D. (1990). You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Virago Press.

Zimmerman, D., and West, C. (1975) Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversation Language and sex: Difference and dominance 105- 129. Stanford University Press.