English Language - Gender

Androcentric

Focused or centered on men

Feminism

Movement of equality between genders; dismantling gender stereotypes

Intersectionality

The idea that multiple aspects of a person's identity affect their lived experiences

Sex

Biological anatomy

Gender

Social concepts of that identity

Otto Jespersen, 1922 Language Book, Chapter 13 “The Woman” (The Deficit Model)

-Women talk a lot

-Women use half-finished sentences because they speak before they think about what they will say

-Women join sentences with ‘and’ (emotionally rather than ‘grammatical’)

-Women use adjectives such as ‘pretty’ and ‘nice’

-Women use adverbs too much and tend towards hyperbole

-Women have a smaller vocabulary than men. The words they use are the ‘induspensable small change of a language’

-Women don’t swear

-Men are responsible for introducing new words into a language

-Women have a debilitating effect on language and it is reasonable for men to be concerned

Deficit

A deficiency in amount of quality

Robin Lakoff

American feminist linguist

Robin Lakoff, 1973 - Language and Woman's Place (The Deficit Model) - Summary

-her work was a response to Jespersen’s ideas of “The Woman”

-found many differences in the way her female and male subjects spoke

Robin Lakoff, 1973 - Language and Woman's Place (The Deficit Model) - Data and Methodology

Data: men and women’s speech (her friends)

Methodology: observations (no robust methodology applied to reduce variables)

Robin Lakoff, 1973 - Language and Woman's Place (The Deficit Model) - Analysis

Woman use:

-hedge more to make their language less assertive

-tag questions

-empty adjectives

-hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation

-indirect commands and requests

-super polite forms

-more apologies

-more intensifiers

-direct quotation (men paraphrase more)

-modal constructions

-”wh-” imperatives

-more qualifiers

-more tone and infliction (italics)

They:

-speak less frequently

-don’t have a sense of humour

Don't use:

-coarse language or expletives

Robin Lakoff, 1973 - Language and Woman's Place (The Deficit Model) - Conclusions

-society conditions women to speak in this way as it's seen to be more feminine and they are forced to be submissive

-men’s language is the standard and women’s language is deficit

-”If a little girl ‘talks rough’ like a boy, she will be ostracised, scolded or make fun of.”

Robin Lakoff, 1973 - Language and Woman's Place (The Deficit Model) - Criticisms

-based her ideas off observations of her white middle class friends

-used generalised stereotyping (assuming women spoke femininly)

-used personal “introspection” which renders her work more social commentary than factual analysis

-”I do feel that the majority of claims I make will hold for the majority of speakers of English”

Robin Lakoff, 1973 - Language and Woman's Place (The Deficit Model) - Criticisms (Cameron, 2010~)

-1970s feminists challenged the male bias of existing research but not the habit of treating men's language as the default nor reject it's emphasis on male-female differences

-blamed women for their “deficit” language and that they are the reason they are kept being seen as lesser

O’Barr and Atkins (1980) (The Deficit Model)

-tested Lakoff’s theory in their own study

-collected data from language used in courtrooms and compared it to Lakoff’s anaylsis

Methodology:

-mostly mixed gender witnesses

-mostly male lawyers

-10 weeks of trials

-Different length of sessions (hours)

-Different cases

Conclusion: Lakoff’s woman’s language features are actually more closely linked to power, social status and social class and not gender.

Eisenhauer and Fought, 2016, The Princess Problem - Objective

-to understand how language interacts with gender in Disney Princess films

-how linguistics have evolved over time

-to access any ideological consequences and links to feminine performance

Eisenhauer and Fought, 2016, The Princess Problem - Reason for Study

Disney Princess Films are often scrutinized for their messages and representation of women so Eisenhauer and Fought wanted to bring some factual data into the conversation

Eisenhauer and Fought, 2016, The Princess Problem - Methodology

-Chose 12 Disney Princess Films

-Dialogue in the films was logged, analysed, divided into linguistic categories and qualitatively coded according to several criteria, including character gender

Eisenhauer and Fought, 2016, The Princess Problem - Results

-Before The Little Mermaid, there were more female word counts than male ones, but after that, there were way more male word counts

→ most likely due to the expanded cast which where mostly gendered as male due to androcentricity (male as default)

→ In Frozen, a story about two sister princess, the word count for women is around 40% compared to men’s around 60%

---

Classic Disney Princess Films:

55% of compliments given to women are about appearance

11% of compliments given to women are about skill

Renaissance:

38% of compliments given to women are about appearance

22% compliments given to women are about skill

New Age:

22% compliments given to women are about appearance

40% compliments given to women are about skill

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Data

Mixed sex conversations

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Methodology

-Eleven conversations recorded with white, middle class participants under the age of 35

-31 segments of conversations recorded

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Analysis

-Men interrupted 46 times

-Women interrupted twice

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Conclusions

By interrupting more, men dominate conversations

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Criticisms - Methodology

-Lack of participant diversity

-Lack of data recorded/small collection of data

-Only mixed sex conversations (didn't explore whether men also interrupt other men regularly)

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Criticisms - Conclusions

-men interrupting more could also suggest they are less polite

-men interrupting more could also suggest they have less dominance over the conversation as they have to force themselves to have the floor (not allowed to speak?)

Zimmerman and West, 1975 (The Dominance Model) - Criticisms - Geoff Beattie

-might have one very “voluble” (Geoff’s wording) man in the study (disproportionate effort on the total)

-interuptions might of been happening for other reasons (like interest or involvement)

-some of the interruptions might have been back-channel

Geoff Beattie, 1982 (The Dominance Model) - Data

Mixed sex conversations

Geoff Beattie, 1982 (The Dominance Model) - Methodology

10 hours of conversation with 557 interruptions recorded

Geoff Beattie, 1982 (The Dominance Model) - Analysis

Men and women interrupted with more or less equal frequency

Geoff Beattie, 1982 (The Dominance Model) - Conclusions

The validity of Zimmerman and West’s research needs to be questioned

Validity

How far can we trust the result

Internal validity

Within the experiment, is it valid?

External validity

Can you say that a general social trend has been found/Can it relate to the outside world?

Pamela Fishman, 1983 (The Dominance Model) - Beliefs

-agrees that men use language to dominate conversations as a result of the patriarchal society

Pamela Fishman, 1983 (The Dominance Model) - Data

Mixed sex conversations between 3 young American couples

Pamela Fishman, 1983 (The Dominance Model) - Methodology

52 hours of recorded conversations

Pamela Fishman, 1983 (The Dominance Model) - Analysis

Women:

-asked more questions

-used four times more tag questions

-used more back-channeling

Pamela Fishman, 1983 (The Dominance Model) - Conclusions

-The features found in women's language encourage the flow of conversation

-She states that this is because of male dominance in conversation

-She concludes that women must do the “conversational shitwork” because men don't

Pamela Fishman, 1983 (The Dominance Model) - Criticism

-Lack of participants

-Not externally valid (internally valid however) but doesn't admit that

Janet Holmes, 1984 (The Difference Model) - Summary

-Not strictly a Difference Model theorist but her conclusions paved way for it to be developed

-Questioned Lakoff’s conclusions about WHY women use tag questions (Holmes believed it was to show care and concern rather than weakness)

Janet Holmes, 1984 (The Difference Model) - Data

-Mixed sex conversations

Janet Holmes, 1984 (The Difference Model) - Methodology

9 hours of recorded, unscripted talk from 3 radio/TV broadcasts where male and female talk were equally represented and the power dynamics between the participants were equally represented across the sexes

Janet Holmes, 1984 (The Difference Model) - Analysis

Identified 3 types of tag questions

Referential tags - signal factual uncertainity (isn’t it?)

Affective facilitative tags - to establish relationships/solidarity (agreed?/aren't we?)

Affective softening tags - to weaken a command or criticism (okay?/wouldn't you?)

Janet Holmes, 1984 (The Difference Model) - Conclusions

-Men and women use similar amounts of tag questions

-Men use referential tags more

-Women use affective facilitative tags more

-Both men and women use similar amounts of softening tags

Deborah Cameron - What language barrier? - Myth

-”The idea that men and women differ fundamentally in the way they use language to communicate is a myth”

Deborah Cameron - What language barrier? - Matching expectations

-People will often pay more attention to things that match their expectations and make reality fit their preconceptions and often fail to register counter examples

e.g. books that “recognise” generalisations about the way men and women speak often only do so because these generalisations fit with already familiar stereotpyes

→ if a book says one thing that men do that women' don't, it often prompts readers to think of examples that match that criteria, and if they do think of any counter examples (which is rare), they often put that under exceptions

Deborah Tannen, 1990 (The Difference Model) - Summary

-wrote a book called “You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women in conversation”

-states that men and women are from different sub-cultures and that male-female speech is “cross-cultural communication”

-argued this because society encourages men and women to form different sub-cultures based on sex

Deborah Tannen, 1990 (The Difference Model) - Data

Mixed sex conversations

Deborah Tannen, 1990 (The Difference Model) - Methodology

Used data from past studies and videotapes of mixed-sex communications of pairs asked to speak on tape

Deborah Tannen, 1990 (The Difference Model) - Analysis

Identified six distinct categories for the sub-cultures of men and women

Deborah Tannen, 1990 (The Difference Model) - Conclusions

-Men and women are conditioned by society to speak differently because society puts men and women into different sub-cultures

→ this led people to believe the “difference” is biological from books like “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” and other self-help books

-The solution to this isn't that anyone should change, but that they should be aware of the differences and learn to understand them

Tannen’s Six Cultural Differences - Status vs Support

-Men use language to increase their status/see conversation as a contest

-Women use language to support

Tannen’s Six Cultural Differences - Independence vs Intimacy

-Men don't think of others during conversation as a way of showing independence (see consulting their partner to be “seeking permission”)

-Women see conversation as a form of intimacy

Tannen’s Six Cultural Differences - Advice vs Understanding

-Men see complaints as needing advice/a solution

-Women see complaints as needing sympathy/understanding

Tannen’s Six Cultural Differences - Information vs Feelings

-Men see conversation as getting information, not expressing feelings

-Women see conversations as opportunities to share emotions

Tannen’s Six Cultural Differences - Orders vs Proposals

-Women hedge their orders to give indirect orders

-Men see this as manipulative

Tannen’s Six Cultural Differences - Conflict vs Compromise

-Women are reluctant to openly oppose others

-Men don't shy away from conflict

Coates, 1989 (The Difference Model)

-agrees that men and women use language differently as a result of their sub-cultures

-she concluded that all-female talk (women to women) is cooperative because speakers negotiate discussions and support each other's rights as speakers

-stated that these patterns are not found in mixed-sex conversations due to the different sub-cultures

Pilkington, 1992 (The Difference Model)

-agrees with the Difference Model

-concluded that all-female talk (women to women) is more collaborative due to the use of politeness markers, and that men are less supportive of each other

Deborah Tannen (The Difference Model) - Criticisms

-Lots of theorists in the early 1990s felt that Tannen downplayed the role of power and equality (ignores the affects of the patriarchy and living in a androcentric world)

-Generalised stereotyping

-Places people into binaries

-Doesn't account for interectionality

-Ignored the fact that most families are mixed sex and that unlike people from different cultures, people have a large extensive experience of interacting with other genders

Deborah Tannen (The Difference Model) - Criticisms (Michael Kimmel)

-In his 2008 lecture titled “Venus, Mars or Planet Earth? Women and Men in a New Millenium”, Kimmel criticises the book “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” (a book which led from Tannen's book).

-He contended that the perceived differences between men and women, are ultimately a social construction and that socially and politically, men and women want the same things

Deborah Tannen (The Difference Model) - Criticisms (Male Stereotype)

-helped popularise a new stereotype of men and boys who are emotionally illiterate blunders whose brains are not designed for such complicated tasks as listening or reading (sexist)

Deborah Tannen (The Difference Model) - Criticisms (Bergrall)

-Bergrall stated that discussing these so-called “differences” reinforces the view that such differences exist

Deborah Tannen (The Difference Model) - Criticisms (Cameron)

-Cameron states that this model reinforces stereotypes that could lead to job discrimination (e.g. women can't be police officers, men can't be nurses etc)

-She also states that the affect of this model shows how there is a modern disregard/disinterest for the truth

Deborah Tannen (The Difference Model) - Criticisms (Kuiper, 1991)

-Kuiper challenged the idea that men are less supportive

-he studied all-male talk (men to men) among a rugby group

-concluded that men pay less regard to the need to save face and use insults as a way of expressing solidarity (“you guys you be picking it up”)

Deborah Cameron, 2010~ (The Diversity Model - Summary

-contemporary theorist who believes that gender must be viewed separately from sex

-believes that gender makes up only a part of our linguistic identity and that we might “preform” our gender in different ways in different situations

-believes that language and gender is a topic that is easily misunderstood due to people wanting a simplified answer that caters to pre-existing stereotypes and hegemonic beliefs and fits their confirmation bias

Dale Spender, 1980 (The Dominance Model)

-believes that there is a culture of ‘male as norm’ in which men use the dominant models and women are seen as add-ons

E.g. men being introduced first and people using ‘he’ as gender neutral

(the only dominance model theorist that agrees with it and doesn't have any criticisms)

James Pennebaker, 2007 (The Diversity Model) - Summary

-supports the Diversity Model

-his research looks at the number of words spoken by men and women

James Pennebaker, 2007 (The Diversity Model) - Data

Men and women's speech

James Pennebaker, 2007 (The Diversity Model) - Methodology

Recordings from 210 women and 186 men at different universities in America

James Pennebaker, 2007 (The Diversity Model) - Analysis

-Average number of words spoken by men and women were about the same:

Women → 16,215 words on average

Men → 15,669 words on average

Difference is statistically insignificant

-Men showed a slightly wider variability in words than women:

Most economic speaker was a man (roughly 500 words daily)

Most verbose speaker was a man (roughly 47,000 words daily)

Crucially the difference was not between men and women, but between two men (and the difference is HUGE)

James Pennebaker, 2007 (The Diversity Model) - Criticisms

-The amount of men compared to women recorded isn't equal

-Only recorded snippets randomly, not actual words used daily by the speaker → speaker could just be talking a lot in that moment when normally they are quiet

→ just estimates

-Only did men and women, ignores other genders identites

-Doesn't address context

Penelope Eckert, 1990 (The Diversity Model) - “The whole woman” article - Criticisms of other gender linguists

-criticised other theorists for conflating gender with biological sex (most gender theorists were studying social conditions, not biological stuff)

-criticised how linguists treated gender (or sex) as a discrete variable when in reality, gender does not exist or influence behaviour in isolation, but interacts with other aspects of identity and social location, like ethnicity, age, and class

→ stated that nobody thinks themselves as a generic ‘man' or ‘woman’

Penelope Eckert, 1990 (The Diversity Model) - “The whole woman” article - Think locally

-stated that language and gender studies cannot make universal statements or large-scale generalisations

→ linguists and researchers should think locally then and look into a specific community instead

The Diversity Model - Cameron's Gender and Communication

-Diversity studies are open to finding sameness between binary genders or differences between same-genders

-Gendered performance vary considerably in different communities

-Language varying because of social group

-We have a wider understanding of gender now → not all heterosexual or cisgender

Preformance, Judith Butler (The Diversity Model)

-suggests that identity is unstable and that speakers must continually reaffirm their status as a particular sort of person by repeating the acts their culture associates with that sort of person

Gendered behaviours are taught, Judith Butler (The Diversity Model)

-pointed out that anyone can be ladylike and use language that isn't vulgar, wear makeup, have long hair and identify as female, it really doesn't matter if they were born with reproductive organs.

-doing stereotypically female or male acts isn't a natural thing, it's taught

Robert Podesva, 2007, Heath Study (The Diversity Model) - Method

-studied a gay medical student named Heath in three different contexts: a work meeting, a conversation with his father and a barbecue (all of which he was out in)

Robert Podesva, 2007, Heath Study (The Diversity Model) - Analysis

His language use was different in each context even though he was out:

-with his father and at work, Heath used a low pitch

-when at the barbecue with his friends and boyfriend, he used falsetto→ this might have been because that was where his sexuality was treated as important to his identity

Robert Podesva, 2007, Heath Study (The Diversity Model) - Conclusions

-people front different parts of their identity depending on what contexts they're in

-gay men may use falsetto due to stereotypes of gay men being more feminine so he is preforming that stereotype to make his identity as a gay man more recognisable (the stereotype that gay men are more feminine is due to hetreonormativity)

Lucy Jones, Lexis Podcast (The Diversity Model) - “Gay” and “Straight” language

-stated that there is no such thing as gay or straight langauge, language is built on specific experiences, not just surrounding gender and sexuality

Lucy Jones, Lexis Podcast (The Diversity Model) - Pronouns

-singular ‘they’ has been used since the 14th century

-even if using ‘they’ was grammitcially incorrect, declaring someone's pronouns is nonsense IS nonsense because it basically disregards any human empathy and using the correct pronouns for someone doesn't harm anybody

-people declare pronouns in order to make it more normalised, but because it isn't normal yet, people are judged for doing so, even if the person is cis

Deborah Cameron, A response to Namoi Wolf[‘s article about Vocal fry] (The Diversity Model) - Personal vs Objective

“people have a bad habit of presenting what are actually personal preferences as if they were objective facts”

Deborah Cameron, A response to Namoi Wolf[‘s article about Vocal fry] (The Diversity Model) - Policing women's language

“This endless policing of women's language (…) is uncomfortably similar to the way our culture polices women's bodily appearance”

Vocal Fry

Saying words at the back of the throat (also known as “creaky voice”)

Vocal Fry - Opinions: Daily Mail Article

-“creaky, rough and guttural”

-sees it as unattractive and unpleasant on women possibly because it's seen as less feminine

Vocal Fry - Opinions: Naomi Wolf arguement

-”sounds like ducks quacking”

-makes women stay lesser than men

-argues that it affects job prospects as it makes women sound unimportant and unpleasant

-argues deficit langauge keeps women subordinate

Vocal Fry - Opinions: Deborah Cameron response

-vocal fry isn't new and isn't used just by women

-young women lead change

-by policing women's language and judging it, you are no better than the patriarchy and are basically doing its job for it

Uptalk

The pitch goes up at the end of statements, making them sound like questions