genderlect

doesn't have all the theories and still needs be checked!

deficit approach

female language seen as a weaker version of male language

dominance approach

men dominate women through language by controlling mixed sex conversations

difference approach

misunderstanding between men and women is due to a difference in culture

trudgijesperson (1922)

suggested male language forms were the 'norm' and the language of others (including women) were 'deficient'
• supports deficit approach

lakoff (1975) 'language and women's place'

described male language as stronger, more prestigious and more desirable. proposed that women's speech can be distinguished from that of men in a number of ways:

use intensifiers
hedge
use empty adjectives
avoid taboo
use tag questions
use indirect lexis
• supports deficit approach

spender (1980) - 'man-made language'

man not only control women, but also the language system
• supports dominance approach

ardner & ardner

difference

women's conversational behaviour is less assertive and less confident than men because they occupy a less powerful position in society than men

ardner and ardner ao1

epistemic modality ‘could’ ‘may’ ‘might’

fishman (1983) conversational shitwork

women have to the the majority of the conversational shitwork when interacting with men, because men, in their dominance, are less concerned to do so
• supports dominance approach

zimmerman and west

found 96% of interruptions were made by men, suggesting male dominance in conversation.

tannen (1980)

differences in male and female attitudes and values are cultural - in other words, she argues that men and women come from two different 'cultures' and that they grow up with completely different ideas about themselves, their place in the world and their functions in conversation
• supports difference approach

cheshire 1989

difference

young females used more standard prestige forms than young males, differences were evident in childhood

Cheshire 1989 ao1

boys use multiple negation

‘no I never’ ‘didn’t see nobody’

girls more standard english

‘I never’ ‘I saw nobody’

pilkington (1990)

women in same sex talk are more collaborative than men were in all male talk
• supports difference approach
- women may use interrogatives 'what do you mean?' 'could you repeat that'
- or hedges 'perhaps' 'maybe'

kuiper (1991)

in all-male talk amongst members of a rugby team, men were likely to pay less attention to the need to save face and instead used insults as a way of expressing solidarity.

cheshire (1982)

variation is controlled by both social and linguistic factors. in boys speech variation is governed by norms that are central to the vernacular culture, and are transmitted through the peer group. variation in the girls speech appears to be more personal, and less controlled by vernacular norms

o'barr & atkins

language differences are situation specific, relying on who has the authority and power in a conversation, rather than the gender of people involved

beattie (1982)-disputed zimmerman and west

challenged the concept of interruptions only signifying dominance. suggested they could also signify interest and involvement

holmes (1984) tag questions

tag Q can be either model or affective - i.e. signalling the speaker's degree of uncertainty or expressing the speaker's attitude to the addressee

holmes (1990)

hedges are multifunctional depending on situation, context and intonation. they could signal uncertainty in some cases, but they are also used to signal politeness and a positive attitude towards the other speaker in conversation

baxter (2002)

identified elements of both cooperative and competitive talk in adolescent single sex conversation

cameron (2008) 'the myth of mars and venus'

criticised the notion that there are innate differences in male and female speech: 'the idea that men and women... use language in very different ways for very different reasons is one of the great myths of our time'

butler (1990) 'gender trouble'

coined the term 'gender performativity.'
this refers to the idea that we 'perform' in role as we communicate. 'we act and walk and speak in ways that consolidate an impression of being a man or woman.' we may conform to social norms we have learnt, but we are not biologically preconditioned. we can of course, perform other roles

hyde 2005 - gender similarities hypothesis

there are substantially more similarities in than there are differences between male and female language. she suggests variation previously noted may have actually been due to other contextual factors, such as age, social class, occupation, or sexuality

bing and bergvall (1996)

observed that although we have the distinct categories of 'day' and 'night' the actual boundaries between them are indistinct. day and night are bipolar dichotomy which that language imposes, the reality is a continuum

essentialism

a belief that a specific entity has a set of characteristics/attributes which makes it what it is and is necessary to its identity and function; the idea is that essence is prior to existence

social constructivism

a variant of constructivism that emphasizes the role of social discourse in the development of ideas and identities

universalising

the practice of giving a universal character or application to something; generalising.

heterogenity

feminists such as sara mills consider gender as a term that allows for the premise that women should not be seen as a homogeneous group (and men too) but as a diverse group, subject to a range of influences - race, class, age. ...

trudgill and Cheshire

women use more overt English while men use more covert English