- Analyse how Tony and Pete use language in Text C to convey their thoughts and feelings.
- Referring to Text C, Table 1 and your own studies, how far do you agree with the view that men's language use is different from women's? (Transcript and Table were provided)
Language and gender is an ever increasing hot topic for linguists to study. This topic is very controversial and is the source of many different and interesting debates. The main debate considering language and gender is the theories of dominance, deficit and difference. The dominance theory is an approach whereby females are seen as the subordinate group whose difference in use of language is a result of male power and also possibly the effect of patriarchy, not only through language but also society. The deficit theory is similar to the dominance theory in a sense that males have power over females. This theory defines the male language as the norm and presents females language as deficient. The difference theory is the approach in which males and females belong to different ‘sub-cultures’ as they have been told to do so by society since childhood. The question is do males and females actually speak differently? And if yes, why they do? And is it biologically or socially determined?
Furthermore, looking at the transcript provided, we can see that the conversation taken part by males is a typically female conversation when taking into consideration the 3D’s theory. This is because the males participating in the conversation are using the politeness features that we would expect females to use, such as; fillers, voiced pauses and back channelling. This contradicts what is stated in the table of data provided as it suggests that women use voiced pauses and fillers such as ‘I mean’ and ‘sort of’ much more than men do. However, looking at the transcript, the two males participating consistently use these features and many other features which are said and have been researched to be typically female.
Looking at the transcript, if the names of the speakers
weren’t provided, we would assume that the participants are female. This is
because throughout, Tony and Pete use language features that we would classify
as ‘typically female’. For example, throughout the transcript they use voiced
pauses and fillers such as ‘er’ and ‘sort of’ suggesting that the speakers are
perhaps uncertain of what they are saying or just thinking about what the right
thing to say is. However, males are supposedly dominant in conversation yet
this would suggest otherwise. As well as using voiced pauses and fillers the
participants also tend to use back channelling, for example Pete says ‘yeah,
yeah’ overlaying what Tony is saying. Back channelling is seen as a typically
female feature of speech as it is said that females look for agreement and
reassurance in conversation, whereas males should seem sure in what they are
saying – they should dominate.
The dominance theory states that the difference in the way
in which males and females speak is due to female subordination and the male
power that exists over language and the whole of society – we live in a
patriarchal society; a society run by mainly men. The theory of dominance was
explored by Zimmerman and West (1983). Their conclusion was based on a short
study of male conversation which showed that in mixed-sex conversations, men
are more likely to interrupt than women. They go on to state that from their
research it is clear to see that men are dominant and are attempting to show
their power through conversation. Geoffrey Beattie however challenges what
Zimmerman and West found and questioned; why do interruptions necessarily mean
dominance? Beattie stated that interruptions can arise from other sources –
such as signs of interest and involvement. From the transcript provided, we can
see that Beattie’s theory applies. This is because the way in which the two
males are speaking doesn’t suggest that they are competing for power, but they
are showing a sense of interest into the conversation and what each other are
saying.
Dale Spender is another linguist who studied the dominance
theory. She is the author of the book ‘Man Made Language’ (1980). In this book,
she refers to language as the norm and her own idea of patriarchal order. She
comes to the conclusion that is it very difficult to challenge this power
system, since the way we think of the world is part of, and reinforces this
male power.
In contrast, Robin Lakoff explored the deficit model
approach. In 1975, she brought out a book called ‘Language and Women’s Place’
in which she published a list of controversial basic assumptions which she
believes constructs the female language.
Among this list, she claimed that women use politeness features such as
hedges, tag questions, super polite forms and back channelling much more often than
men. As well as this, she stated that women apologise more and speak less
frequently. But isn’t how often someone speaks in conversation to do with their
personality rather than their gender? Pamela Fishman challenges Lakoff’s
findings in her book ‘Conversational Insecurity’ (1990). Fishman looks at
questions as an attribute of interaction, not a sign of insecurity and
doubtfulness. Fishman states that women ask questions because of the power of
these and not because of their personality weaknesses.
The difference theory is one that has been explored by
Deborah Tannen. Tannen published a book called ‘You Just Don’t Understand’
(1990) which she summarised into a series of six contrasts, such as; ‘Status VS
Support’ and ‘Information VS Feelings’. The contrast ‘Status VS Support’
suggests that men have grown up in a world where language is competitive – so
they do everything in their power to dominate a conversation. However, for
women, conversation is a way to gain confirmation and support for their ideas. The
data shown in the table supports this contrast as the way in which the women
used voiced pauses and fillers such as ‘I mean’ and ‘Well’ more often suggests
that they are looking for agreement. The
contrast ‘Information VS Feelings’ suggests that the male’s viewpoint is taken
much more seriously than the females. As well as this, it suggests that men
enjoy giving information as it makes them feel more dominant, whereas women
prefer to express their feelings based on a viewpoint or certain information
they have been given.
Deborah Cameron is another linguist who investigated the
topic of language and gender. She says that wherever and whenever the matter
has been investigated, men and women face normative expectations about the
appropriate mode of speech for their gender. As well as this, she states that
women have been taught by society how to speak ‘properly’ and not only this but
how to dress properly and other ‘feminine’ kinds of behaviour. Cameron wrote
the book ‘Verbal Hygiene’ in 1995. She suggests that Verbal Hygiene is the only
way to make sense of the English language and it also represents a symbolic
attempt to impose order on the social world.
In conclusion, when we consider all these theories, we can
see that there is no right or wrong answer about the way that males and females
speak and if they do indeed speak differently. As well as all the linguists
that I have explored, there are many linguists who strongly disagree in the
fact that males and females speak differently – they believe that there is in
fact very little difference in their use of language. For example, we can look
at the theory of Janet Hyde. She states that ‘where there are differences, they
are due to other contextual factors, such as; education, occupation, age…’. As
we know very little about the contextual features of the transcript and the
data shown in the table, it is very difficult to come to any conclusion that
these language features are completely reliant on gender. Overall, it is very
hard to decipher if differences do exist in the language of males and females.
Like stated at the start, we need to ask the question - do these differences
(if any) exist because of biological or social factors?
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