Language and Gender Essay

Language and gender is an ever increasing hot topic for linguists to study. The main debate when considering language and gender is the 3D's theory; Dominance, Deficit and Difference. The dominance theory is one in which females are seen as the subordinate group, who's difference in language is the possible effect of male power; not only in language but also society - we live in a patriarchal society, one run by mainly men. The deficit approach is similar to the dominance approach in a sense that males have power over females - it refers to the male language as the norm and females as the deficient group. The difference theory is one in which males and females are from different 'sub-cultures' as they have been told to do so since childhood. The question really is, do males and females speak differently? If yes, why they do? And are the differences biologically or socially determined?


                                  
                                     EXPLAIN STIMULUS AND LINK TO THEORIES
















The dominance theory is one where females are seen as the subordinate group, who's difference in their use of language is the effect of patriarchy (male power). Dale Spender in her book 'Man Made Language' (1980) refers to male language as the norm and expresses her own idea of patriarchal order. She states that 'it is very hard to challenge this power system, as the way we think of the world is part of and reinforced this male power'. Zimmerman and West (1983) also explored the dominance theory - their conclusion was based on a short study of mixed-sex conversations where they found that men interrupted more than women; (LINK TO STIMULUS?) They go on to state that males dominate conversations and their tendency to do so is the effect of our patriarchal society that we live in today. They state that the reason that men tend to interrupt is to gain this power.


However, Geoffrey Beattie (another linguist) challenges what Zimmerman and West stated as he found that interruptions don't necessarily mean dominance and power. He said that interruptions come from other factors such as interest and involvement in conversation.


The deficit theory was explored by Robin Lakoff. In her book 'Language and Women's Place' (1975) she came up with a list of basic assumptions which she believed constructed the female language. Amongst these assumptions, she says that women tend to use tag questions, hedges, super-polite forms and apologise much more than men. One of the most controversial assumptions Lakoff stated was that women tend to speak less frequently. But doesn't how often we speak, have more to do with our personality traits than our gender? (LINK TO STIMULUS?) Pamela Fishman in her book 'The Work Women Do' (1990) challenges Lakoff's findings. She states that women ask questions; not because of their personality weaknesses but to show a sign of involvement; 'questions are conversation attributes'. Fishman says that women ask questions because of the power of these, and not because of their personality weaknesses.




Deborah Tannen explores the difference theory. In her book 'You Just Don't Understand' (1990) she released a series of six contrasts which she believed explained the differences between male and female language. For example, one of these contrasts was Advice VS Understanding. This suggests that to many men a complaint is a challenge to find a solution and they like to show off with their knowledge whereas women like to sympathise and relate. Another contrast is Conflict VS Compromise. This suggests that men like to compete for power in conversation, whereas women like to avoid conflict all together and come to an understanding. (LINK TO STIMULUS?)



Furthermore, Deborah Cameron (1995) also explores the difference theory. She expresses her own idea of 'verbal hygiene' and states that no matter what 'males and females have normative expectations for the mode of speech for their gender, and in different circumstances and situations, they will always fall back on it'. This is perhaps why men feel as though they need to have power? Because they are expected and pressured through society to do so?


In conclusion, it is clear to see that there is no right or wrong answer when coming to a decision why men and women speak differently, or if they do indeed at all. Along with the linguists I have mentioned , there are also some linguists who believe that the differences present in our language aren't to do with our gender. Janet Hyde for example, who is a more contemporary linguist, states that 'where there are differences, they are due to other contextual factors, such as age, occupation, education...' (COME TO CONCLUSION WITH STIMULUS - LINK TO THEORIES) Again, we have to ask the question are the differences in the way that males and females speak due to biological or social factors?