Language and gender

Linguistics:AL

1. Language and gender Applied linguistics Eman Al-Omari Supervisor: Dr, Hussein Obeidat

2. 1. Historical Overview: From “Dominance” And “Difference” To Social Construction 2.Social Constructionist Approaches To Language And Gender 3.Variation Across Cultures: Language And Gender In Bilingual And Multilingual Settings A.Restricted Exposure To The Presitigiuos Language B.Women As Cultural Brokers c.Women As Innovators In Social Change 4.Variation Within Gender Categories 5.Similarity Across Gender

3. Gender  refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men.

4. Language and gender is an area of study within sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and related fields that investigates varieties of speech associated with a particular gender, or social norms for such gendered language use. Language and gender  is an interdisciplinary field of research that studies varieties of  speech (and , to a lesser extent,  writing) in terms of gender, gender relations, gendered practices… “Language and gender” refers to the relationship between the language of male and female. Gender difference is not only a reflection of the speeches between male and female, but also a reflection of their different living styles and attitudes

5. Language Gender Language and Gender Theories

6. . The ‘Dominance Approach Provides A Traditional, Negative Evaluation Of Women’s Speech. Women’s Linguistic Inadequacies Are Attributed To Societal Inequalities Between Men And Women, Where Men’s Conversational Dominance Appears To Reflect The Wider Political And Cultural Domination Of Men Over Women One researcher named Deborah Cameron has divided science in gender and language into three different categories: Deficit, Dominance And Difference . She claims that all research in the referring area can be placed in one of three hypotheses. The hypotheses stand for different convictions regarding female’s use of language and the reasons for possible differences between male’s and female’s way of expressing themselves.

7. Cameron viewed male dominance as operative in the every day verbal interactions of women and men. men use language to exert power and maintain their dominance in society. Zimmerman and West recorded everyday conversations in informal settings, such as coffee shops and cafes. Their study reinforced the dominance model, finding that in mixed sex conversations men interrupted women more, gave delayed minimal responses to women and also tended to talk more. In mixed sex conversations, women were silent more and for longer periods.

8. ). Lakoff (1975) Argues That Women’s Manner Of Speaking, Which Is Different To Men, Reflects Their Subordinate Status In Society. Thus, Women’s Language Is Marked By Powerlessness And Tentativeness ,( ( e.g.hedges , qualifiers / disclaimers , tag questions, intensifiers ) Expressed Through The Use Of Mitigators And Inessential Qualifiers, Which Effectively Disqualifies Women From Positions Of Power And Authority. In particular, Lakoff (1975) argues that women’s language style is deficient, lacking in authority and assertiveness.

9. Use (super)polite forms: “Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”, “...if you don't mind”. • Use tag questions: “You're going to dinner, aren't you?” • Speak in italics: intonational emphasis equal to underlining words - so, very, quite. • Use empty adjectives: lovely, adorable, and so on • Use hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation: English prestige grammar and clear enunciation. • Use direct quotation: . • women use more words for things like colors, men for sports. •

10. Use question intonation in declarative statements: women make declarative statements into questions by raising the pitch of their voice at the end of a statement, expressing uncertainty. For example, “What school do you attend? Eton College?” • Use “ wh -” imperatives: (such as, “Why don't you open the door?”) • Speak less frequently • Overuse qualifiers: (for example, “I think that...”) • Apologize more: (for instance, “I'm sorry, but I think that...”) • Use modal constructions: (such as can, would, should, ought - “Should we turn up the heat?”) •

11. • Use indirect commands and requests: (for example, “My, isn't it cold in here?” - really a request to turn the heat on or close a window) • Use more intensifiers: especially so and very (for instance, “I am so glad you came!”) • Lack a sense of humor: women do not tell jokes well and often don't understand the punch line of jokes. Women make more compliments more than men.

12. Difference Theory As the title indicates, the difference theory is the idea that males and females really do converse differently. Difference (dual cultures) Is an approach of equality, differentiating men and women as belonging to different 'sub-cultures' as they have been socialized to do so since childhood. This then results in the varying communicative styles of men and women.

13. Status vs. support  - men see language as a means of asserting dominance; women see it as a way of confirming/supporting ideas. Independence vs. intimacy  - men "go it alone"; women seek support. Advice vs. understanding  - men see language as problem solving; women see it as a means of empathy. Information vs. feelings  - males are concerned with the facts; women with emotions. Orders vs. proposals  - men use imperatives; females use hidden directives. Conflict vs. compromise  - men will argue; women will try to find a middle ground. Tannen believes the difference starts in childhood, where parents use more words about feelings to girls and use more verbs to boys. Males and females belong to difference sub-cultures and therefore speak differently. Her book,  You Just Don't Understand , claims that there are six main differences between the ways males and females use language:

14. Social Constructivist Theory Due To The Limitations Of The Difference / Dominance Paradigms, It Was Felt That There Was A Need To Rethink The Theories Of Language And Gender. Gradually The Study Of Language Began To Move Towards Understanding Gender As A Constitutive Factor In Building Social Identities. Freeman & Mcelhinny View “Language Use As Shaping Understanding Of The Social World” (1996:219) And The Role It Plays In The Relationships Formed In The Social World In Addition To The Construction Of Social Identities (Davies & Harre , 1990; Fairclough , 1989; Ochs, 1993; Swann, 1993).

15. Ochs (1993) makes the argument that it is only a small set of linguistic features that referentially index gender. In fact, Ochs (1993) further argues that because language is used dialogically, social identities are not so much created by language use as they are negotiated and constructed during the process of interaction. The main principles of social constructivist gender theory are that gender is a social construct / construction which is performative in nature.

16. The "dynamic" or "social constructionist " approach is, as Coates describes, the most current approach to language and gender. Instead of speech falling into a natural gendered category, the dynamic nature and multiple factors of an interaction help a socially appropriate gendered construct.

17. Negotiated And Constructed During The Process Of Interaction. Thus, the main principles of social constructivist gender theory are that gender is a social construct / construction which is performative in nature.These ideas were theorized by Goodwin (1998) and Eckert & McConnell – Ginet (2003). Goodwin conducted an ethnographic study of language and gender in a single community and argues that rather than analyzing individual entities such as cultures /genders/ groups/ individuals, the basic unit of analysis should be the activity. Eckert & McConnell – Ginet (1995) argue that gender constructs are embedded in other aspects of social life, for example significant categories like those involving class, race or ethnicity.

18. Restricted exposure to the prestigious language Exposure refers to the contact that the learner has with the language that they are trying to learn, either generally or with specific language points. Referring to the language in general. Men have been found to use a prestige language more than woman do .women are more restricted to the private sphere and the immediate community while men regularly have wider social contacts outside the local community. .

19. Hill`s study of language use in the Mexican region of the Malinche Volcano Hill (1987) Pointed To The Importance Of Gender In Shaping Peoples` Language Choices. In This Study Hill Looks At Different Ways Men And Women Use Mexicano Which Is Indigenous Language Of Mexico And Spanish .Men And Woman Living In The Rural Communities Are Bilingual. Women are much less likely than men to participate in regular wage labor and, on this basis, one might speculate that women would be less proficient in Spanish than men. Indeed, members of the community believe just this: Women are said to “lag” linguistically, that is, they are believed to be more often monolingual in Mexicano, their Mexicano is believed to be less influenced by Spanish, and their Spanish is believed to be more influenced by Mexicano.

20. women were less likely than men to be educated or to be involved in migrant labor. they have restricted access to Spanish. women’s role in bilingual communities as that of “guardians” of the traditional .language

21. Women as cultural brokers The culture broker was a person, usually from the local community, who understood both the local culture and the culture of the colonial rulers. This person frequently brokered conflicts by explaining to each side what the other side meant or wanted. Medicine (1987) coins the term “cultural broker” to characterize the role that women often assume in Native American communities.

22. In describing the effects of white domination on the Lakota Sioux, Medicine (1987, p. 163) reports that it was typically the women who were “recruited to work in the houses of missionaries and of other agents of change” and as a result they became more proficient in English than men. At the same time, women were also expected to be the major socializers of children and taught them, according to Medicine, “that interaction in two different worlds required entirely different languages.” within Medicine’s and Zentella’s investigations, women, more often than men, were the proficient bilinguals because they assumed a “cultural broker” role in their communities. That is, in addition to being the preservers of the indigenous traditions, women in these communities were also expected to mediate between the dominant and minority communities.

23. Women as innovators in social change. In bilingual communities, they seem to be extremely important in determining the direction of language choice. That’s according to research by Susan Gal, who found that “young women are more advanced or further along in the direction of the linguistic change than older people and young men”.

24. Women as innovators in social change Gal focuses on the Hungarian-German bilingual community of Oberwart , Austria, exploring the effects of urbanization and industrialization on women’s and men’s choice of Hungarian versus German. Young peasant women are leading in the shift from Hungarian to German in this community, because, Gal argues, the peasant lifestyle associated with Hungarian is one they wish to reject. Although for men a peasant life offers self-employment, independence, and autonomy, for women it consists of strenuous and time-consuming manual labor. Thus, Gal explains young women’s linguistic choices in terms of their desire to distance themselves from a life that is symbolically and practically associated with Hungarian.

25. The Motivation And Incentives For Learning A Second Language May Differ For Women And Men, Depending On The Types Of Opportunities That A Second Language Creates Or Makes Available To Them In Particular Communities. It Is Noteworthy That The Women In Oberwart Had Access To The Hungarian, But Rather Than Assuming A “Cultural Broker” Role, They Strategically Employed German In Order To Escape Their Social Position As Peasants.

26. Variation within Gender Categories: Variation Theory and Communities of Practice . Variation  is a characteristic of language: there is more than one way of saying the same thing. Speakers may vary pronunciation (accent, word choice (lexicon), or morphology and syntax (sometimes called “ grammer ") Men and women, on average, tend to use slightly different language styles. These differences tend to be quantitative rather than qualitative. That is, to say that women use a particular speaking style more than men do is akin to saying that men are taller than women (i.e., men are on average taller than women, but some women are taller than some men).

27. Nichols determined that different groups of women in an all-black speech community on the coast of South Carolina behaved differently with respect to the adoption of standard linguistic variants. Nichols found that women’s linguistic behavior was driven by their relation to the local labor market, rather than by “some generalized response to the universal condition of women” . suggest that women and men, like members of different cultural groups, learn different communicative styles because of the segregated girls’ and boys’ peer groups they play in as children. Indeed, women are said to develop cooperative speech styles because of the non-hierarchical nature of all-girl groups, whereas men are said to develop competitive speech styles because “boys play in larger, more hierarchically organized groups than do girls”

28. During the last few decades, rigid role patterns have changed and as a result gender notions have changed as well. Men and women are increasingly becoming each other equals in areas of education and profession. This implies that, in Western society anyway, the concept of masculinity no longer exclusively brings to mind the image of tough guys who work all day and leave the upbringing of their children to their wives; it can now also be associated with men who take care of children and do domestic chores

29. . Men are encouraged to open up and  share their feelings, whereas this was quite unusual in the times of rigid role patterns. Women can now work in almost every profession they aspire to, and they can continue to work after having children without being regarded as bad mothers.

30. As language helps people to create their identity and their gender, it makes sense to assume that when peoples` ideas of masculinity and femininity change, their language changes as well. the language of men and women is becoming more similar as a result of changing gender notions .

31. McElhinny’s study of the interactional styles of male and female police officers in Pittsburgh offers a particularly striking example of such a setting. In moving into a traditionally masculine workplace, female police officers did not adopt an empathetic and warm interactional style associated with many traditionally female workplaces (e.g., nursing, secretarial work, social work), as might be expected; rather they appropriated a masculine (linguistic) identity in dealing with the public. More specifically, McElhinny (1995, p. 220) argues that both women and younger, college-educated men in the police force adopted a “bureaucratic” interactional style – a rational, emotionless, and efficient interactional style associated with middle-class masculinity. That is, engaged in the same workplace practices, the women and the younger, college-educated men of the Pittsburgh police force adopted similar interactional styles.

32. summary The relationship between language and gender is not a direct one, but one mediated by the social practices and activities that come to be “gendered” in particular communities or cultures. then investigations of gender and bilingualism are most fruitfully carried out in relation to those culture- or community-specific social practices and activities. We know the complicated relationship between gender and language. After reviewing the former researches into this topic, we can see the shortcomings, and the similarities between the language of male and female are as important as differences .

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