A SUMMARY OF GENDER THEORIES Robin Lakoff in 1975, published an influential account of women's language.

This was the

book Language and Woman's Place. n a !elated a!ticle, Woman's language, she published a set of basic assumptions about what ma!ks out the language of women. "mong these a!e claims that women: Hedge: using ph!ases like #so!t of$, #kind of$, #it seems like$, and so on. Use (super)polite forms: #Would %ou mind...$,# 'd app!eciate it if...$, #...if %ou don't mind$. Use tag questions& #'ou'!e going to dinne!, a!en't %ou($ Use empty adjectives: di)ine, lo)el%, ado!able, and so on Use direct quotation: men pa!aph!ase mo!e often. Have a special lexicon: women use mo!e wo!ds fo! things like colou!s, men fo! spo!ts. Use question intonation in declarative statements: women make decla!ati)e statements into *uestions b% !aising the pitch of thei! )oice at the end of a statement, e+p!essing unce!taint%. ,o! e+ample, #What school do %ou attend( -ton .ollege($ Speak less frequently veruse qualifiers: /fo! e+ample, # Think that...$0 !pologise more: /fo! instance, # 'm so!!%, but think that...$0 !void coarse language or expletives Use indirect commands and requests: /fo! e+ample, #1%, isn't it cold in he!e($ 2 !eall% a !e*uest to tu!n the heat on o! close a window0 Use more intensifiers: especiall% so and )e!% /fo! instance, # am so glad %ou came3$0 "ack a sense of humour: women do not tell 4okes well and often don't unde!stand the punch line of 4okes.

Zimmerman and Wes

This is the theo!% that in mi+ed2se+ con)e!sations men are more likely to interrupt than women# t uses a fai!l% old stud% of a small sample of con)e!sations, !eco!ded b% 5on 6imme!man and .andace West at the 7anta 8a!ba!a campus of the 9ni)e!sit% of .alifo!nia in 1975. The% !epo!t that in 11 con)e!sations between men and women, men used :; inte!!uptions, but women onl% two. <eoff!e% 8eattie, of 7heffield 9ni)e!sit%, points out /w!iting in =ew 7cientist maga>ine in 19?@0& AThe p!oblem with this is that %ou might simpl% ha)e one )e!% chatt% man in the stud% which has a disp!opo!tionate effect on the total.A 8eattie goes on to show& AWh% do inte!!uptions necessa!il% !eflect dominance( .an inte!!uptions not a!ise f!om othe! sou!ces( 5o some inte!!uptions not !eflect inte!est and in)ol)ement(A

!ea ie found that women and men interrupted with more or less equal frequency /men B:.1,
women BB.?0 2 so men did inte!!upt mo!e, but b% a ma!gin so slight as not to be statisticall% significant. 'et 8eattie's findings a!e not *uoted so often as those of 6imme!man and West. Wh% is this( 8ecause the% do not fit what someone wanted to show( C! because 8eattie's wo!k is in some othe! wa% less )aluable(

"ame#a Fis$man a!gues in nte!action& the Wo!k Women 5o /19?B0 that

conversation $etween the sexes sometimes fails% not $ecause of anything inherent in the way women talk% $ut $ecause of how men respond% or don&t respond# Women ask *uestions to t!% to get a !esponse f!om men, not because of thei! pe!sonalit% weaknesses.

Debora$ Tannen has summa!i>ed he! book 'ou Dust 5on't 9nde!stand in an a!ticle
in which she !ep!esents male and female language use in a se!ies of si+ cont!asts. These a!e& 7tatus )s. suppo!t ndependence )s. intimac% "d)ice )s. unde!standing nfo!mation )s. feelings C!de!s )s. p!oposals .onflict )s. comp!omise n each case, the male cha!acte!istic /that is, the one that is 4udged to be mo!e t%picall% male0 comes fi!st. What a!e these distinctions( See the extra sheet'

"e er Tr%d&i## made a detailed stud% in which sub4ects we!e g!ouped b% social class and
se+. Ee in)ited them to speak in a )a!iet% of situations, befo!e asking them to !ead a passage that contained wo!ds whe!e the speake! might use one o! othe! of two speech sounds. "n e+ample would be )e!bs ending in 2ing, whe!e T!udgill wanted to see whethe! the speake! d!opped the final g and p!onounced this as 2in'. (rudgill found that men were less likely and women more likely to use the prestige pronunciation of certain speech sounds# n aiming fo! highe! p!estige /abo)e that of thei! obse!)ed social class0 the women tended towa!ds h%pe!co!!ectness. The men would often use a low p!estige p!onunciation 2 the!eb% seeking co)e!t /hidden0 p!estige b% appea!ing #tough$ o! #down to ea!th$.

'ennifer (oa es looks at all2female con)e!sation and builds on 5ebo!ah Tannen's

ideas. She argues that all)woman conversation can fall into one of the following categories: House (alk 2 its distinguishing function is the e+change of info!mation and !esou!ces connected with the female !ole as an occupation. Scandal 2 a conside!ed 4udging of the beha)iou! of othe!s, and women in pa!ticula!. t is usuall% made in te!ms of the domestic mo!alit%, of which women ha)e been appointed gua!dians. *itching 2 this is the o)e!t e+p!ession of womenFs ange! at thei! !est!icted !ole and infe!io! status. The% e+p!ess this in p!i)ate and to othe! women onl%. The women who bitch a!e not e+pecting changeG the% want onl% to make thei! complaints in an en)i!onment whe!e thei! ange! will be unde!stood and e+pected. +hatting 2 this is the most intimate fo!m of gossip, a mutual self2disclosu!e, a t!ansaction whe!e women use to thei! own ad)antage the skills the% ha)e lea!ned as pa!t of thei! 4ob of nu!tu!ing othe!s.

Debora$ (ameron says women have $een instructed in the proper ways of
talking just as they have $een instructed in the proper ways of dressing , in the use of cosmetics, and in othe! #feminine$ kinds of beha)iou!. This acceptance of a #p!ope!$ speech st%le, .ame!on desc!ibes /in he! 1995 book of the same name0 as #)e!bal h%giene$.

Gare $ Da)ies said that if you spend your whole exam answer just listing theories
and not discussing the data he will come after you with a heavy shovel# Too man% candidates ha)e spent the whole e+am hou! talking about the a!guments between 6imme!man, West and 8eatie and ha)e done badl%. The e+amine! alwa%s takes ca!e to sa% this is not a sociolog% e+am. Spend less time learning the names , though it is nice to $e a$le to throw these in , and focus on the ideas% which are in $old% and apply them to the data# "nd do some !e)ision3