GENDERED LANGUAGES: THE CASE OF ENGLISH AND

ROMANIAN
Costin Valentin Oancea
Universit o! "#c$arest
Intro%#ction:
We are surrounded in our everyday lives by powerful commonsense ideas about speech
which tell us that men and women communicate and use language in different ways.
Nowadays, the field of language and gender is very active in sociolinguistics causing an
explosion of research in this domain. A milestone in the study of gender differences is
Robin Lakoffs book Language and Womens Place published in !"#$ in which she
distinguishes between womens language and mens language. %he aim of this paper
is threefold& to discuss gender differences in 'nglish, present different opinions in the
linguistic literature and establish whether Romanian makes gender(based distinctions,
based on the research of )ornoiu *+,,+, +,,-. and on a research pro/ect that 0 conducted
among Romanian 1.A. students at the 2niversity of 3ucharest.
&' Gen%er %i!!erences in En(lis$
1eyerhoff *+,,4& +,!. states that in the !"-,s, it was not at all unusual for a
sociolinguist to describe their interests as being 5language and sex6. Nowadays, the term
sex has largely been replaced by the term gender. 3efore embarking on our discussion
about gender and language, first a distinction must be made between two terms& sex and
gender. According to 'ckert and 1c7onnel(8inet *+,,9& !,. sex is a biological
categori:ation based primarily on reproductive potential, whereas gender is the social
elaboration of biological sex. 8ender builds on biological sex, it exaggerates biological
difference and, indeed, it carries biological difference into domains in which it is
completely irrelevant. ;or instance, there is no biological reason why women should wear
skirts and men not, or why women should have red toenails and men should not. %rudgill
*+,,,& 4!. claims that 5languages differ considerably in the extent to which sex
differences are lexicali:ed.6 )e provides an example from 8erman where it is necessary
to specify whether a friend is a male, Freund, or female, Freudin. 0n Romanian is exactly
the same, prieten 5male friend6 and prieten 5female friend6. 0n 'nglish there is no such
!
distinction. 1eyerhoff *+,,4& +,!. explains that the term sex is restricted in
sociolinguistics and it refers to a biologically or physiologically based distinction
between males and females, as opposed to the social notion of gender. Gender is used in
sociolinguistics to indicate a social identity that emerges or is constructed through social
actions. %his distinction is important because sex must be understood as something that
we are born with and gender as something that defines us, as a social variable.
0n the linguistic literature one of the most important phonological differences
between the speech of men and women can be found in 8ros <entre, an Amerindian
language spoken in the northeast of the 2nited =tates. 0n 8ros <entre women have
palatali:ed velar stops whereas men have palatali:ed dental stops *e.g. women say kjatsa
5bread6, but men pronounce it djatsa.. Any use of female pronunciations by males is
likely to be regarded as a sign of effeminacy *Wardhaugh, +,,4& 9!-.. 0n his analysis on
lexical differences in 8ros <entre, )arrison *+,,#. says that for 5hello6 men use the word
wei and women say ao.
)aas *!">>. was among the first who noticed that in the Amerindian language
?oasati, a language of the 1uskogean family spoken in southwestern Louisiana, among
other gender differences, men add @sA at the end of verbs while women do not *e.g. male
lakws Bhe is lifting it in contrast with the female lakw..
!
What is interesting is that this
kind of pronunciation was on the verge of extinction due to the fact that girls and young
women no longer used these forms. %rudgill *+,,,& 4#. also discusses the differences
between womens language and mens language in ?oasati and provides the following
examples&
male female
B)e is saying Cka&sC CkDC
BEont lift itF ClakauGi&sC ClakauGinC
B)e is peeling it CmolsC CmolC
BHou are building a fire Co&scC Co&stC
What is striking is that, from the list, these differences appear to be rather hapha:ard, but
they are in fact entirely predictable according to a series of fairly complicated rules.
%rudgill explains that there is also a good reason to believe that the same kind of
+
differentiation formerly existed in other 1uskogean languages, but that in these
languages the womens varieties have died out. %his is confirmed by the fact that in
?oasati itself it was only the older women who preserved the distinction forms. Hounger
women and girls used the male forms. Another important aspect in ?oasati is that older
speakers, especially men, tended to say, when asked, that they thought the womens
variety was etter than that used by men. *%rudgill, +,,,& 4".
As already stated above, a milestone in the study of gender differences is Lakoff
*!"#$. which marked a turning point in sociolinguistics. Lakoffs paper was severely
critici:ed because her claims 5are based on no empirical evidence6 *7oates !""9. and
5Lakoffs evidence is purely impressionistic6 *7oates, !""9., )olmes *+,,!., 7heshire
*+,,>.. 0t is true that Lakoffs paper lacks empirical evidence and it is out(of(date,
however, it represents a good starting point in the analysis of gender differences.
;rom a morphological and lexical point of view, Lakoff *!"#$. asserts that
women use colour words like& eige! ecru! mau"e! la"ender! a#uamarine, but most men
do not. )owever, a remark is in order here. Although most men do not use these words,
they have them in their vocabulary. Also, they can certainly distinguish these coloursI it is
/ust that they simply prefer not to use these terms. %he American sociolinguist further
claims that ad/ectives such as adorale! c$arming! di"ine! lo"el%! sweet are also
commonly used by women and very rarely by men. =he also conducts an experiment to
identify lexical characteristics of womens language and mens language in point of
vocabulary, by presenting a pair of sentences to native speakers of standard American
'nglish&
*!. a. Jh dear, youve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again.
b. =hit, youve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again.
We can predict that the first sentence was uttered by a woman and the second one by a
man. While this was possible in the mid(seventies, nowadays this is no longer true. 1ore
and more women and teenagers *namely girls. use the second sentence in the 2nited
=tates. Also, this may not be true for native speakers of 3ritish 'nglish, because, the
3ritish usually do not use the word s$it. 0nstead of s$it they would probably say lood%
9
$ell, lime%, rudd%, or damn it. ;rom this point of view Lakoffs work now seems out(
dated and out of tune with modern attitudes.
Language commentators have little trouble in identifying what they think to be
womens language, though their lists usually have no validity. %he view that women use
certain words and have a special vocabulary has been held over three centuries, as
)ornoiu *+,,+& !!#. puts it. =he provides a list of words that have been ascribed to
women&
a$&! o$&! suc$! so! 'ine! 'lirtation! "ast(l%)! 'rig$t'ul *!-
th
century.
implicit! splendid! prett%! $orrile! unpleasant *!"
th
century.
lo"el%! darling! sweet! too! aw'ull%! sweetie! doll! all rig$tie! its% its%! mau"e!
wonder'ul! di"ine! dream%! $ea"enl%! cute! powder room! $ank%! $one%! poor
t$ing! $orrid! ecru *+,
th
century.
Jne can notice that ad/ectives and adverbs are more predominant in womens vocabulary.
According to 7oates *+,,>&!,., commentary on gender differences in vocabulary was
Kuite widespread in eighteenth(century writings, as demonstrated below. %he following
excerpt written by Richard 7ambridge for *$e World of !+ Eecember !#$> provides
some insight into how womens language was perceived in those times&
0 must beg leaveLto doubt the property of /oining to the fixed and permanent standard of
language a vocabulary of words which perish and are forgot within the compass of a year.
%hat we are obliged to the ladies for most of these ornaments to our language, 0 readily
acknowledge. *as Kuoted in 7oates, +,,>& !,.
What Richard 7ambridge is actually implying is that womens vocabulary is ephemeral
and what they say is not important. Jn the other hand, at the beginning of the twentieth
century, the Eanish linguist Jtto Mespersen analy:ed the evolution of vocabulary, and
how women and men use vocabulary. )is research pointed out that it is actually men who
introduce 5new and fresh expressions6 and not women but men are 5the chief renovators
of language6. *Mespersen, !"++& +>#.
7oates *+,,>& !,. claims that women use excessive adverbial forms. Lord
7hesterfield writing in *$e World of $ Eecember !#$> also complains about womens
>
excessive use of certain adverbial forms& 5A woman is "astl% obliged, or "astl% offended,
"astl% glad, or "astl% sorry.6 *italics mine, 7.J.
A seventeenth century writer comments on the differences between mens speech and
womens speech. According to him&
%he men have a great many expressions peculiar to them, which the women understand
but never pronounce themselves. Jn the other hand the women have words and phrases
which the men never use, or they would be laughed to scorn. %hus it happens that in their
conversations it often seems as if the women had another language than the men. *as
Kuoted in %rudgill *+,,,& 4$..

;rom the evidence supplied by this seventeenth(century writer, it seems certain that,
although there were clear differences between mens and womens speech, only a
relatively small number of vocabulary items were involved.
All these seventeenth and eighteenth century writers define language in terms of
male languageI thus, the way men talk was seen as the norm, while womens language
was seen as deviant. Womens language was also described as weak and unassertive, in
other words, as deficient.
0n the !"-,s, sociolinguists turned their attention to broader aspects& the
conversational strategies characteristic of female speakers. According to 7oates *+,,#.,
Lakoff *!"#$., these strategies include&
a. minimal responses *e.g. %ea$! a$a! m$m.
b. lexical hedges or fillers *e.g. + mean! %ou know! ma%e! well! %ou see! sort o'.
c. tag Kuestions *e.g. ,$es adorale! isnt s$e-.
d. rising intonation in declaratives
e. empty ad/ectives *e.g. eauti'ul! adorale! di"ine! c$arming! lo"el%! cute.
f. colour terms *e.g. eige, mau"e! ecru! a#uamarine! magenta.
g. intensifiers such as& just! so *e.g. 0m so glad youve come.
h. Bsuper(polite forms * indirect reKuests, euphemisms.
i. Bhypercorrect grammar *consistent use of standard verb forms.
/. emphatic stress *e.g. +t was a ./+LL+01* per'ormance..
$
k. commands
l. directives
%he 'nglish language, as we know, makes certain gender(based distinctions, for example&
gentleman2lad%I actor2actressI duke2duc$essI king2#ueenI waiter2waitressI widower2
widowI ac$elor2spinster, etc.
%he Nenguin Eictionary of American 'nglish 2sage and =tyle *+,,+. has a rather
peculiar entry about the distinction between ac$elor and spinster. A movie review said&
5William )urt plays 8raham )olt, a male spinster who shocks neighbours when he
decides to adopt a !,(year(old.6 *italics mine, 7.J.
51ale spinster6 is a contradictory form /ust as 5female bachelor6 is. A spinster is a
female by definition& =he is a woman beyond the usual age for marrying who has not
been married. %he actor described in the movie review plays a bachelor. Numerous
reliable dictionaries define ac$elor as 5an unmarried man6. )owever, this definition is
not complete. %he word usually implied that the man *i. is of the usual age for marrying,
or beyond, and *ii. has never been married. At least two dictionaries recogni:e
ac$elorette and the synonymous ac$elor girl. %here is another interesting use of the
word ac$elor. All college graduates irrespective of sex are bachelors of artsCscience, or
some special field, whereas only one male can be a plain bachelor.
All the above arguments and examples clearly indicate that men and women do
use language differently. Jne can notice that these differences between men and womens
use of language are hardly something new. %hey have been recorded and discussed since
the seventeenth century. )owever, these differences tend to change from one generation
to the next one.
0n Wodaks *!""#& >. view 5what it means to be a woman or to be a man @alsoA changes
from one generation to the next andLvaries between different raciali:ed, ethnic, and
religious groups, as well as for members of different social classes.6 Womens talk has
evolved throughout the years, and it is no longer seen as weak and unassertive, as it was
seen in the eighteenth century for example. Also womens social status has changed.
4
)' Gen%er %i!!erences in Ro*anian
%he first linguist to have ever studied gender(related stereotypes in Romanian was, to my
knowledge, )ornoiu *+,,+, +,,-.. 0n her NhE thesis *)ornoiu, +,,-., she analy:es
womens speec$ and mens speec$, focusing more on Romanian. 3uilding on )ornoius
analysis, 0 conducted a survey among Romanian 1.A. students, studying at the
2niversity of 3ucharest. %he aim of this survey was to identify some gender(related
speech differences in Romanian. 9, graduate students *!$ males and !$ females, aged ++(
+4. were interviewed. 0 devised a set of sentences *given in ! below. to incorporate the
linguistic variables as proposed by Lakoff *!"#$., to distinguish between mens language
and womens language. %he informants were asked to choose between 3 *for those
sentences they think are uttered by a man., F *for those sentences they think are uttered
by a woman. and 34F *for the sentences they think are uttered by both a man and a
woman.. All their answers have been reduced to percentages.
*!. %he list of sentences devised for this survey is the following&
!. AOtept sP mP suni mQine.
+. 1i(am cumpPrat o pereche de pantofi negri Oi o cPmaOP albP.
9. 1i s(a stricat maOina Oi am rPmas Qn cRmp.
>. NPpuOP, poSi sP Qmi aduci o scrumierPT
$. 'ste o persoanP adorabilP, nu cre:iT
4. 'ste o persoanP drPguSP.
#. AO vrea sP plec Qn vacanSP vreo douP sPptPmRni.
-. 7e dracu se QntRmplP cu tineT
". =acoul tPu verde(mPr se asortea:P cu pantalonii Pia de velurP.
!,. 1P simt incrediil
+
de bine.
!!. 1P simt bine.
!+. Umi place modul tPu de a acSiona.
!9. 1P doare(n fund de ce :ice.
!>. Nu Si se pare genialP ideea luiT
!$. Aoleu, am uitat sP cumpPr ciocolatP.
!4. 'ste aOa de frumosF
#
%he informants answers are given below in %able !.
3 F 34F
!. AOtept sP mP suni mQine. ,V 4,V >,V
+. 1i(am cumpPrat o pereche de
pantofi negri Oi o cPmaOP albP.
+,V +,V 4,V
9. 1i s(a stricat maOina Oi am rPmas
Qn cRmp.
4.4V +4,4V 44.4V
>. NPpuOP, poSi sP Qmi aduci o
scrumierPT
-4.4V 4.4V 4.4V
$. 'ste o persoanP adorabilP, nu
cre:iT
4.4V -4.4V 4.4V
4. 'ste o persoanP drPguSP. +,V +4.4V $9.9V
#. AO vrea sP plec Qn vacanSP vreo
douP sPptPmRni.
,V !9.9V -4.4V
-. 7e dracu se QntRmplP cu tineT +,V +4.4V $9.9V
". =acoul tPu verde(mPr se
asortea:P cu pantalonii Pia de
velurP.
4.4V -,V !9.9V
!,. 1P simt incrediil de bine. ,V 44.4V 99.9V
!!. 1P simt bine. >,V ,V 4,V
!+. Umi place modul tPu de a
acSiona.
+,V +,V 4,V
!9. 1P doare(n fund de ce :ice. 4.4V +,V #9.9V
!>. Nu Si se pare genialP ideea luiT ,V #9.9V +4.4V
!$. Aoleu, am uitat sP cumpPr
ciocolatP.
4.4V #9.9V +,V
!4. 'ste aOa de frumosF ,V "9.9V 4.4V
%able !. 3ens language versus Womens language in Romanian
0t can be noticed that there are gender differences in Romanian as well. ;or the
first sentence 4,V of the respondents think that it was uttered by a woman, while >,V
think it was uttered by a men and by a woman. Women are also specialists in colours as
illustrated by sentence number ".-,V of the persons Kuestioned believe that it was said
by a woman, and only 4.4V think that it was uttered by a man. Regarding Bempty
ad/ectives *adorail, Badorable, genial Bbrilliant., sentences number $ and !> prove
that women have a preference for them. Women use tag Kuestions *illustrated by sentence
number $., intensifiers *sentence number !4. and emphatic stress *sentence number !,..
-
=urprisingly, women also use swearing, shown by the percentages for sentence - and !9.
%he use of swearing, however, is influenced by the social background and the social
environment in which women live.
0n addition, as already mentioned, womens language is no longer seen as weak,
unasserti"e as it used to be. 0t is also worth mentioning that the intonation patterns of
men and women vary. ;inally, women use certain patterns associated with politeness,
surprise, emotions more often than men.
According to )olmes *!""$& #. gender differences in patterns of language use can
be explained by the fact that girls and boys are sociali:ed into different cultures. 'ach
group learns appropriate ways of interacting from their same sex peers W including ways
of interacting verbally. Another explanation attributes gender(based differences in
linguistic behaviour to the differential distribution of power in society. 1ens greater
power allows them to define and control situations, and male norms predominate in
interaction.
0t is a fact that women are more polite then men. 7hambers *!""+& !"". claims
that 5over many years women have demonstrated an advantage over men in tests of
fluency, speaking, sentence complexity, analogy, listening, comprehension of both written
and spoken material, vocabulary and spelling.6
0n her analysis of gender(related stereotypes in Romanian, )ornoiu *+,,-& +".
states that 5Romanian women are stereotyped as being sensitive, polite and emphatic in
their use of language, as paying more attention to detail6. %his is also illustrated by the
percentages in table !.
0t was shown that in Romanian a distinction is being made between mens
language and womens language. %here are certain structures used more freKuently by
women than by men in Romanian, as it was shown above. An extremely important factor
in this distinction is society and the social environment. 'ckert and 1c7onnell(8inet
*+,,9& $,. are right when saying that 5the force of gender categories in society makes it
impossible for us to move through our lives in a non(gendered way and impossible not to
behave in a way that brings out gendered behaviour in others.6
"
+' Concl#sion
0n this paper different opinions concerning gender differences were presented. Jbviously,
men and women do use language differently, not only in 'nglish but in Romanian as
well. 0t was shown that Romanian also makes gender(based distinctions. =wearing and
taboo language are also used by women to a certain extent. ;rom a stylistic point of view,
women appear to be more flexible than men, and more polite. 0t was noticed that
womens tone is mild, shows solidarity while mens tone is aggressive and they interact
in ways which maintain and increase their power. 8ender is a key component of identity.
Jur social background and the social environment in which we live also have a great
influence on our vocabulary, in the way we use language. %hese gender(based differences
will always exist and they will evolve and change from one generation to the other.
!,
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!
)aas, as Kuoted in Wardhaugh. +,,4. 0n introduction to ,ociolinguistics, $
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+
=hows emphatic stress.