Deficit Theory- Robin Lakoff
Female speech highlight their relative powerlessness to men.
Result of social expectation of female subordination to males
The main ways this is shown is through:
Dominance Theory- Zimmerman and West, and Dale Spender
Theory conveys that men dominate women in conversation: through frequent interruptions and overlaps from the male over the female in mixed-sex conversations.
Zimmerman and West (1975) found that in 11 mixed sex conversations- there were 46 interruptions from men; whilst only two came from women. In total, 96% of the interruptions came from men.
Dale Spender develops this: due to social patriarchy, androcentric language used: maintains male power, marks male superiority.
Beattie also conducted research of her own and found little significance between the amount of interruptions between men and women in mixed-sex converations. Yet, her work is hardly ever acknowledged or associated with the Dominance Theory: suggesting that a patriarchal society may reject the idea of equality between men and women.
Personality and Social Psychology Review (2007) found that men interrupted conversations more with female spouses/partners that involved disagreement. Whereas, women were found to interrupt conversations more with classmates, parents and children when the topic was revolved around feelings.
*P.S. the fact that many of these theories were established in earlier years such as 1975 shows that they may not be reliable in explaining language between males and females in present day because there has been a lot of social changes in the past 40 years.
Female speech highlight their relative powerlessness to men.
Result of social expectation of female subordination to males
The main ways this is shown is through:
- Hedges- 'I guess', 'I sort of' - MITIGATION
- NEGATIVE Polite forms- 'I’d really appreciate it if..' = hidden directives
- Tag questions = (Holmes, softening- mitigating)
- Emphasise via intensifiers like 'very' and 'so' - GOSSIP
- Empty adjectives- e.g. 'sweet', 'charming'
- Hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation -OVERT PRESTIGE vs COVERT PRESTIGE (men)
- Lack of a sense of humour
- Direct quotations- when referring to previous conversation - gossip
- Special lexicon- e.g. colour. E.g. ‘magenta’
- Question intonation in declarative contexts – this is seeking approval when making a statement and using uncertain questions as answers.
Women are more insecure than men about status = OVERT PRESTIGE, hypercorrect language to assert status -->reflects social expectations "ladylike" behaviour
Men are often associated with 'covert prestige'- using non-SE = tough, rebellious, independence, MASCULINE qualities
William O'Barr and Bowman Atkins in 1980- found some men also displayed Lakoff's features in courtrooms
Holmes (1984), argued that women's language doesn't display a weakness, but a DESIRE TO CO-OPERATE with men
Holmes (1984), argued that women's language doesn't display a weakness, but a DESIRE TO CO-OPERATE with men
Difference Theory- Deborah Tannen
This theory states that men and women belong to difference sub-cultures and preferences: resulting in a clear difference in the way in which each group speaks.
Differences stimulated via socialisation of genders in childhood, NOT biological differences between sexes.
Differences stimulated via socialisation of genders in childhood, NOT biological differences between sexes.
The six main differences Deborah Tannen identified are:
- 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
Jennifer Coates (1989) looked at an all-female conversation and builded on Tannen's ideas. She found that all female talk is co-operative, and that these patterns are not found in mixed-sex talk.
Cameron (2007) argues that there is little difference between the language of men and women, and situation affects how people talk more than gender.
Cameron (2007) argues that there is little difference between the language of men and women, and situation affects how people talk more than gender.
Dominance Theory- Zimmerman and West, and Dale Spender
Theory conveys that men dominate women in conversation: through frequent interruptions and overlaps from the male over the female in mixed-sex conversations.
Zimmerman and West (1975) found that in 11 mixed sex conversations- there were 46 interruptions from men; whilst only two came from women. In total, 96% of the interruptions came from men.
Dale Spender develops this: due to social patriarchy, androcentric language used: maintains male power, marks male superiority.
Beattie also conducted research of her own and found little significance between the amount of interruptions between men and women in mixed-sex converations. Yet, her work is hardly ever acknowledged or associated with the Dominance Theory: suggesting that a patriarchal society may reject the idea of equality between men and women.
Personality and Social Psychology Review (2007) found that men interrupted conversations more with female spouses/partners that involved disagreement. Whereas, women were found to interrupt conversations more with classmates, parents and children when the topic was revolved around feelings.
*P.S. the fact that many of these theories were established in earlier years such as 1975 shows that they may not be reliable in explaining language between males and females in present day because there has been a lot of social changes in the past 40 years.
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