Language & Gender

Language and Gender

Units of analysis:

·         Gender Exclusive Versus Gender Preferential Language Differences

o   Arawak/Carib

o   Men’s languages (secret languages) associated with patrilineal cultures (LONGHOUSE)

o   Trade jargons?

o   Where they exist, reflect gender exclusive roles

·         Sex PREFERENTIAL  Problems: Sexism in Language
---Is language sexist or is culture sexist

o   Gender INCLUSIVE language (from psychology text)

"The intent of this is to highlight a few areas where we still find exclusivity or a sense of hierarchy in the use of language to place one group of people below others, creating or perpetuating negative social stereotypes.

Given the spirit of inclusivity in our culture, some suggestions are provided here to avoid derogatory language. The examples are by no means comprehensive, but serve to remind us of areas where language discrimination still exists and causes unnecessary misunderstandings in our daily communication with the general public. The spirit of the "title" can be summed up in three general principles:

• Don't single out a person's sex, race, ethnicity, or other personal traits or characteristics (such as sexual orientation, age, or a disability) when it has no direct bearing on the topic at hand. In other words, don't create or promote stereotype based on unavoidable human characteristics.
• Be consistent in your description of members of a group: Don't single out women to describe their physical beauty, clothes or accessories or note a disabled person's use of an aid, or refer to the race of the only minority in a group unless it is at that individual's request.
• Keep in mind that use of inclusive language is for general cases. Direct requests by individuals take precedence over general rules (e.g., Mrs. John Doe requests that her own name not be used). "

• Making Distinctions: The good, the bad & the ugly
• Mailman?
• Actor/waiter/steward/mailman VS  doctor/lawyer/professor/president
• Are there gender neutral pronouns? (guys in Philadelphia)
• Designating Status & Hierarchy:
• Does Language REFLECT gender relations?
• Does Language CREATE gender distinctions?
• A bit of both?

Explanations for Differences:

• SOCIAL STATUS EXPLANATIONS: women are more status conscious than men
• WOMEN AS GUARDIANS OF SOCIAL VALUES
• Better behavior is expected of women
• Little boys are allowed more freedom than little girls in speech and other socially acceptable behavior
• SUBORDINATE GROUP MUST BE POLITE
• Looking for status recognition in larger society
• Protecting “face” (Goffman)/avoiding offence to others
• Children (less power & status) also expected to use polite forms
• VERNACULAR FORMS EXPRESS MACHISMO
• Solidarity
• Carry covert prestige for men (but not for women)
• Standard forms are associated with femininity (covert power for women)
• Rejection of “school marm” (taught) speech by female teachers
• OBSERVER’S BIAS
• Women interviewed want to make a better impression (aware of status marked setting)
• Women’s “social class” may be misidentified as her husband’s

• Signaling Gender
• Structural differences
• Pronunciation
• Grammar
• Lexicon
• Homosexual speech
• Women’s Speech: Characteristics
• General
• Conservative (more standard)
• Crossover phenomenon
• Way to advance status as lower status gender?
• Raise children-provide good language role model?
• Polite/formal
• Nonverbal communication
• Kinesics
• Proxemics
• Touching (touched more often in mixed gender & touch more)

TANNEN FILM

PIERCE LECTURE 

Distinctive aspects of MALE SPEECH

• regarded as normative language
• referential and competitive
• swearing and use of taboo words acceptable
• vernacular often preferred to more correct forms
• blunt imperatives are customary
• interrupting the speech of others is usual
• bald criticism acceptable
• questions are more frequently asked
• compliments are minimized
• apologies are minimized
• language is used as a tool of power
• topics of conversation are mainly:
• politics, economics, money, carer, job, sports, cars, women, sex

 Distinctive Aspects of FEMALE SPEECH 

• regarded as deviant language
• affective and collaborative
• hedges are common
• tag questions are common
• super polite forms are normal

These features can make female speech appear mopre tentative than male speech.

• empty adjectives are used (sweet, divine, adorable)
• intensifiers are frequent (really, so, well)
• hypercorrect grammer and pronunciation are preferred
• lack of sense of humor; less joke telling
• directy speech is used (She said to me...)
• special vocabulary (colors, etc.)
• a question intonation used in declarative statements
• topics of conversation:
• self, friends, body issues, family, domestic issues, womens problems

Gender and Non-Verbal Communication

Some differences are dependent on age and culture.

-Remember, these studies are based on tendencies and cannot predict
individual behavior.

Females:

• Claim less territory as their own. 
• Women stand closer to each other in conversation. 
• Women use more eye contact than men.
• Women use more facial expression and are generally more expressive.
• Women are more likely to return a smile when smiled at.
• Women smile more.
• Women take up less space–they hold legs more together and keep arms
  close to their bodies.
• Women stand farther away from people who speak loudly
• Women use fewer gestures than men.
• Women use more gestures when seeking approval. 
• Women tend to cross legs at the knees or cross ankles with knees slightly apart.
• Women play with hair or clothing, and place their hands in their laps.
• Women do not necessarily interpret a man's touch as a sexual invitation
• Women tend to keep hands on the arms of a chair.
• Women are approached by both sexes more closely than are men.

Males:                                                                                                                                                                                               

• Men maintain greater distance from each other. 
• Men use less eye contact. 
• Men reveal less emotion than women through facial expressions. 
• Men smile less than women. 
• Men tend to have legs apart at 10-15 degree angle and hold arms 5-10 degrees away
  from their bodies. 
• Men maintain the same distance whether people speak loudly or normally. 
• Men use more gestures than women in general social situations. 
• Men use about the same amount of gestures with men or women. 
• Men tend to sit with legs apart or with legs stretched out in front of them
  and ankles crossed. 
• Men use sweeping arm and hand gestures. 
• Men have more negative reactions to crowding. 
• Men often interpret a woman’s touch as a  sexual invitation. 
• Men rarely keep hands on the arms of chairs.