Language and genderdoc1Word文件下载.docx

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∙1Studiesoflanguageandgender

∙2Speechpracticesassociatedwithgender

o2.1Minimalresponses

o2.2Questions

o2.3Turn-taking

o2.4Changingthetopicofconversation

o2.5Self-disclosure

o2.6Verbalaggression

o2.7Listeningandattentiveness

o2.8Dominanceversussubjection

o2.9Politeness

∙3Gender-specificvocabulary

∙4Seealso

∙5Externallinks

∙6References

Studiesoflanguageandgender[edit]

In1975RobinLakoffidentifieda"

women'

sregister,"

whichshearguedservedtomaintainwomen'

s（inferior）roleinsociety.[3]Lakoffarguedthatwomentendtouselinguisticformsthatreflectandreinforceasubordinaterole.Theseincludetagquestions,questionintonation,and"

weak"

directives,amongothers（seealsoSpeechpracticesassociatedwithgender,below）.[4]

StudiessuchasLakoff'

shavebeenlabeledthe"

deficitapproach,"

sincetheypositthatonegenderisdeficientintermsoftheother.Descriptionsofwomen'

sspeechasdeficientcanactuallybedatedasfarbackasOttoJespersen'

s"

TheWoman,"

achapterinhis1922bookLanguage:

ItsNatureandDevelopment.Jespersen'

sideathatwomen'

sspeechisdeficientrelativetoamalenormwentlargelyunchallengeduntilLakoff'

sworkappearedfiftyyearslater.[4]Nevertheless,despitethepoliticalincorrectnessofthechapter'

slanguagefromamodernperspective,Jespersen'

scontributionsremainrelevant.Theseincludetheprospectoflanguagechangebasedonsocialandgenderedopportunity,lexicalandphonologicaldifferences,andtheideaofgenderlectsandgenderrolesinfluencelanguage.

NotlongafterthepublicationofLanguageandWoman'

sPlace,otherscholarsbegantoproducestudiesthatbothchallengedLakoff'

sargumentsandexpandedthefieldoflanguageandgenderstudies.[2][4]Onerefinementofthedeficitargumentistheso-called"

dominanceapproach,"

whichpositsthatgenderdifferencesinlanguagereflectpowerdifferencesinsociety.[5]

JenniferCoatesoutlinesthehistoricalrangeofapproachestogenderedspeechinherbookWomen,MenandLanguage[6]Shecontraststhefourapproachesknownasthedeficit,dominance,difference,anddynamicapproaches.

"

Deficit"

isanapproachattributedtoJespersen（1922）thatdefinesadultmalelanguageasthestandard,andwomen'

slanguageasdeficient.Thisapproachcreatedadichotomybetweenwomen'

slanguageandmen'

slanguage.Thistriggeredcriticismtotheapproachinthathighlightingissuesinwomen'

slanguagebyusingmen'

sasabenchmark.Assuch,women'

slanguagewasconsideredtohavesomethinginherently'

wrong'

withit.

Dominanceisanapproachwherebythefemalesexisseenasthesubordinategroupwhosedifferenceinstyleofspeechresultsfrommalesupremacyandalsopossiblyaneffectofpatriarchy.Thisresultsinaprimarilymale-centeredlanguage.ScholarssuchasDaleSpender[7]andDonZimmermanandCandaceWest[8]ascribetothisview.

Differenceisanapproachofequality,differentiatingmenandwomenasbelongingtodifferent'

sub-cultures'

astheyhavebeensocialisedtodososincechildhood.Thisthenresultsinthevaryingcommunicativestylesofmenandwomen.DeborahTannenisamajoradvocateofthisposition.[9]Tannencomparesgenderdifferencesinlanguagetoculturaldifferences.Comparingconversationalgoals,shearguesthatmentendtousea"

reportstyle,"

aimingtocommunicatefactualinformation,whereaswomenmoreoftenusea"

rapportstyle,"

whichismoreconcernedwithbuildingandmaintainingrelationships.[9]

The"

dynamic"

or"

socialconstructionist"

approachis,asCoatesdescribes,themostcurrentapproachtolanguageandgender.Insteadofspeechfallingintoanaturalgenderedcategory,thedynamicnatureandmultiplefactorsofaninteractionhelpasociallyappropriategenderedconstruct.Assuch,WestandZimmerman（1987）[10]describetheseconstructsas"

doinggender"

insteadofthespeechitselfnecessarilybeingclassifiedinaparticularcategory.Thisistosaythatthesesocialconstructs,whileaffiliatedwithparticulargenders,canbeutilizedbyspeakersastheyseefit.

ScholarsincludingTannenandothersarguethatdifferencesarepervasiveacrossmedia,includingface-to-faceconversation,[11][12]writtenessaysofprimaryschoolchildren,[13]email,[14]andeventoiletgraffiti.[15]

DeborahCameron,amongotherscholars,arguesthatthereareproblemswithboththedominanceandthedifferenceapproach.Cameronnotesthatthroughoutthehistoryofscholarshiponlanguageandgendermale-associatedformshavebeenseenastheunmarkednormfromwhichthefemaledeviates.[16]Forexamplethenorm'

manager'

becomesthemarkedform'

manageress'

whenreferringtoafemalecounterpart.Ontheotherhand,Cameronarguesthatwhatthedifferenceapproachlabelsasdifferentwaysofusingorunderstandinglanguageareactuallydisplaysofdifferentialpower.Cameronsuggests,"

Itiscomfortingtobetoldthatnobodyneedsto'

feelawful'

:

thattherearenorealconflicts,onlymisunderstandings.[...]ButtheresearchevidencedoesnotsupporttheclaimsmadebyTannenandothersaboutthenature,thecauses,andtheprevalenceofmale-femalemiscommunication."

[17]Shearguesthatsocialdifferencesbetweenmen'

sandwomen'

srolesarenotclearlyreflectedinlanguageuse.OneadditionalexampleisastudyshehasdoneoncallcenteroperatorsintheUK,wheretheseoperatorsaretrainedtobescriptedinwhattheysayandtoperformthenecessary'

emotionallabor'

（smiling,expressiveintonation,showingrapport/empathyandgivingminimalresponses）fortheircustomer-callers.Thisemotionallaboriscommonlyassociatedwiththefemininedomain,andthecallcenterserviceworkersarealsotypicallyfemales.However,themaleworkersinthiscallcenterdonotorienttothecovertlygenderedmeaningswhentheyaretaskedtoperformthisemotionallabor.Whilethisdoesnotmeanthatthe'

woman'

slanguage'

isrevalued,nordoesthisnecessarilycallforafeministcelebration,Cameronhighlightsthatitispossiblethatwithtime,moremenmayworkinthisserviceindustry,andthismayleadtoasubsequent"

de-gendering"

ofthislinguisticstyle.[18]

Communicationstylesarealwaysaproductofcontext,andassuch,genderdifferencestendtobemostpronouncedinsingle-gendergroups.Oneexplanationforthis,isthatpeopleaccommodatetheirlanguagetowardsthestyleofthepersontheyareinteractingwith.Thus,inamixed-gendergroup,genderdifferencestendtobelesspronounced.Asimilarlyimportantobservationisthatthisaccommodationisusuallytowardsthelanguagestyle,notthegenderoftheperson.Thatis,apoliteandempathicmalewilltendtobeaccommodatedtoonthebasisoftheirbeingpoliteandempathic,ratherthantheirbeingmale.[19]

However,Ochs（1992）arguesthatgendercanbeindexeddirectlyandindirectly.[20]Directindexicalityistheprimaryrelationshipbetweenlinguisticsresources（suchaslexicon,morphology,syntax,phonology,dialectandlanguage）andgender.Forexample,thepronouns"

he"

and"

she"

directlyindexes"

male"

female"

.However,therecanbeasecondaryrelationshipbetweenlinguisticresourcesandgenderwherethelinguisticresourcescanindexcertainacts,activitiesorstanceswhichthenindirectlyindexgender.Inotherwords,theselinguisticresourceshelpconstitutegender.ExamplesincludetheJapaneseparticles"

wa"

ze"

.Theformerdirectlyindexdelicateintensity,whichthenindirectlyindexesthefemale"

voice"

whilethelatterdirectlyindexescoarseintensity,whichthenindirectlyindexesthemale"

Womenaregenerallybelievedtospeakabetter"

language"

thenmendo.Thisisaconstantmisconception,butscholarsbelievethatnogenderspeaksabetterlanguage,butthateachgenderinsteadspeaksitsownuniquelanguage.[21]Thisnotionhassparkedfurtherresearchintothestudyofthedifferencesbetweenthewaymenandwomencommunicate.

Speechpracticesassociatedwithgender[edit]

Notallmembersofaparticularsexmayfollowthespecificgenderrolesthatareprescribedbysociety.[22]Thepatternsingenderandcommunicationthatfollowareonlythenormsforeachgender,andnoteverymemberofthecorrespondingsexmayfitintothosepatterns.

Minimalresponses[edit]

Oneofthewaysinwhichthecommunicativebehaviorofmenandwomendifferisintheiruseofminimalresponses,i.e.,paralinguisticfeaturessuchas‘mhm’and‘yeah’,whichisbehaviourassociat