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BYHASAN BILOKCUOĞLU

LANGUAGE & GENDER

Who is possibly talking ?

1-a) oh dear, you’ve put the ice-cream into the refrigerator, again?

1-b)damn ! You’ve put the ice-cream into the refrigerator, again?

2-a) what a divine idea!2-b) what a terrific idea!

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SEX & GENDER:What are the differences?

It is obvious that the men and women who speak a language use it in different ways; therefore, any differences that exist simply reflect the ways in which the sexes relate to each other in a society may make it possible to describe a particular language as “sexist”. These issues have risen discussions in the last decades of the twentieth century, and have been one of the biggest growing areas within sociolinguistics in recent years. In the 1980s, it was normal for a sociolinguist to describe his/her studies as being ‘language and sex’. Yet, during years, the term ‘sex’ has been replaced by the term ‘gender’, of which the difference between the two terms are as follow:

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Miriam Meyerhoff (2006) differentiates the two terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ suggesting that’’

the term ‘sex’ is increasingly restricted in sociolinguistics to refer to a ‘biologically’ or ‘physiologically’ based distinction between males and females, as opposed to the more

social notion of ‘gender’ ‘’ (p.201)According to Meyerhoff (2006) gender is ‘’not

sex of speaker which (largely) reflects biological or physiological differences between people used increasingly in

sociolinguistics to indicate a social identity that emerges or is constructed through social

actions’’ (p.201)

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Whorfian Hypothesis and gender

it suggests that language that we speak affects our thoughts in clear ways - it makes us how we are - that is, what you speak is what/how you think. In the Whorf hypothesis, one cannot think outside the confines of one's language. For example, if you ask German and Spanish speakers to describe the same objects having opposite gender assignment in those two languages, you may get different describtions. A study showed that the descriptions they gave differed in a way predicted by grammatical gender. For example, when asked to describe a "key" — a word that is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish — the German speakers were more likely to use words like "hard," "heavy," "jagged," "metal," "serrated," and "useful," whereas Spanish speakers were more likely to say "golden," "intricate," "little," "lovely," "shiny," and "tiny." To describe a "bridge," which is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish, the German speakers said "beautiful," "elegant," "fragile," "peaceful," "pretty," and "slender," and the Spanish speakers said "big," "dangerous," "long," "strong," "sturdy," and "towering." This was true even though all testing was done in English, a language without grammatical gender.

(http://musingsfromtheshore.blogspot.com/2010/08/whorfian-hypothesis-and-gender.html)

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How Sexist the language of English is !

Use of Pronouns: he , she Intonation differences: women-rising intonation/ tag questions (it is

claimed that women use tag questions more than men because they are not sure whether waht they say is true or not, thus they employ tag questions to get a clarification)

Vocabulary differences: colours (women use more words for colours!), adjectives, addressing, titles... actor, actress

Baron, Baroness ,Count, Countess , Duke, Duchess,Emperor, Empress,giant, giantess,host, hostess,lion, lioness, manager, manageress,master, mistress,murderer, murderess,priest, priestess,Prince, Princess,poet, poetess,waiter, waitress, bridegroom, bride, widower, widow,boy-friend, girl-friend,grandfather, grandmother,great grandfather, great grandmother, grandson, granddaughter,great grandson,great granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law,brother-in-law, sister-in-law,son-in-law, daughter-in-law,landlord, landlady,manservant, maidservant, step-father, step-mother,step-son, step-daughter, Godfather, Godmother, Godson, Goddaughter

Animals:tom, tib (cat), tom, tib (elephant),bull, cow,boar, sow,buck, roe, ram, ewe, etc.

(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_list_100_examples_of_gender_of_noun)

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Grammatical Gender

A language has 'gender-specific pronouns' when personal pronouns have different forms according to the gender of their referents.

The English language has three gender-specific pronouns in the 3rd. person singular, whose forms are gender-specific: he (masculine), she (feminine), and it (neuter, used for objects, abstractions, and most animals). The other English pronouns (I, you, they...) do not make gender distinctions; i.e., they are genderless or gender-neutral.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun)

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Indo-European Languages

In most Indo-European languages (though not in the modern Indo-Iranian languages) third-person pronouns are gender-specific, while first and second person pronouns are not.

For example, in French, First person singular je ('I'), me ('me') Second person singular (familiar) tu, te ('you') First person plural nous ('we', 'us') Second person plural vous ('you') Third person possessives leur ('their') and son/sa/ses ('his'/'her'/'its'/'their') are all gender-inclusive; but Third person pronouns il ('he'), le ('him'), ils ('they', referring to an all-male or mixed-gender group) are all

masculine. Third person pronouns elle ('she'), la ('her') and elles ('they', referring to an all-female group) are all

feminine. In some languages (including most modern Germanic languages) this distinction is neutralised in the plural:

English and Modern Russian both have gender-inclusive forms for the third person plural pronouns: 'they'/'them' and они (oni).

Where a language has grammatical gender, gendered pronouns are sometimes used according to the grammatical gender of their antecedent, as French il ('he') for le livre ('the book' - masculine), whereas in Spanish, el libro is also masculine, but it would not be considered correct to refer to it by using the masculine pronoun él. Instead, something such as "Where is the book?" "It is on the table", would be rendered as "¿Dónde está el libro?" "Está sobre la mesa" where the pronoun is omitted. However, when the pronoun is used as a direct object, gender-specific forms reappear in Spanish. The sentence I can't find it. (always referring to the masculine noun libro (book) would be No lo encuentro, whereas if I can't find it refers to a magazine (revista in Spanish, which is feminine) then the sentence would be No la encuentro.

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Icelandic

Icelandic uses a similar system to other Germanic languages in distinguishing three 3rd-person genders in the singular - hann (masculine gender), hún (feminine gender), það (neuter gender). However it also uses this three-way distinction in the plural: þeir (m. only), þær (f. only), þau (n., which includes mixed gender). It is therefore possible to be gender-specific in all circumstances should one wish - although of course þau can be used for gender-inclusiveness. Otherwise the form used is determined grammatically (i.e., by the gender of the noun replaced). In general statements the use of menn could be preferable as it is less specific than þau.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun)

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Norwegian

In Norwegian a new word is proposed, hin ('sie' or 'hir') to fill the gap between the third person pronouns hun ('her') and han ('him'). Hin is used, but in limited groups; it is not yet embraced by society as a whole. One can also use man or en or den (en means 'one'). These three are considered impersonal.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun)

Swedish

In some dialects of the Swedish language there is a word hän (borrowed from Finnish) that means either han ('he') or hon ('she').It has spread to hacker slang. Some more common gender-inclusive pronouns however are hen ('he'/'she') and henom ('him'/'her').[The Swedish Language Council recommends den ('it') for third person singular of indefinite gender. However, large parts of the Swedish LGBT community consider this a derogatory term, since it implies that the person referred to is linguistically equated with a lifeless thing. Instead the terms hen and henom is preferred if one wants to refer to someone without a definite placement inside the binary system of masculine and feminine.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun)

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Japanese

Written Japanese underwent a transition similar to Chinese when an archaic demonstrative kare ( 彼 ) was resurrected to translate the 'he' of European languages, while a word kanojo ( 彼女 ) was invented to translate 'she'. In the spoken language, the words carry the connotation of boyfriend and girlfriend respectively, and instead ano hito ( あの人 , literally 'that person') is used in those cases where a pronoun is required. Unlike Western languages, pronouns in Japanese are a type of nouns rather than a distinct class.

Nevertheless, pronouns in Japanese usually have traditionally carried a strong gender connotation (though it has somewhat weakened nowadays), even first-person ones. For instance, ore ( 俺 or オレ ) or boku ( 僕 or ボク ) is used as 'I'/'me' mainly by men (women have begun using boku nowadays), while watashi ( 私 or わたし ) or atashi ( あたし or アタシ ) is used by females.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_pronoun)

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Novial

Novial (Nov International Auxiliari Lingue) is an international auxiliary language created by Otto Jespersen(1928), a linguist from Denmark. Jespersen recognized a need for an international auxiliary language and thought there were many problems with Esperanto. With Novial he tried to cure those problems. Novial was designed to be easy to learn with vocabulary taken mainly from Germanic and Romance languages, and grammar based mainly on English.

In Novial the third person pronoun le means 'he' or 'she' or 'it'. There are also the gender-specific pronouns lo, la and lu ('he', 'she', and 'it', respectively). Each has a corresponding plural les, los, las and lus all translated as 'they' in English.

(http://www.omniglot.com/writing/novial.htm)

Gender Differences in Language Use(Tannen’s views)

MALE

.Avoid eye contact Physical Orientation

.Talk for status Status&Connection

.From decision to discussion

Directness&Indirectness

.Talkative in public, quiet in private Public&Private talk

.Fight for fun Ritual Opposition

.’Trouble talk’ avoided, would not put status in risk Conversational Style

(http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gender.htm)

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Gender Differences in Language Use(Tannen’s views)

FEMALE PHYSICAL ORENTATION Use eyes contact

Talk for solidarity STATUS&CONNECTION

From discussion to decision DIRECTNESS&INDIRECTNESS

Quiet in public, talkative in private PUBLIC&PRIVATE TALK

May fight, but not for fun RITUAL OPPOSITION

‘Trouble talk’ used to create rapport CONVERSATIONAL STYLE

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Holmes (1998)

Holmes (1998) suggested some testable claims of what she named ‘sociolinguistic universal tendencies’. The followings are five of them:

Women and men develop different patterns of language use Women tend to focus on the affective functions of an

interaction more than men do.Women tend to use linguistic devices that stress solidarity

more than men do.Women tend to interact in ways which will maintain and

increase solidarity; yet, men (especially in formal context) tend to interact in ways which will maintain and increase their power and status.

Women are stylistically more flexible than men.

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George Keith and John Shuttleworh

George Keith and John Shuttleworh (2008) in ‘Living Language’ (p.222) suggest that:

women - talk more than men, talk too much, are more polite, are indecisive/hesitant, complain and nag, ask more questions, support each other, are more co-operative

men - swear more, don't talk about emotions, talk about sport more, talk about women and machines in the same way, insult each other frequently, are competitive in conversation, dominate conversation, speak with more authority, give more commands, interrupt more.

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Jennifer Coates

Jennifer Coates (1993) claims that ;Men will often reject a topic of conversation

introduced by women while women will accept the topics introduced by men

Men discuss ‘male’ topics e.g. business, sport, politics, economics

Women are more likely to initiate conversation than men, but less likely to make the conversation succeed

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Robin Lakoff

Robin Lakoff in his book ‘Language and Woman’s Place (1975) and in a related article, he published some claims that women;

 

Speak less frequently Show they are listening by using minimal responses mm, yeah Speak more quietly than men and tend to use the higher pitch range of their

voices Use hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Standard English Use a greater range of intonation and ‘speak in italics’: so, very, quite. Use question intonation in declarative statements: women make declarative

statements into questions by raising the pitch of their voice at the end of a statement, expressing uncertainty.

Overuse qualifiers: (for example, “I think that...”) Hedge: using phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “it seems like”. Use super-polite forms: “Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”, “...if you

don't mind”. Apologise more: (for instance, “I'm sorry, but I think that...”) Use tag questions: “You're going to dinner, aren't you?” Have a special lexicon: e.g. women use more words for colours, men for sports

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Social Structures: Masculinity and Femininity

female language male and female language male language

the majority of people use a combination of male and female language

females only

some females, some malesmales only

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Sociolect Differences: Dialogues and Styles of Speech

Examples/exercise:

A man talks to a man:Lets get hammered! (short, vulgar, NOT

impolite)I don‘t like this topic at all. (formal behaviour,

audience, statement)

He was a hell of a man! (talking about s.o., compliment)

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Sociolect Differences: Dialogues and Styles of Speech

A woman talks to a woman:Let‘s meet for a make up party next saturday.

(informative, polite)Do you mind if we change the topic.

(formal behaviour, audience, politeness)

The guy I met in the elevator had a very bad attitude.

(honest, polite, bad experience)

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Sociolect Differences: Dialogues and Styles of Speech

A man talks to a womanWould you like to have another drink?

(polite, playing a role, thinking of own interest)

We will discuss the topic tomorrow if you don‘t mind. (politeness, formality, audience)

He is a very strange person. (covering own antipathy

with politeness)

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REASONS FOR COMMUNICATION

WOMEN .More inclined to use conversation to establish and maintain

relationships.’’Talking is the essence of relationship’’.Most common theme: EMPATHY .’To know you are not alone’

MEN.To get practical tips, or offer them to others..Conversations are fast-paced and tend to stay on the

surface..Direct and practical, straight to the point.

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OPPOSITE GENDER CONVERSATIONS

Women and men describe topics discussed by opposite sex as ‘trivial’

Men think women:- Ask for too much details,- Give too much details- Focus too much on feelings and emotions

.on the other hand, women want to talk about important things such as:

How are they getting along

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Why are women more chatty ?

Researchers found the so-called 'language protein' that makes women more talkative also causes male rats to be more vocal than their female cage mates

Researchers have found women have higher levels of Foxp2 protein

Team from University of Maryland found male rats - the chattier gender in rodents - make more of the protein than female

It has been claimed previously that women speak about 20,000 words a day - some 13,000 more than the average man.

Girls learn to speak earlier and more quickly than boys

(http://http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2281891/Women-really-talk-men-13-000-words-day-precise.html#ixzz2UCVMhqV5)

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CONCLUSION

Putting into a nutshell, it can be claimed that there are differences in men’s and women’s speech since boys and girls are brought up in different ways and they generally fill different roles in society. As the literature shows, there is obviously a difference between men and women and the way, the style they hold their conversations. Men’s language is clearly different than women’s. Women are frequently asked why they are not direct, why they seem to be hesitating a lot which make them look uncertain. On the other hand, men tend to raise topics more frequently than women do; men tend to use conversation to swap information, instead of building up intimacy or community, unlike women. A possible explanation for this might be laying in the evolution we had and the different tasks assigned to men and women.

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REFERENCES

Holmes, J. (1998). Women’s Talk: The Question of Sociolinguistic Universal.

Jeniffer, C. (1993).Women, Men and Language (originally published 1986, 2nd edition 1993) Harlow: Longman.

Jespersen, Otto (1928). An international language. London: Allen & Unwin

Keith, G. and J. Shuttleworth (2008). Living Language and Literature, 2nd ed. Hoddler Education.

Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper & Row.

Meyerhoff, M.( 2006). Introducing Sociolinguistics. London/NY: Routledge

Why are women more chatty? Retrived from: http://http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2281891/Women-really-talk-men-13-000-words-day-precise.html#ixzz2UCVMhqV5) on 27, May 2013

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Thank you for bearing with me !