1. Women's Linguistic Behavior
1. The social status explanation 2. Woman's role as guardian of society's values 3. Subordinate groups must be polite 4. Vernacular forms express machismo 5. Alternative explanations a. Miscategorization of social class b. Influence of interviewer and context
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, pp
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2. Lakoff’s Explanations for Why Women’s Language might be Different?
 Subordination  Lack of confidence  Expression of uncertainty
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 301ff.
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3. Lakoff’s Features of Women’s Language 1
(a) Lexical hedges or fillers (you know, sort of, well, you see) (b) Tag questions (she’s very nice, isn’t she?) (c) Rising intonation on declaratives (it’s really good) (d) ‘Empty’ adjectives (divine, charming, cute)
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, pp
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4. Lakoff’s Features of Women’s Language 2
(e) Precise color terms (magenta, aquamarine) (f) Intensifiers (just, so: I like him so much) (g) ‘Hypercorrect’ grammar (consistent use of standard verb forms)
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, pp
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5. Lakoff’s Features of Women’s Language 3
(h) ‘Superpolite’ forms (indirect requests, euphemisms) (i) Avoidance of strong swear words (fudge, my goodness) (j) Emphatic stress (it was a BRILLIANT performance.)
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, pp
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6. Possible Methodological Problems
1. data collected under laboratory conditions 2. assigned topics 3. some artificial constraints 4. most subjects university students 5. linguistic analysis "rather unsophisticated" 6. investigators lacked linguistic expertise 7. categorization systems not consistent 8. focus on arbitrary specific items 9. theoretical framework weak/non-existent
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 303.
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7. Distribution of Tag Questions by Function and Sex of Speaker1
Function of tag Women Men
% %
Expressing uncertainty
Facilitative
Softening
Confrontational — —
Total N
(Source: Based on Holmes 1984a: 54)
1 Based on a 60,000 word corpus containing equal amounts of female and male speech collected in a range of “matched contexts”.
2 N is presumably the number of tags found in the sample.
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 307.
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8. Other Explanations
 Societally subordinate position of women  “Women’s COOPERATIVE conversational strategies, however, may be explained better by looking at the influence of context and patterns of SOCIALISATION.” [my emphasis]  “different socialization and acculturation patterns” “If we learn ways of talking mainly in single gender peer groups, then the patterns we learn are likely to be gender-specific.”
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 315.
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9. Norms for Women's Talk and Men's Talk
“The norms for women’s talk may be the norms for small group interaction in private contexts, where the goals of the interaction are solidarity stressing — maintaining good social relations. Agreement is sought and disagreement avoided.”
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 315.
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10. Norms for Women's Talk and Men's Talk
“By contrast, the norms for male interaction seem to be those of public referentially- oriented interaction. The public model is an adversarial one, where contradiction and disagreement is more likely than agreement and confirmation of the statements of others. Speakers compete for the floor and for attention; and wittiness, even at others’ expense, is highly valued. These patterns seem to characterise men’s talk even in private contexts….”
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 315.
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11. Women's and Men's Idle Talk 1
Women “Its overall function for women is to affirm solidarity and maintain the social relationships between the women involved.” “Women's gossip focuses predominantly on personal experiences and personal relationships, on personal problems and feelings. It may include criticism of the behaviour of others, but women tend to avoid criticizing people directly because this would cause discomfort.”
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 316.
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12. Women's and Men's Idle Talk 2
Men “The male equivalent of women's gossip is difficult to identify. In parallel situations the topics men discuss tend to focus on things and activities, rather than personal experiences and feelings. Topics like sport, cars, and possessions turn up regularly. The focus is on information and facts rather than on feelings and reactions.”
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 317.
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13. Men's Mock Insults
“It seems possible that for men mock-insults and abuse serve the same function— expressing solidarity and maintaining social relationships— as compliments and agreeing comments do for women. This verbal sparring is reported by others who have examined all-male interaction and in some groups verbal insult is an established and ritual speech activity.”
Holmes, Janet An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London: Pearson, p. 317.
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14. What ESL Learners Should Know about Sexist Language 1
1. Teach how to use appropriate generic pronouns, especially in writing. 2. Promote use of generic "they" (especially in speech) 3. Remind students that even if they know that some English speakers use "terms of endearment" that this is probably useful only as PASSIVE / RECEPTIVE knowledge. Do not do it yourself.
Wolfson, Nessa. (1889). Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, pp
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15. What ESL Learners Should Know about Sexist Language 2
4. Terms degrading women exist and are offensive. 5. Be aware that references to men or women using terms for the other sex may have connotations the learner does not know or understand. 6. Point out "appropriately sex-linked forms of speech".
Wolfson, Nessa. (1889). Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, pp
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