1. Language and Gender
侯钰璐

2. Two Concepts Sex Vs. Gender
Sex is what you’re born with. Gender is what you’re given.
Sex: one’s biological property, a matter of physiology
Gender: one’s social property, learned behavior

3. Outline The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use
Major Models to Explain the Differences
Linguistic Sexism
Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication

4. You are what you say.
By Robin Lakoff

5. The Importance of the Issue
Language is a mirror of society, through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better.
Society provides language with a suitable context of use, in which we can enjoy aspects of language vividly and truthfully
Sociolinguistics
Why is it important?
Why is it critical not to overlook the social aspect of language?

6. Social Parameters Language Class Education Age Gender Religious Belief
Ethnic Identity

7. Background Two millenniums ago: ancient Greek drama
1922: Otto Jespersen, Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin
1960s: feminist movement, the rise of gender studies .
1970s: Lakoff, Labove, Trudgill. Since then, gender and language has become a focus in the linguistic field.
1999: the 44th International Linguistic Association took “Gender and Language” as the central subject under discussion

8. Outline The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use
Major Models to Explain the Differences
Linguistic Sexism
Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication

9. Gender Differences in Language Use
Robin Lakoff, Language and Women’s Place, 1975
Lexical differences
Syntactic differences
Other differences

10. Gender Differences in Language Use
Lexical Differences
1. Color-words
E.g. The wall is mauve.
I prefer the lavender wallpaper.
beige, ecru, aquamarine…
2. Swear-words
E.g. (a) Shit, you’ve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again.
(b) Oh dear, you’ve put the peanut butter in the refrigerator again.
shit, damn, hell, fuck..
oh dear, fudge, goodness, dear me…

11. Gender Differences in Language Use
Lexical Differences
3. Empty adjectives
E.g. (a) What a terrific idea!
(b) What a divine idea!
divine, adorable, gorgeous…
4. Intensifiers
E.g. terrible, awful, so, very, quite

12. Gender Differences in Language Use
Syntactic Differences
5. Tag-question
E.g. (a) Is John here?
(b) John is here, isn’t here?
You don’t mind eating this, do you?
6. Hedges
phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “I guess”, “it seems like”…

13. Gender Differences in Language Use
Syntactic Differences
7. Intonational patterns
E.g. --When will dinner be ready?
--Oh…around six o’clock?
8. Compound requests
E.g. (a) Close the door.
(b) Please close the door.
(c) Will you close the door?
(d) Will you please close the door?
(e) Won’t you close the door?
“Would you mind…”
“If it’s not too much to as…”
“Is it ok if…”
“I’m sorry, but I think that…”

14. Gender Differences in Language Use
Other Differences
9. Topic Selection
Men: Politics, economy, sports, religion…
Women: children, food, health, family, fashion…
Serious Vs Trivial?
10. Amount of Speech
“Women never stop talking”.
“Three women and a goose make a market”.
Is this true?
Public Vs Private

15. Gender Differences in Language Use
Other Differences
11. Turn-taking
Women are more likely to obey the rules of turn-taking, while men often take other speakers’ turn to gain control of the whole conversation.
12. Overlap and Interruption
Zimmerman and West (1975) recorded 31 conversations in public (20 single-gender, 11 mixed-gender), all of the overlaps and 46 of 48 interruptions were caused by male speakers.

16. Outline The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use
Major Models to Explain the Differences
Linguistic Sexism
Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication

17. Major Models to Explain the Differences
Deficit
(Robin Lakoff)
Dominance
(D. Zimmerman, C. West,
P. Fishman)
Difference
Deborah Tanne, M.H. Goodwin)
Politeness
(Janet Holmes)
Constructionism
(Deborah Cameron)

18. Outline The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use
Major Models to Explain the Differences
Linguistic Sexism
Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication

19. Linguistic Sexism Language of Women Language about Women
Def. of linguistic sexism:
A term used to refer to sex-biased phenomena in language use.

20. Examples of Linguistic Sexism
1. Masculine forms in English
Man is mortal.
The emergency room is manned (be operated by man) by…
(When writing a letter) Dear sir…
salesman- sales assistant
storeman- sto re assistant
postman - letter carrier, mail carrier, postal
fireman- fire fighter

21. Examples of Linguistic Sexism
2. suffix: –ess, -ette, -rix, -enne,
actress actor
ambassadress ambassador
suffragette suffragist
usherette usher
comedienne comedian
3. Implied derogatory words
Master- Mistress
Governor- Governess
Bachelor-Spinster
(a) He is a professional.
(b)She is a professional.

22. Outline The Importance of the Issue Gender Differences in Language Use
Major Models to Explain the Differences
Linguistic Sexism
Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication

23. Suggestions for Cross-Gender Communication
Identifying Differences in Language Use
Increasing Mutual Cognition
Trying to Be Flexible

24. Thank You!