LING1901 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Layoff, Fishmans, Mansplaining
16 May 2018
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Monday, 10 October 2016
LING1901 LECTURE 19
GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN DISCOURSE
-Gender and politeness
•Women more likely than men to use politeness strategies in their speech
•Extent of differences between male and female speech varies across cultures
•Women pay more compliments than men
•Women speaking to women use more positive politeness strategies while men in analogous situations do not
•Women more likely to apologise, soften criticism or express thanks
•Changing roles of women, changing linguistic strategies?
-Situation rather than gender
•We may associate particular traits with “feminine” and “masculine” speech but “gendered” forms are associated
with activity and stance
•Male attorneys involved in legal settings where negotiation and settlement is advantageous use many politeness
strategies
•Use of politeness strategies is not only related to status or gender but rather to role (positive politeness only
used by attorneys)
-How men and women speak
•In “Language and Woman’s place”, linguist Robin Layoff contends that women have different ways of speaking
than men
-Wider intonation contours
-More rising intonation at ends of utterances
-More hedging and imprecise language
-More use of expressive forms like adjectives
-More collaborative communicative style
•More overlap
-More attention to linguistic correctness
-Robin Lakoff’s contribution
•Ground breaking work in the mid 1970s
•Women do not form a unique discourse system but this way of speaking reflects unequal power relations in
society and helps to perpetuate this inequality
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Document Summary
In language and woman"s place , linguist robin layoff contends that women have different ways of speaking than men. More rising intonation at ends of utterances. More use of expressive forms like adjectives. More collaborative communicative style: more overlap. Robin lakoff"s contribution: ground breaking work in the mid 1970s, women do not form a unique discourse system but this way of speaking re ects unequal power relations in society and helps to perpetuate this inequality. Monday, 10 october 2016: differences between male and female speech are cultural . Not born with a predisposition to use language differently. Need to develop a lot of strategies in order to get things done. Socialised into speaking in a certain way. Deborah tannen: tanner uses the gumperz framework to study interethnic communication. How they would communicate in a job interview: gumperz framework. Men don"t use these so women interpret this as men not listening to them.
