Title FINAL PREP (GENDER).pdf ✅

_ Teacher’s slide: ● Gender as a noun class – grammatical gender. In German, every noun belongs to one of three gender categories, that are labeled “masculine”, “feminine”, or “neuter”. ● In German, a turnip is in the feminine noun class. ● A noun in one language may be feminine, but in another it may be masculine. ● This is not related to social gender or sex. 3. Gender differentiation _ Gender in speech – different verbal forms for males and females. E.g. Thai greeting (gendered particle): - Men say: sawatdi khrap. - Women say: sawatdi kha. _ Female and male verb forms in Koasati - Female form: lakawcˇîn ; lakawwîl ; lakáwwilit - Male form lakawcˇî.s ; lakawwís ; lakáwwilicˇ - Meaning don’t lift it! ; I am lifting it ; I lifted it (Haas 1944: 143–4) _ Gender differentiation is said to occur in several features of Japanese phonology, grammar and lexis. _ The overall impression given is that women are relatively ‘polite, gentle, soft-spoken, non-assertive and empathetic’ (Okamoto 1995: 298, cited in Mesthrie et al. 2009, p.215) _ It has been noted that the use of boku ‘I’ (Male) by junior high school girls has recently become quite common in Tokyo. (Reynolds 1986/1990: p.140, cited in Mesthrie et al. 2009, p.216) _ Hlonipha – avoidance language – an extreme form of gendered language restriction. _ If a new bride had a male in-law whose name wasBheki or Bhengu, for instance, she would need to avoid the syllable bhe- in words such as i-bhekile (‘a tin can’). - i-bhekile (‘a tin can’) - i-ekile (consonant deletion) - i-wekile (consonant substitution) - ikonkxa (synonym, meaning ‘a case or tin in which preserves are kept’) - isikhelelo (paraphrase, meaning ‘something that can be used for drawing liquid’) 4. Views of gender _ According to Xhosa speakers in South Africa, a baby has no gender until it is able to play a role in society. The child will, until he or she has grown up, be referred as an “it”. _ Thailand: traditionally a system of three humansexes: women, men and kathoey (third gender). _ India: Hijras seen as neither man nor woman. _ Native American: “two spirit” – both male and female
5. Gender in children’s play _ Directives: - Boys gave explicit commands: Gimme the pliers. Get off my steps. - Girls directives as inclusive suggestions: Let’s go round the corner. We could go around looking for more bottles. (Goodwin 1980 cited in Romaine 1999). 6. Gender in children’s language _ Commands by boys were other-directed, focusing on the actions of the person being addressed. _ Girls in the peer group included themselves in the proposed course of action. _ This contrast in interactional style is perpetuated into adulthood. 7. Gender vs. sex _ Sex refers to biological features: Chromosomes, physiology. _ Gender refers to the social and constructed roles assigned to men and women, girls and boys. _ Other gender identities, such as transgender. _ Gender is a social variable which sociolinguists study. 8. Views of gender _ Gender as a fixed, a priori category _ The initial focus of research was on generalized gender differences in language use. _ Pitch difference between men’s and women's speech due to biological differences between the twosexes. 9. Early studies on gender _ Characteristics of women’s language (Robin Lakoff (1972, 1973, 1975) ● hedges (sort of) ● fillers (well, you know) ● tag questions (It’s nice, isn’t it?) ● rising intonation even in non‐question sentences (sometimes called “uptalk”) ● “empty” adjectives (divine!, cute!) ● precise color terms (chartreuse) ● intensifiers like so (It was soooo good!) ● increased use of standard language forms ● super‐polite forms (such as indirect requests and euphemisms like Oh, fudge!) ● avoidance of strong swear words ● avoidance of interruptions
_ Turn-taking and Conversational Dominance: Pat: So they told me it would take a week to deliver it. Sam: (silence) Pat: Uh... so I picked up the phone and called their boss. Sam: (silence) Pat: I said they were stalling me, and‐ Sam:Are we out of beer? Pat: So they told me it would take a week to deliver it. Sam: Uh‐huh. Pat: So I picked up the phone and called their boss. Sam: Mm. Pat: I said they were stalling me, and‐ Sam:You didn’t! _ Zimmerman & West (1975): ● more interruptions occurred in mixed-sex than in single-sex conversations. _ Fishman’s (1983) study: ● women gave more conversational support, so produced more minimal responses than men. _ Leet‐Pellegrini (1980) ● Male “experts” took control of conversations more often than female experts in cross‐sex conversational pairs => men used their expertise for control (with other men resisting), while womenused it to inform. _ Pilkington (1992): ● men’s conversation was competitive, while women’s was supportive => it’s in cross‐gender interaction that we can expect to see the strongest differences between men’s and women’s speech. _ Holmes (1992:329) ● the norms for women’s talk are small‐group interactions in private contexts (whose goal is to maintain solidarity) ● men’s talk is normed to “public referentially‐oriented interaction” (where speakers compete for the floor). 10.Features of conversational style that are said to differentiate between female and male speakers (Mesthrie et al. 2009, p.225-6): _ Amount of talk: male speakers have been found to talk more than females, particularly in formal or public contexts. _ Interruptions: male speakers interrupt female speakers more than vice versa. Early studies on gender _ Conversational support: female speakers more frequently use features that provide support and encouragement for other speakers, for example ‘minimal responses such as mmh and yeah. _ tentativeness: there are claims that female speakers use features that make their speech appear tentative and uncertain, such as ‘hedges’ that weaken the force of an utterance ( ‘I think maybe . . .’, ‘sort of’, ‘you know’) and certain types of ‘tag questions’ (questions tagged onto statements, such as (‘It’s so hot, isn’t it?’).