LANGUAGE AND GENDER

sociolinguistic course

Arranged by group 6

1. Fadillah Ayu Natasya (aktif)

2. Anugerah Armeylia Pratiwi (aktif)
3. Multiara Ramadani (aktif)
4. Nurroidah Fadhilah Malik (aktif)
5. Sulvira Hasra (tidak aktif)
6. Arwini Ragita Cahyani (aktif)
7. Sry Resky Astuti (tidak aktif)
8. Adilah Silviani (tidak aktif)

ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background
Language and gender is an interdisciplinary field of research that
studies varieties of speech (and, to a lesser extent, writing) in terms of
gender, gender relations, gendered practices, and sexuality. The study of
language and gender was initiated in 1975 by three books, the latter two of
which have continued to significantly influence sociolinguistic work:
Male/Female Language (Mary Ritchie Key), Language and Women’s
Place (Robin Lakoff), and Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance
(Barrie Thorne and Nancy Hedley, Eds.).
Did you know that in some cultures women have an entirely
different from men’s language – women can’t speak the same language as
men? Did you know that women make use of questions more frequently
than men? Did you know that women engage more in self-disclosure than
men? Well, now you know.
Language and the way of speaking play a significant role in the
way people reflect and position themselves in society. The way we use
language and communicate significantly indicates the way we qualify
ourselves for power and authority or it disqualifies us in such terms.
In the past decades, language and gender as very influential factors
have become a study for many scholars who try to explain the way men
and women use language. In this regard, the aim of this paper is to
comprehend language and gender by looking at some topics including how
gender affects the way a person speaks, how different the language is
needed on gender, how language is related to gender, and the factors that
affect the difference between men and women’s language.
B. Question of the problems
1. What is language and gender?
2. What the relation between man and women?
3. What the different between man and women?
4. What is different language and gender according to Deborah
Tannen?
5. What the factors that the effect of the difference between man and
woman language?

C. Objectives
1. To know what is language and gender
2. To know what the relation between man and women
3. To know what the different between man and women
4. To know language and gender according to Deborah Tannen
5. To know what the factors that the effect of the different between
man and woman language
 CHAPTER 2

THEORY AND
DISCUSSION

A. Language and gender

Language and gender is an area of study within sociolinguistics,
applied linguistics, and related field that investigates varieties of speech
associated with a particular gender, or social norms for such gendered
language use. A variety of speech (or sociolect) associated with a
particular gender is sometimes called a genderlect.
Wardhaugh (2002) stated that a major topic in sociolinguistics is
the connection between structures, vocabularies, and ways of using
particular languages and the social roles of men and women who speak the
language. Issues about gender and language have a long history but its
status as fields of research developed alongside the second wave of
feminism during the 1960s and 1970s (Weatherall, 2002).
B. The relation between language and gender
“Language and gender” refers to the relationship between the
language of male and female. Gender difference is not only a reflection of
the speeches between male and female, but also a reflection of their
different living styles and attitudes.
Gender difference is a popular research in many fields, such as in
psychology, in sociolinguistics, and in female study. In these fields, the
differences between male and female in many aspects have been studied
from different angles with different methodologies. Though research
findings lay different emphasis on the differences, there are still some
similarities between them.
For instance, males are more concerned with power, they desire to
be leaders, while females are satisfied with their subordinate status; males
speak directly and take transferring information as the first thing, but
females speak indirectly, implicitly and mildly. For them, expressing
feelings is very important. Many scholars have concerned about the
 differences between the language of male and female. To some extent, it
shows that gender difference is very popular and important.

C. Different between man and woman language

1. Minimal responses
One of the ways in which the communicative behavior of
men and women differ is in their use of minimal responses, i.e.,
paralinguistic features such as ‘mhm’ and ‘yeah’, which is
behavior associated with collaborative language use. Men, on the
other hand, generally use them less frequently and where they do,
it is usually to show agreement, as Don Zimmerman and Candace
West’s study of turn-taking in conversation indicates.
While the above can be true in some contexts and
situations, studies that dichotomize the communicative behavior of
men and women may run the risk of overgeneralization. For
example, “minimal responses appear “throughout streams of talk”,
such as “mm” or “yeah”, not only function to display active
listening and interest and are not always signs of “support work”,
as Fishman (1978) claims. They can – as more detailed analysis of
minimal responses show – signal understanding, demonstrate
agreement, indicate skepticism or a critical attitude, demand
clarification or show surprise”. In other words, both male and
female participants in a conversation can employ these minimal
responses for interactive functions, rather than gender-specific
functions.
2. Questions
Men and women differ in their use of questions in
conversations. For men, a question is usually a genuine request for
information whereas with women it can often be a rhetorical means
of engaging the other’s conversational contribution or of acquiring
attention from others conversationally involved, techniques
associated with a collaborative approach to language use.
 Therefore women use questions more frequently. In writing,
however, both genders use rhetorical questions as literary devices.
For example, Mark Twain used them in "A War Prayer" to provoke
the reader to question his actions and beliefs. Tag questions are
frequently used to verify or confirm information; though in
women’s language they may also be used to avoid making strong
statements.
3. Turn-taking
As the work of Victoria De Francisco who has found that
females have more curiosity to take turn in conversations, while
men stick to their own point, remain silent, and reject the offer of
turn-taking. This supports the assumption that women are more
dominant than men, in this respect, female linguistic behavior
characteristically encompasses a desire to take turns in
conversation with others, which is opposed to men’s tendency
towards centering on their own point or remaining silent when
presented with such implicit offers of conversation.
4. Changing the topic of conversation
According to Bruce Dorval in his study of same-sex friend
interaction, males tend to change subject more frequently than
females. This difference may well be at the root of the conception
that women chatter and talk too much, and may still trigger the
same thinking in some males. In this way lowered estimation of
women may arise. Incidentally, this andocentric attitude towards
women as chatterers arguably arose from the idea that any female
conversation was too much talking according to the patriarchal
consideration of silence as a womanly virtue common to many
cultures. Goodwin (1990) observes that girls and women link their
utterances to previous speakers and develop each other topics,
rather than introducing new topics. However, a study of young
American couples and their interactions reveal that while women
 raise twice as many topics as men but it is the men's topics that are
usually taken up and subsequently elaborated in the conversation.
5. Self-disclosure
Female tendencies toward self-disclosure, i.e., sharing their
problems and experiences with others, often to offer sympathy,
contrasts with male tendencies to non-self disclosure and
professing advice or offering a solution when confronted with
another’s problems.
6. Verbal aggression
Men tend to be more verbally aggressive in conversing,
frequently using threats, profanities, yelling and name-calling.
Women, on the whole, deem this to disrupt the flow of
conversation and not as a means of upholding one’s hierarchical
status in the conversation. Where women swear, it is usually to
demonstrate to others what normal behavior is for them.
However, the correlation between males and verbal
aggression may not apply across different societies and cultures.
For examples, Kulick (1992) shows how this stereotype regarding
verbal aggression is subverted in his study of two different speech
genres in Gapun, Papua New Guinea. Women engage in kros, or
"angry talk", which is typically characterized by vituperative and
brazen displays of insults and shouting. Conversely, the men
partake in men's house talk, which is focused on the down play of
conflict in order to maintain - or at least give - the illusion of
harmony.
7. Listening and attentiveness
It appears that women attach more weight than men to the
importance of listening in conversation, with its connotations of
power to the listener as confidant of the speaker. This attachment
of import by women to listening is inferred by women’s normally
lower rate of interruption — i.e., disrupting the flow of
conversation with a topic unrelated to the previous one — and by
 their largely increased use of minimal responses in relation to men.
Men, however, interrupt far more frequently with non-related
topics, especially in the mixed sex setting and, far from rendering a
female speaker's responses minimal, are apt to greet her
conversational spotlights with silence.
8. Dominance versus subjection
This, in turn, suggests a dichotomy between a male desire
for conversational dominance – noted by Helena Leet-Pellegrini
with reference to male experts speaking more verbosely than their
female counterparts – and a female aspiration to group
conversational participation. One corollary of this is, according to
Jennifer Coates, that males are afforded more attention in the
context of the classroom and that this can lead to their gaining
more attention in scientific and technical subjects, which in turn
can lead to their achieving better success in those areas, ultimately
leading to their having more power in a technocratic society.
9. Politeness
Lakoff (1975) identified three forms of politeness: formal,
deference, and camaraderie. Women's language is characterized by
formal and deference politeness, whereas men’s language is
exemplified by camaraderie.
Politeness in speech is described in terms of positive and
negative face. Positive face refers to one's desire to be liked and
admired, while negative face refers to one's wish to remain
autonomous and not to suffer imposition. Both forms, according to
Penelope Brown’s study of the Tzeltal language, are used more
frequently by women whether in mixed or single-sex pairs,
suggesting for Brown a greater sensitivity in women than have men
to face the needs of others. In short, women are to all intents and
purposes largely more polite than men. However, negative face
politeness can be potentially viewed as weak language because of
 its associated hedges and tag questions, a view propounded by
O’Barr and Atkins (1980) in their work on courtroom interaction.

D. Deborah Tannen and difference

Professor Tannen has summarized her book You Just Don’t
Understand in an article in which she represents male and female language
use in a series of six contrasts. These are:
1) Status vs. Support
Men grow up in a world in which conversation is
competitive – they seek to achieve the upper hand or to prevent
others from dominating them. For women, however, talking is
often a way to gain confirmation and support for their ideas. Men
see the world as a place where people try to gain status and keep it.
Women see the world as “a network of connections seeking
support and consensus”.
2) Independence vs. Intimacy
Women often think in terms of closeness and support, and
struggle to preserve intimacy. Men, concerned with status, tend to
focus more on independence. These traits can lead women and men
to starkly different views of the same situation. Professor Tannen
gives the example of a woman who would check with her husband
before inviting a guest to stay – because she likes telling friends
that she has to check with him. The man, meanwhile, invites a
friend without asking his wife first, because to tell the friend he
must check amounts to a loss of status.
3) Advice vs. Understanding
Deborah Tannen claims that, too many men a complaint is
a challenge to find a solution. For example; when a wife tells a
husband that she doesn’t feel well, her husband will invariably
offers to take her to the doctor. Men are likely giving advice rather
than giving sympathy to show his understanding. Invariably, the
 woman is disappointed with his reaction. Like many men, he is
focused on what he can do, whereas women want sympathy.
4) Information vs. Feelings
A young man makes a brief phone call. His mother
overhears it as a series of grunts. Later she asks him about it – it
emerges that he has arranged to go to a specific place, where he
will play football with various people and he has to take the ball. A
young woman makes a phone call – it lasts half an hour or more.
The mother asks about it – it emerges that she has been talking
“you know” “about stuff”. The conversation has been mostly
grooming-talk and comment on feelings.
Historically, men’s concerns were seen as more important
than those of women, but today this situation may be reversed so
that the giving of information and brevity of speech are considered
of less value than sharing of emotions and elaboration. From the
viewpoint of the language student neither is better (or worse) in
any absolute sense.
5) Orders vs. Proposals
Women often suggest that people do things in indirect ways
– “let’s”, “why don’t we?” or “wouldn’t it be good, if we...?” Men
may use, and prefer to hear, a direct imperative.
6) Conflict vs. Compromise
“In trying to prevent fights,” writes Professor Tannen
“some women refuse to oppose the will of others openly. But
sometimes it’s far more effective for a woman to assert herself,
even at the risk of conflict. ” This situation is easily observed in
work-situations where a management decision seems unattractive –
men will often resist it vocally, while women may appear to
accede, but complain subsequently. Of course, this is a broad
generalization – and for every one of Deborah Tannen’s
oppositions, we will know of men and women who are exceptions
to the norm.
 Deborah Tannen’s distinction of information and feelings is also
described as report talk (of men) and rapport talk (of women). The
differences can be summarized in a table:
No. Women Men
1. Talk too much Get more air time
2. Speak in private contexts Speak in public
3. Build relations Negotiate status/avoid failure
4. Overlap Speak one at a time
5. speak symmetrically Speak asymmetrically

E. Factors that affect the difference between men’s and women’s

language
1. Different socialization
Gender Socialization is the tendency for boys and girls to
be socialized differently. In socializing, women are more open to
expressing their feelings with their family and friends. For
example, women used to call their friends honey, babe, darling etc.
In contrast, men have different kinds of society where they used to
act cool. In their society, it is weird and disgusting to call your best
friend honey, darling, babe, etc.
2. Different expectation from society
A Gender Role is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and
personality characteristics expected and encouraged of a person
based on his or her sex.
One of the basic kinds of gender stereotypes state that
"women are often expected to be accommodating and emotional,
while men are usually expected to be strong, self-confident and
aggressive."
That's why women tend to use language more relationally,
or in the context of close relationships with others. Women also
 tend to have a wider-range of emotional vocabulary, using
language more readily to describe their feelings and emotional
states.
Men, on the other hand, tend to use language more
assertively and are more likely to suppress, or hold back, their
emotions. As a result, men tend to not express their emotions
through language.
3. Different cultural values
In general, culture dictates what is, and what is not,
situationally relevant. Judgments of what is right or wrong, good or
bad, acceptable or taboo are based on particular cultural values. In
many cultures, women are expected to be responsible for things
that men are not. And, there are more pressures put on girls and
women to look and behave in certain ways.
Men are expected to display attributes such as strength,
power, and competitiveness, and less openly display emotion and
affection (especially toward other men) and women are expected to
be graceful, gentle, sensitive, have empathy and humility. This
expectation tends to influence the way both men and women speak
or act. For example, men should speak firmly because they're
considered masculine while women should speak gently and
gracefully to be feminine. If one of them speak opposite the
expectations, they will consider as transgender in society.
4. Different interest
Everyone has their own interests in something. Women like
to go shopping while men like sports. Women like make-up while
men hate it. Interest is also one of the things that influence the
language difference between men and women. For example,
talking about movies, a lot of women love Korean dramas, while
men love Anime or the opposite.This different interest influences
the way they speak and act. Women who love watching Korean
dramas often mix their language with a few Korean words, and the
same as women, men also often mix their language with a few
Japanese that they got by watching and exploring the world about
anime.
 CHAPTER 3

Conclusion

A. Conclusion
There is a number of close relationships between Gender and
language. Another word, men’s way of using language and women’s way
of using language is different. It is because of structure of the language,
norm of the society or people of the society who use the language.
Moreover, gender (male-female) is socially constructed.
Because of the social institution or taboo, we find
variations/differences between men and women. In addition to, men’s
style of speaking and women style of speaking are deeply rooted in power
structure. In addition, the personality of the individual and the vitality of
the group are also involved in the explanation of variability in language
use. Therefore, there is a close connection between the structures,
vocabularies and the ways of using language and the social roles of men
and women who speak the language.
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