Genderlect Styles

Theory
Amani Ward
Cantrell Cheeks
Dana Fischetti
Joshua Cortes
Agenda
History

Robin Lakoff ---->

Started the conversation on gender with her 1975 book entitled, Language
and Womans Place.

The book was the first time that the differences in speaking between men
and women were deeply explained.

Introduces us into the world of sociolinguistics

History Continued

Deborah Tannen ----->

Wrote the 1990 book entitled, You Just Dont Understand.

Came up with the genderlect theory

Believes that the differences between men and women in speaking start in
childhood

Rapport Talk VS. Report Talk

Desire for Connection vs. Status
Men:

Assert ideas, opinions, and identity.

Talk to solve problems and/or develop strategies.

Tries to attract attentions to themselves.

Women:

Communicate to create and maintain relationships.

Involve others and respond to their ideas.

Are sensitive to one another.

 Private Speaking vs. Public Speaking
(Private) Men: speak an However, in public men speak more
average of 7000s words a day than women.

(Private) Women: speak an Affirm their status

average 20,000 words a day
 Telling a Story

Men: Humor
Presents a can you top this attitude.
Those who are the funniest are the most popular
Women: create a sense of community.

Express themselves being: Clumsy or

incompetent.
Prevent looking or feeling:
Of higher authority
Creating the desired closeness
Strengthening a community.
Listening
Women: engage in listen with
Greater eye contact
Head nods
Responses that suggest they understand

Men:
Avoid being in a situation where they are one uped
So, they respond in a I agree with you.

Women:
(Cooperative Listeners)- an interruption often done to show an
agreement with the speaker).

Men:
View interrupting the speaker as a sign of power
A way to take over the conversation.
Listening (Extended)

With the two listening Cultures Tannen

provides:

Can you relate to it?

Do you see the issues and conflicts in your
relationships?
Asking Questions
Men avoid asking questions because it whittles away at the image of self-sufficiency.

Women ask questions to establish connection with others

Men see life as a competition, making them comfortable with conflict.

Women see conflict as a threat to connection and it should be avoided

at all costs.
Nonverbal Communication
Critiques
(-) Too simple/Doesnt account for complexity in human Nature
Very generalized and stereotypical view
does not account for all genders not being the same.

For example, there are some females who do not

fit the feminine roles that the theory gives them.
Some girls want autonomy more than closeness.

Over simplified explanation of human nature is far

farfetched.
(-) Ignores inequalities in both men and women

There is more diversity within each gender group than between them.

There are more similarities among men and women then there are differences.

When a meta-analysis was done comparing the differences in genders in:

Talk time
Self-disclosure
Styles of conflict management

The finding was very small.

(-) Ignores power
This theory disregards the entire notion of
Male dominance, control, power, sexism, discrimination, etc.

It argues that men and women talk is neither

dominant or submissive.

It is anything but equal because men

are trained to dominate and women are
trained to please.
 (+) Insight/ Heuristic
The theory is able to evoke an Aha factor
The reader will sort of tell themselves wow that makes sense or I do that..

An example, would be:

A man will connect to the theory and see he fulfills the report talk concept
A woman will connect to the theory with see her resembling more of a rapport style
of conversation.

Encourages solutions in conversation.

Activity Time
Questions?
References
Conversational style: Deborah Tannen, Thats Not what I Meant! William Morrow, New York, 1

Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand, Ballantine, New York, 1990.

Gender Differences in Childrens Talk: Deborah Tannen, Gender Differnces in Topical Coherence: Creating Involvement in Best Friends Talk,

Disocurse Processes, Vol. 13,1990, pp. 73-90

Gendered language in the workplace: Deborah Tannen, Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work- Language, Sex, and Power, Avon, New

York, 1994.

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. G. (2015). A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Linguistic microanalysis of conversation: Deborah Tannen, Conversational Style: Analyzing Talk Among Friends, Ablex, norwood, NJ, 1984.