Chapter 7: GENDER AND LANGUAGE USE

Contents 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Women’s and Men’s Languages7.3 Variationist Studies(Presented by Hong Van)7.4 Gender in Interaction7.5 Gender and Politeness (Presented by Ngoc Bich)7.6 Contextualised Approaches7.7 Conclusion (Presented by Tran Thu)

Chapter 7: GENDER AND LANGUAGE USE 7.1 INTRODUCTION

* The history of researching gender and language use* The studies’ emphases * Gender and language use area * The chapter’s content * Method of the chapter

1. History of gender and language use - The term “ folklinguistics” –sets of popular beliefs about language - Many interesting early studies in terms of systematic empirical investigation - At the beginning of the 1970s, language and gender became a major research area. 2. The studies’ emphases :- Past : generalized gender differences- Recent: context to provide a more contextualised nuanced account of how speakers may draw on language to negotiate gender, along with other aspects of identity

- This research area has been characterised by interdisciplinarity with valuable contributions from

• anthropology• discourse analysis• education• literary theory• media studies• social psychology• sociology• women’s studies • lesbian and gay studies• more narrowly defined sociolinguistics

- Most contributors - feminists- Both the development of theory and more practical concerns- The importance of this interesting topic is just because of what gender and language use can add to our understanding of language and how it works, and to the sociolinguistic study of language.

3. Gender and language use area

4. The chapter’s content - Considering aspects of language and gender – most closely related to sociolinguistic issues identified in previous chapter.- Focusing on social psychological studies about the content of spoken interaction, relating the expression of people’s beliefs and attitudes to the social construction of gender. 5. Method of the chapter -Historical approach ( Studies of distinctive female and male forms in certain languages variationist studies interactional studies

examples of more “ contextualised” studies )

Chapter 7: GENDER AND LANGUAGE USE • 7.2 Women’s and Men’s Languages

. -Language may have a direct relationship with gender, but language forms (for instance with status and power) generally have a range of associations which may in turn be related to gender.

Findings from studies of Native American languages- The following table will show “ Female and male verb forms in Koasati” :

Female form Male form Meaninglakawcˇîn lakawcˇî.s don’t lift it!lakawwîl lakawwís I am lifting itlakáwwilit lakáwwilicˇ I lifted it

(Haas 1944: 143–4)

Early commentators

Linguistics distinctions indexical of social practices and beliefs. Language social mirror reflects important social distinctions

Furfey (1944)

The existence of different female and male forms of language Speakers were conscious of women and men as different categories of human beings.

Chapter 7: GENDER AND LANGUAGE USE 7.2 Women’s and Men’s Languages

- A related point: research on gender and language use has traditionally been concerned with differences between female and male speakers, but also with issues of power and dominance. There has sometimes been a tension between ‘difference’ and ‘dominance’ positions in research.

Chapter 7: GENDER AND LANGUAGE USE • 7.2 Women’s and Men’s Languages

- Terms such as ‘women’s language’ and ‘men’s language’ imply homogeneity among women and men; more recently, however, researchers have emphasised diversity between women, and between men, as social groups.

7.3 Variationist Studies: Quantifying gender

•Gender and Social Stratification•Sampling: women, men and

social class•The sociolinguistic interview• Interpreting gender differences•Gender and Lifestyle/ Patterns of

Interaction•Gender and Acts of Identity

Chapter 7: GENDER AND LANGUAGE USE • 7.3 Variationist Studies: Quantifying genderGender and social Stratification

Thanks for your attendance!Thanks for your attendance!