Language and Gender

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that during the past twenty years, the relationship between language and gender has received increasing interest and has become a major topic in the area of sociolinguistics. A number of studies have investigated linguistic behaviours of men and women and tried to identify and explain their differences. The writer interprets and comments on language and gender in the field of sociolinguistics and discusses myths and stereotypes embedded in language about men and women. The writer argues that the difference in linguistic variations between women and men is not a simple reflection of social stratification or gender role but an extremely intricate phenomenon that cannot be fully understood without considering the intertwining contextual variables within a specific interaction.

From the Paper:

"Holmes argued that the major weakness of Lakoff's study was that it did not take into account two important interrelated contextual factures. These are the relationship between participants and the function of speech acts. For example, tag questions can be used for different purposes depending on the framework in relation to the goal. Holmes found that some tags in women's language have no informative function, which we normally expect for the use, but have interactional functions. This suggests that tag questions might be used quite differently between both genders. Women might use them to open conversation for others and not to express unassertiveness as explained in Lakoff's study."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cameron, D., McAlinden, F., & O'leary, K. (1988). Lakoff in context: The social and linguistic functions of tag questions. In J. Coates & D. Cameron (Eds.), Women in their speech communities (pp. 74-93). New York: Longman.
• Coates, J. (2004). Women, men and language: A sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language. New York: Person Longman.
• Holmes, J. (1990) Hedges and boosters in women's and men's speech. Language and Communication, 10, 185-205.
• Holmes, J. (2001). An introduction to sociolinguistics. New York: Longman.
• Lakoff, R. T. (1975). Language and women's place. New York: Harper & Row.

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