Language and Gender Exam Question

Discuss the idea that women and men use language differently.
In your answer you should discuss concepts and issues from language study. You should use your own supporting examples and the data in Table 1.

There is a heavy, long winded debate over the fact that women and men use language differently, held by several linguists. Many argue that women's language is inferior, and the linguistic techniques they use in attempt of communicating are seen as weak or unnecessary therefore they are belittled for it. This is in large comparison to male's whose language is seen as more authoritative, in a more naturalistic way as they are labelled to be the more dominant sex, who are less likely to be criticised or questioned for every little thing they do. Simultaneously, men and women do hold some similarities in their language but these are not as common as the differences both of the genders portray. Nevertheless, in this essay I will argue that in a body, the idea that men and women hold a variety of differences is a certainty and a number of theorists will also help me to explain why...

As the data in table 1 suggests, female speakers contrast a considerable amount to the five male speakers. This is proven through the difference in the average number of seconds per turn. Like Table 1 shows, women get a lot less time to speak in comparison to men which could immediately illustrate the dominance men hold over women. A theorist who then supports this idea that this is the attitude conveyed is Robin Lakoff, who created the Deficit Approach (1975). Lakoff asserted that women are 'socialised to believe that asserting themselves strongly isn't nice or ladylike or even feminine' which could suggest why women get a sparse amount of time to speak than men because they are held back over speaking up. This is again established through the theorist's identification of faulty characteristics in women's language, more specifically through their use of hedges, fillers alongside tag questions which Lakoff says women only use to seek validation from men or because they are too talkative and indecisive. Therefore this could evoke the significant difference in social status between men and women, however this approach is argued against by linguist Pamela Fishman who declares tag questions are only used to start dialogue, arguing against the fact that women use them to seek validation from men and instead accepts this is primarily down to male dominance as they are reluctant to the usual conversation starting as they label it as 'shitwork'. So, there is a shorter average for women in the time they have to speak than men as demonstrated in table 1 because asking questions requires longer responses.

Another point to show that women and men use language differently is through Zimmerman and West's dominance approach (1975). This theory discusses that during mixed-sex conversations, men are more likely to interrupt than women, and this concluded is then proven in table 1 as the men's 'did interrupt' average was once again higher than women's. They argue that this is again a reflection of male dominance in society, however Beattie criticises this approach as he questioned interruptions being a reflect of interest and involvement and interestingly when he repeated the experiment, the results contradicted the findings of Zimmerman and West as he found that women and men interrupted with more or less equal frequency. Table 1 also reinforces this idea as Woman D and Man E have the same average result of 2.0 on interrupting per meeting, so this disproportionate result could change everything. It's agreeable, the majority of theorists help to prove that there is a difference between how men and women differentiate but additionally, multiple sources such as newspapers, online articles or even documentaries have helped to support this idea too. Take 'The Guardian' for example, and it's article 'Do men and women speak the same language?'. This is where it is debated whether there is a language barrier in communication between men and women and if it is truism or not. It endorses that this difference is a 'Mars-and-Venus theory' reinforcing the idea that the gap between the two could be so big that it could be elucidated as being even worlds away. Although this could be disputed as throughout time, the topic of male and females and the stigma that surrounds the equality between theme as made sufficient progress. But who really knows?

Furthermore, the hypothesis that dominance is the main lead to miscommunication in language between men and women, likewise to Zimmerman and West's theory as mentioned previously, and resulting in their differences is again supported by another linguist, Deborah Tannen. Tannen created the Difference Approach in 1990 where she claimed six main differences between the ways men and women use language, one of which that assists the data given in the first column of table 1 is 'status vs support'. Men on one hand see language as a means of asserting dominance, whereas women see it from a more positive perspective as a way of confirming or supporting ideas, but sometimes by unintentionally encouraging men. This proposes that women aim for more positive politeness strategies and that men are less supportive and complimentary to each other. This then could be an accurate evaluation as it is proven multiple times in different forms of speech that men usually take control over many conversations, but in the theory alone she is missing concrete evidence to back this statement up, therefore this approach could be criticised as Tannen is perpetuating stereotypes as it is clear that not all gender's are the same and in society, communication and language skills are bound to differ based on different cultures, classes or ethnicities so it is wrong to imply your gender is the only feature that determines this. Maybe this topic as a whole is simply just one big misinterpretation.