Tag Question in Womens Speech - Essay Example

This research was intended to determine whether men and women have differences in their language use. The study will also mentioned Lakoff’s (1975) ideas concerning linguistic differences between male and female groups of our population. The data used for this research was gathered in the course of analysis of several research articles. This research shows that gender patterns for variable pronominal usage are strikingly stable over time. The research that will be conducted in this paper is posed to show analytical relevance of gender. The additional goal of the paper was to cultivate a more developed understanding of a whole list of rather important issues. These issues help to define whether or not language variation can serve as an indirect and constitutive index of gender. Introduction From childhood males and females show a big different in the way they express their thoughts and opinions. Eisenmen (1997) once made a statement that compared to men, women have a better memory. Men benefit much from their ability to maintain a sense of direction. This feature often poorly developed in women. The other important research finding is that men tend to do better than women on visual-spatial tests and in mathematics. One should also not forget about social differences which are present between men and women. (Bunz, U. and Campbell, S., 2003). At present, there are two theories that can explain social differences that exist between women and men. These theories are “difference theory” and “dominance theory”. (Bunz, U. and Campbell, S., 2003). According to the “difference theory” men and women are known for their belonging to the same group. According to this theory men and women are living in the different or separate cultural worlds. As a result of this fact, men and women show a tendency to promote different ways of speaking (Mulac, A., 1998). The theory is sometimes being referred to as “two-culture theory”. The theory states that while living in the same society men and women may show a tendency to establish different relations with society. Also, one should not forget that men and women belong to different environment and culture. This belonging is reflected in the language of gender and another aspect’s of people’s life. According to this theory, cross-gender communication should be approached as cross-cultural or bi-cultural communication. The major differences occur in such areas of language as pronunciation, morphology and vocabulary. Holmes (1993) conducted the research in the course of which he proved that women show a tendency to adhere to a standard language more than men actually do. (Holmes, J., 1993) Climate (1997) has a stable belief that those females generally use speech with an objective to maintain the stability of their relationship with the outside world. In this case language is used to achieve intimacy. (Mulac., 1998) Tannen (1990) was the first researcher who revealed that there is a connection between language and intimacy. A very interesting research revelation regarding the length of expression produced by women was made by Kaplan and Farrell (1994). According to these researchers, messages produced by women are short. Researchers also pointed to the fact that women communication is driven by the desire to keep the communication going rather than to achieve consensus. A Brief Review of Works on Gender-Bound Language The investigation and identification of differences between language of man and language of women dates back to pre-historical times. However, nothing was written regarding to the issue of linguistic representation of gender up until 1944. Researcher who investigated the issue of gender representation failed to find any specific piece of writing related to gender differences and to the manner these differences are represented in writing. As stated by Grey (1998), it was in the 1970s when people started to make comparison between female male languages. (Lakoff, R., 1975) Mulac, et al., (2001) was known for his concentration on defining the meaning of the term ‘gender as culture’. Swallowe (2003) also wrote much about gender differences among men and women. Particular attention was paid to the manner in which media can be used for interpersonal communication. (Michaelson, Grey, Margil Pohl, 2001) Lakoff (1975) was the first research who identified he difference between women and men language. The researcher clearly stated his ideas in the book titled ‘Language and Woman’s Place’. In this book the researcher made his first attempt to promote a new understanding of the subject. Altogether with other features researcher also mentions ten features for women’s language. Holmes (1993, p. 314), defined the following categories of language where differences can be inspected: 1. Lexical hedges or fillers 2. Tag questions 3. Rising intonation on declaratives 4. Empty adjectives 5. Precise color terms 6. Intensifiers 7. Hypercorrect grammar 8. Superpolite forms 9. Avoidance of strong swear words 10. Emphatic stress (Holmes, J., 1986) Lakoff’s hypotheses have both pros and cons as he gave priority to male language leaving aside a female language. Lakoff also made a statement that male language is more assertive, adult, and direct. As for women’s language, this language is more immature, hyper-formal and more hyper-polite and non-assertive. The emphasis on the dynamic nature of language was made by Michaelson and Poll (2001). These researchers are known for putting the main accent on the dynamic nature of speech of men and women. The researchers went so far as to state the ‘rule of politeness’ as the one that governs face-to-face conversations between people. (Michaelson, G., Pohl M., 2001) Researcher also mentioned the fact of conversational dyads. These issues often lead to weakening of gender roles. Lakoff also made a very interesting observation regarding to the use of tag questions by women. According to researcher, the uses of tag question are more frequently used by male part of human population than by female part. Dubois and Crouch (1975) are also known for launching a critique on Lakoff’s claims. The critique is often directed at the use of tag questions. These questions are often used within the context of a professional meeting. It was also concluded that in this context males used tag questions more than females did. The conclusion is related to Lakoff’s hypothesis. The given approach is often considered to be biased and the one which favors stereotyping beliefs or folk linguistics. These observations were based on a highly skewed and non-random sample of people. In order to examine Lakoff’s hypothesis, the researchers made a radical decision to select three grammatical categories. These categories were selected from the list of the already present categories. These categories contained a lot of important issues including tag questions, hedges and intensifiers. Social Gender These decisions can be easily understood after careful examination of such important issue as social gender. Social gender is a very complicated category. This category regulates the different distribution of men and women into social roles. Standard picture of the process looks as the following. Women show themselves as domestic leaders who have very low domestic and occupational roles. This role division resulted in the fact that women had a lower status as compared to men. A final outcome of this process was the appearance of a descriptive gender stereotypes that women are less competent than men. Also, women are given less authority and the right to make any kind of social decisions. The other important research revelation is that prescriptive stereotypes often require females to greater communal role than men. The presence of these prescriptive stereotypes often requires females to behave differently than males. These descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes often help to bind together men and women. Both parts are free to demonstrate their exceptional competence. This competence is seen as equal ability to men and women. As this review has shown, competence plays a particularly important role for modern society. According to research, people who are perceived as competent show a tendency to exert greater influence as compared to other social groups. Taking this measure often helps people to achieve the balance of competence and increasing their likability to pose additional challenges for women. Acquiring competent behavior can bring a whole list of important benefits for women. The first and the foremost important advantage is a chance for women to achieve the balance of competence and likability. Achieving these objectives can bring additional advantages to women and increase their likability of achieving better success in human society. The overall process can also result in the whole list of rather important problems. One of these problems is a chance to reduce woman’s influence. This objective can be met by lowering human likableness. Research also indicates that behavior that appears to be competent often lacks proper commercial competencies and needed qualities. Many of these qualities are prescribed by stereotypes about women. It was also showed that women who appear to be direct, competent, and assertive may be often engaged in illegitimate kind of behavior. This kind of behavior may put into a question women’s status in society. As a result of this process human leadership or influence will be penalized. According to research, in order to exert influence, women are encouraged to combine competence with their behavior. This kind of behavior also resembles human desire for self-gains. Communal behavior also serves this important purpose. Women who combine competence with communality can have a stronger influence in their society. They also have better chance to maintain traditional gender roles and expectations of their society. While speaking about women influence I can definitely say that this influence is more dependent than any other influence. When to look at the manner women exert their influence in society I can definitely say that this influence is more likable that than it is for men (Kaplan, N., Farrell, E. 1994). Gender difference is one of the issues that help to understand men’s influence. This point is understood by research on gender differences in power. In the course of research it was proved that compared to men women have a lower chances of exerting their power as compared to men. In fact, women typically possess lower levels of expert power. This idea is based on the issue of perceived competence, and legitimate power that comes as a result of this competence. The overall process is based on status and legitimate authority that is usually achieved by women in the process of meeting their objectives. An important part of the process is women’s perceived warmth and communality (Lakoff, R., 1975). As a result, women are left with only one choice – to rely on their referent power, or likability. This reliance is much bigger than that of men. The overall process can account in part for the greater communal behavior. This type of behavior is showed by both women than men. The other important aspects covered in the research include such important aspects as positive social behavior. (Dubois, B. L., Crouch, I. 1975) This kind of behavior is referred to nonverbal warmth displayed by women (Hall, 1984). An additional issues which was covered in the course of research is the higher level of democratic leadership shown by female as compared to their male leaders (Leet-Peregrini, H. M., 1980). Being likable is the factor that allows women to communication with men. Resistance to female influence is the issue which is particularly accentuated by women and men. It is though interaction with men when women are able to perceive their highest authority and legitimacy. In the case like this one it is not a big wonder that men is able to respond less favorably than women do to status asserting behavior in women. Given the resistance to women’s influence, particularly by men, woman should remember about the way they are supposed to behave themselves in public. The first step to be taken by women is to increase their influence over other social groups. This objective can be met by communicating in a warm and other-directed manner. The other important approach is to avoid direct displays of highly dominant or self-asserting behavior. In this case people definitely need to exhibit high level of professional competence. Exhibiting high level of processional competence is one important feature of woman’s behavior. Clearly, women need to show a high level of competence in order to ascertain their role in society. In contrast to women, the manner in which men and boys communicate also has a lot of its particular and distinguishing features. When combined together these features are able to define the level of human influence on the issue. Studies show that men are given more benefits than women. In other words, they are presumed to be competent in the areas where women are generally regarded to be as totally incompetent. In some particular cases men’s behavior may be seen as competent while the same standard of women’s behavior that might be seen as incompetent. Similarly, men who lack communality may often show a tendency to promote themselves. This kind of promotion is often realized in a very dominant manner. Traditionally, society is not against such kind of promotion. As recent research actually showed, this type of promotion is perceived more favorably by female counterparts than other participants of the group. Males proved to have great behavioral latitude as compared to females. This kind of attitude is largely shaped by the stereotype that females lack competence and should be warm and communal in the process of communication as compared to their mail counterparts. The other important research finding is that the behavior of female group often influences agents’ behavior. This kind of behavior receives greater scrutiny as compared to that of males. As a result of this type of thinking, man’s path to influence is less easily navigated as compared to that of a woman. Communality, Gender and Social Influence Women’s influence is dependent on people’s approach to human apparent competence. The other important criterion is extend to which women display communal behavior. These extend often helps women to convey their concern for other social groups. Research indicates that men are often equally influential, compared to women. This mode of human behavior occurs regardless of the manner in which people approach a lot of important communal issues. In one study, male and female confederates were engaged in the process of communication. Both groups tried two types of communication: one type of communication is status-asserting style. The other type of communication is overt disagreeing with others. Results revealed that women exerted greater influence as compared to that of man. As for men, they did not lose their influence in any of the above mentioned conditions (Michaelson, Grey, Margil Pohl 2001). Moreover, in this study, people did not show that they approached women occupying a dominant position. Their reaction to men was different. They accepted men and responded to his dominance in a positive way. Gender: biological theory Biopsychologists also have their own idea of gender development. “Biological psychology regards gender identity as something which arises from biological processes.” (Developmental psychology. Gender: biological theory) Also, this theory sees gender differences as something that comes as a result of sex differences. According to biological theory human actions are dependent on the structures of their brain. Brain differences that are present between women and men often results in different thinking. In many cases brain differences may result from chromosomal differences and thus bring hormonal differences to human body. In the period following conception, female and male embryos turned out to be an indistinguishable apart from their chromosomes. The major difference that is present between male and female body is the Y chromosome. This chromosome is present in male body. The main feature of this chromosome is that it is able to promote the production of testosterone and other androgens (male sex hormones). The presence of androgens causes the male brain to develop differently from the female. A biopsychologist would argue that difference between man and women can be explained by the presence of androgen. This element affects human behavior causing men behave differently from women. Men often expose more aggressive behavior. Atypical chromosomal pattern is the other thing that matters. Some people are too concerned with this issue, especially those who have Klinefelter’s syndrome (XXY). The presence of this syndrome can make people biologically male. The other important finding is that men and women produce different sex hormones. The quantity of this hormone varies from one person to the other. Besides affecting the functioning of various bodily organs such as menstrual cycle in women, these hormones have their own effect on human behavior. Some types of human behavior are defined as ‘typically male’. Dabbs (1995) was the first researcher who proved that women have higher levels of oxytocin than men. Biologists have their own ideas about gender development. In the course of research it was found out that biological psychologists use their own methods to study gender. A lot of these people offer a whole list of laboratory experiments. These experiments offer people their own specific models. These models can be used with an objective to understand a whole list of behavioral processes in people. (Ichino, A., Moretti, E., 2009) The very fact of dependence of human behavior on chemical processes was proved by Gorski (1985). During one of his experiments he injected female rats with testosterone. High level of testerone brought a whole list of changes in the appearance of these species. As a result of this experiment rats were born with the genitals that helped to classify them as males rather than females. The experiment resulted in the fact that animals had masculine genitals and high level of testerone. Evaluation of the biological theory of gender The behavioral view states that human behavior is dependent on chromosomal and hormonal differences. These differences exist between males and females. In the final outcome this different is able to affect a range of masculine and feminine behaviors. The given study indicates on a relationship that is present between testosterone levels and risk taking. The research does not indicate on causality. However, it states that higher testosterone might cause people to make riskier decisions, and to adopt a different style of behavior. Grammatical Gender Gramatic gender is one more important issue to be covered in this paper. The issue of grammatical gender suggests that “grammatical gender is largely dependent on the manner in which conceptual objects are being represented.” (Carli, L. L., 1991) The knowledge about the use of grammatical gender can reveal people a whole list of important consequences related to the use of grammatical gender. A lot of theories related to gender can be found in the article by Elizabeth K. Johnson, and Max Planck. The article from which you can get a very clear and definite idea of gramatic gender is title “Grammatical Gender and Early Word Recognition in Dutch”. The article states that Dutch language has two gender systems. An important feature of these systems is the presence of the definite determiner de. This determiner is used to mark common gender singular nouns (e.g. de bal ‘the ball’). The definite determiner het is used with an objective to mark neuter gender singular nouns. Plural nouns “take the determiner de irrespective of gender (het boek becomes de boeken and de bal becomes de ballen).” (Guasti et al.,2003) In the course of research it was proved that a lot of Dutch speakers often show a tendency to use the diminutive form. This form is used in both adult- and child-directed speech (van de Weijer, 1998). When nouns are produced in the diminutive, they might show a tendency to take the determiner irrespective of gender (de bal becomes het balletje). A lot of singular de-words may become het-words when they are produced in the diminutive. Dutch has a rich system of gender marking is able to affect many functions of this society. The system affect a whole list of rather important functions including the functions of demonstrative pronouns (deze/dit), possessive pronouns (onze/ons), and some adjectives (een kleine bal/ een klein boek). Indefinite determiners belong to the category which is not gender-marked. The other important research revelation is that the Dutch gender system may it difficult for some people to acquire new features of language. Also, the article states that “in contrast to many Romance languages (e.g. Spanish), there are no strong phonological predictors of noun gender in Dutch.” (Guasti et al.,2003) Semantic properties of nouns also cannot be regarded as an effective cue for predicting noun gender. Finally, bare singular nouns that can become somewhat more acceptable in Dutch language than in any other language (Guasti et al.,2003). Now less interesting article related to the Grammatical Gender and Meaning was written by Gabriella Vigliocco. The article states that “grammatical gender often has a place in syntactic contexts.” (Guasti et al.,2003) The article clearly shows why languages with grammatical gender put the main accent on nouns. In the course of her research the author clearly shows why nouns can be used altogether with gender-marked determiners and adjectives. This research indicates that there is a correspondence between grammatical marking of gender and human belonging to sex. In the course of the research it was proved that semantic properties of sex are less relevant for research than the other determinants of gender. As for general studies, these studies were devoted to investigating language-specific effects. A lot of these effects are brought by grammatical gender. The article reveals that there is a high level of interdependence between such rather important issues as referent himself and sex of the referent. For nouns referring to humans and some animals, the gender proves to be dependent on the sex of the referent. As for objects and other abstract entities, these things usually do not have any clear semantic correlates. Investigation of two semantic fields, animals and tools is primarily used with an objective to test the above mentioned hypotheses. Many of these hypotheses have been outline above. Conclusion Research clearly showed that men and women have differences in their language use. In order to prove this statement a lot of professional literature was analyzed. Lakoff’s (1975) ideas were used in order to prove linguistic differences between male and female groups. Holmes’s research defined the list of categories of language where differences can be inspected. Research outcomes compiled by Climate (1997), (Mulac., 1998), and Tannen (1990) were also presented in this paper. A very interesting research revelation regarding the length of expression produced by women was made by Kaplan and Farrell (1994). In the course of this research I also identified the different that exists between the following issues: (1) biological gender, (2) grammatic gender and (3) social gender. The idea of biological gender was supported with the help of biological theory. This theory regards gender identity as something which arises from biological processes. This theory supports the idea that gender patters remain to be stable over time. Grammatical gender is largely dependent on the manner in which conceptual objects are being represented. The knowledge about the use of grammatical gender can reveal people a whole list of important consequences related to the use of grammatical gender. As a reference I used the article by Elizabeth K. Johnson, and Max Planck titled “Grammatical Gender and Early Word Recognition in Dutch”. Dutch was used as a rich system of gender marking is able to affect many functions of this society. The article clearly showed why languages with grammatical gender put the main accent on nouns. In the course of her research the author clearly showed why nouns can be used altogether with gender-marked determiners and adjectives. This research indicated that there is a correspondence between grammatical marking of gender and human belonging to sex. Analysis of Social Gender was also presented in this paper. The main objective why I decided to analyse this category was to present gender differences between women and men. The theory was used to regulate different distribution of men and women into social roles. References: Bunz, U. and Campbell, S. (2003). “Accommodating politeness indicators in personal electronic mail messages.” Presented at Association of Internet Researchers’ 3rd. Annual Conference, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Dubois, B. L. & Crouch, I. (1975). “The question of tag question in women’s speech: They don’t really use more of them, do they?” Language in Society. 4, 289-294. Holmes, Janet (1986). “Functions of ‘you know’ in women’s and men’s speech.” Language, 15, 1-22. Holmes, Janet (1993). An introduction to sociolinguistics. London: Longman. Kaplan, N. and Farrell, E. (1994). “Weavers of webs: A portrait of young women on the net.” The Arachnet Journal on Virtual Culture, Volume 2, No. 3. Ichino, A. and Moretti, E. (2009) “Biological Gender Differences, Absenteeism and the Earnings Gap,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1(1): 183-218 Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and women’s place. New York: Harper and Row. Leet-Peregrini, H. M. (1980). Conversational dominance as a function of gender and expertise. Language: Social psychological perspectives. Oxford: Pergamon. Michaelson, Grey and Margil Pohl (2001). Gender in email based cooperative problem solving. Virtual Gender, Routledge, London. Mulac, A. (1998). The gender-linked language effect: Do language differences really make a difference? In D. Canary and K. Dindia Editions, Gender differences and similarities in communication: Critical essays and empirical investigations of gender and gender in interaction, Mahwah, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum, pp. 127-153. Grammatical Gender and Meaning. Gabriella Vigliocco (g.Vigliocco@ucl.ac.uk) Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street. London WC1H 6BT, England Johnson Elizabeth K., Grammatical Gender and Early Word Recognition in Dutch. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Read More