Completed A-Level Essay obtaining an A* grade.
‘Evaluate the idea that gender is the most significant factor in determining a person’s language choice’
‘Evaluate the idea that gender is the most significant factor in determining a person’s language
choice’
It could be argued that gender is a contributing factor in language choice. However, there are many
stereotypes associated with male/female speech patterns and society generally views women in a more
negative light. However, other factors such as age, social group, occupation and social class equally
contribute to determining a person’s language choice. Theorists such as Deborah Cameron, Zimmerman
and West, Robin Lakoff and Milroy and Milroy all explore this concept and question whether gender is
the biggest factor affecting language choice.
One of the first theories highlighting gender as a crucial factor in linguistics is the ‘deficit’ approach. First
founded by Otto Jespersen in 1922, the ‘deficit’ theory views men’s language as the norm and women's
language as deficient to it. Jespersen investigated non-fluency factors such as fillers and pauses and
suggested that women’s language featured these more and women would often break off sentences
before completion. This led him to conclude that women lacked the capability to speak as adeptly as
men and thus, are deficient in linguistic ability. However, this was a form of ethnographic research
based on observations from travellers and literature resulting in reduced validity. This theory was
popularised in 1975 by Robin Lakoff who further investigated women’s language choices. Her research
formed a detailed list of features of spoken language that made women’s language weak, for example,
empty adjectives and the use of tag questions. Lakoff’s research seemed to confirm Jespersen’s theory,
but it must be considered that Lakoff only looked at white, middle class, American women. This
demonstrates a small, specific sample size and highlights the lack of validity in her findings. In contrast,
O’Barr and Atkins studied language in the courtroom. Their findings suggested that lower class men
used Lakoff’s language in the courtroom. This implies that despite the belief that women are deficient,
and that gender is the most crucial factor in language choice, the language we choose is more about
power and social class.
Gender is also displayed as a central factor of language choice in the ‘dominance approach’. Within this
study, men were seen to use language as a means of reinforcing or maintaining their power in
conversations, whereas women were viewed as lacking in power. Zimmerman and West (1975) did a
campus study and found that men were responsible for ninety - six percent of interruptions between
men and women. This concluded that men’s dominance manifests in the form of conversational
management and women assert their lack of power through their language choice. Despite the clear
findings that men interrupted more, it is important to factor in the context of the scenario. For example,
the types of interruptions were unclear (they can be supportive or creative overlaps) and one male may
have interrupted a significant amount (suggesting that personality was a larger factor than gender).
Moreover, speaking more often might be the opposite of dominance – it could be someone rambling as
they are scared or nervous. In which case, the findings could suggest that interruptions in a conversation
are more to do with positional power rather than gender.
Language choice is also seen to be affected by gender through the ‘difference approach’. First proposed
by Deborah Tannen in 1990, the ‘difference approach’ is the idea that men and women are simply
inherently different. The model had six clear continuums of difference between gender suggesting that
men and women choose different linguistic devices and lexicons even if they are in the same scenario.
For example, the concept of ‘orders vs proposals’ highlights the belief that men use more imperative
verbs and phrases e.g. ‘take the bins out’ whereas women use ameliorated requests e.g. ‘would you
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