In this very article, I talked about the two approaches regarding the relationship between language and gender and four different theories about Language and Gender.
There are two approaches regarding the relationship between language and gender
1) The biological approach 2)
The cultural approach
The biological approach focuses on the differences between the language of male and
female based on their physical and biological characteristics. For instance, the voice of women has
greater pitch that of men. Similarly, a men’s voice has greater base than of women. In addition,
men can speak louder than women.
The cultural approach states that the differences between the language of male and female
are due to the social roles and statuses to them. For instance, according to Maltz and Borkez (1982)
the founding father of the cultural approach, women use speech for establishing and maintaining
their social relations for showing loyalty, equality and getting support. Men on the other hand, use
speech to gain power, status and control. In addition, they use speech to express their skills, abilities
and dominance.
There have been many theories about the differences about the language of men and
women. Some of these theories are discussed in detailed below.
A. The Dominance Theory by Fishman (1980)
Fishman in 1980 is of the view that men usually have dominant roles and statuses in the society
while women are suppressed, these differences in their roles and statuses make differences in their
language. Men, because of their social dominance, have greater linguistic freedom. They can use
slangs and can speak in public. In addition, it is men who initiate, interrupt and can conclude
conversation. Women on the other hand, have very little linguistic freedom. They are not allowed
to use slangs or to laugh and talk loudly. These differences show the dominance of men and the
suppression of women in the society.
The dominance theory is criticized by many people because there are certain situations where
women are dominant and they dominate the conversation. As the results of the study conducted by
William O’Barr in courtroom revealed the language of the women of authority in courtroom was
dominant than that of men. Similarly, Tannon is of the view that within a culture, there exists sub-
cultures based on gender and those sub cultures have their own demands. Those demands actually
shape the minds of people and it is because of the demands of those sub cultures that men and
women speak differently and the differences between their speeches are not because of superiority
or suppression.
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