Gender and Language - 3703 Words

Lexical Analysis of Gender and Language Theories Muna Mohammed Abbas College of Engineering/ Babylon University 1. Introduction The major thing that distinguishes human beings from animals is basically our way to communicate with each other by using language. We have words for specific things, emotions, expressions and it appears as though we have words for everything when thinking about it. In each language; words are constructed in a certain way. When working with language, it is quite possible to determine whether a word belongs to one stem or another just by looking at it even if the person has no clue of the word’s meaning which is quite fascinating. The question, Do men and women use language differently? played a†¦show more content†¦There is no doubt that differences between the language used by men and the language used by women have been extensively observed and that ‘male and female conversational styles are quite distinct’ (O’Loughlin, 2000:2), what has been less clear is what the reasons for these differences might be. 4. Language and Gender Theories 4.1 Deficit and Dominance Theories These works led to the ‘dominance approach’ that provides a traditional, negative evaluation of women’s speech, which the authors contend is a direct consequence of women’s political and cultural subordination to men. Thus, women’s linguistic inadequacies are attributed to societal inequalities between men and women, where men’s conversational dominance appears to reflect the wider political and cultural domination of men over women (Freeman McElhinny, 1996). Lakoff (1975) argues that women’s manner of speaking, which is different to men, reflects their subordinate status in society. Thus, women’s language is marked by powerlessness and tentativeness, expressed through the use of mitigators and inessential qualifiers, which effectively disqualifies women from positions of power and authority. In particular, Lakoff (1975) argues that women’s language style is deficient, lacking in authori ty and assertiveness. Lakoff (1975:43) also makes the interesting observation that women face a ‘double bind’ where they are criticized or scolded for not speaking like a lady but, atShow MoreRelated Gender-Neutral English Language Essay2943 Words   |  12 PagesGender-Neutral English Language The English language has evolved through history in a male-centered, patriarchal society. The male orientation of English carries two complementary implications: being male is normative and natural; and therefore, not being male is abnormal and unnatural. The shifting of our language from masculine to gender-neutral may be awkward at first, and our children may wonder what all the fuss was about. The English language is always changing and the futureRead MoreLanguage, Language And Gender1477 Words   |  6 PagesAs we all know, language is a very important role in our daily life and everyone on the planet uses a language. Language is used in so many ways. It is assigned to every country, and usually every country has its own language which is very unique. Whether one speaks or not, a language is still used, either verbal or sign language is used. Now to note here, language is not used in the same form by gender. Gender takes a huge role on language. Pronunciation and grammar are tended to be used very differentlyRead MoreLanguage and Gender Essay975 Words   |  4 PagesLanguage and Gender The idea that language can be used as an instrument of oppression is one that is held by many critics of varying focus who stress the fact that language is both an instrument of social constraint and a means of resisting that constraint. It is an issue deeply embedded in the literary theory of gender and sexuality, race and nationality, and even social class. The idea of feminist criticism, where language is identified as one of the means throughRead MoreLanguage And Gender Of The Workplace842 Words   |  4 PagesLanguage and Gender in the Workplace The most common form of verbal communication is language. The continuous changing world, along with culture, often times controls how language develops and is used individually. The gender of a person may also amount to how language is used differently. 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These people are looked down on  from the rest of society for just being themselves and doing only what they know to do.   For some, it’s wrong if others do not act just like them and they put them down for it.  Stereotypes canRead MoreGender Inequality Within The Language882 Words   |  4 PagesGender inequality in language In 2013 there was a change in Sweden language that dragged people’s attention on gender inequality. Sweden has added a gender neutral pronoun â€Å"hen† into the language system. â€Å"Hen† this words represents both male and female. This events reminded people about gender inequality happened in language. Every language people speak tend to have gender inequality in them. However does it really work to just change the pronoun in the language? I think probably not. There is indeedRead MoreThe Relationship Between Gender and Language1984 Words   |  8 Pagesrange of language issues. In chapter 13, Wardhaugh provides a good insight to the relationship between language and gender. He explains gender differences of language-in-use with concise examples. Wardhaugh riases questions about sexist language and guides readers to look closer at how people use language differently because of their own gender in daily life. According to the Whorfian hypothesis, which indicates that the way people use language reflects their thoughts, different genders adapt differentRead MoreGender Differerences in Language Learning1830 Words   |  8 PagesGenders Differ in Language Use The purpose of the study, including the specific research question studied: Language Learning Strategies (LLS) are the activities or actions that learners take in order to effectively receive, store, retrieve and use information that they gain. Learners take such actions in order to facilitate faster and easier learning as well as make learning more enjoyable and effective (Mahamod et al., 2009). According to Mahamod et al. (2009), gender results into differences