How much has our language actually changed to adapt to gender issues?

Target audience: readers of Red Magazine (working class women and possible feminists).

The way that we use language helps shape us into the person we are. Our freedom of speech, and the ways we choose to use it, allows us to express ourselves. Our generation is persistently publicizing equality in language, but many people have been led to ask the same question: is it really the way that we use language that is changing to adapt to gender issues, or is it just our opinions of the way that we use language that are adjusting? Do our perceptions of the way that women 'should' speak mean that, although women have the right to speak freely, they are restricted by what society believes they are 'allowed' to say?

Language and gender theorist Robin Lakoff had the opinion that women used certain features of language (such as tag questions), that made 'female language' the deficit of 'male language'. Lakoff used the deficit theory to argue that the way women asked questions such as 'isn't it' when in conversations, as well as the use of other language features, shows that women are unsure and lack confidence in what they are saying. However, another gender theorist, Pamela Fishman argued that tag questions actually showed power and dominance on women's behalf. They were used to show that women were interacting well with other participants to show interest and help guide the conversation by dictating a topic and the next person to take turn. The opposing ideas of each theorist could support the idea that the way we use language has not changed, but the way we view the certain language features that others use dictates our opinions of language equality between genders.

Mary Beard, scholar, investigated the idea that women who show power in speech are seen as 'freakish' if they use language features that are 'not in their nature'.

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Language and Representation Task

How would you describe yourself as a speaker?

From the transcript that we wrote up during our task in lesson, I have found the following about how I am as a speaker:

• Timid/nervous : I was laughing and pausing quite often during the time that I spoke, which could suggest that I may have felt awkward or uncomfortable; and possibly unsure about what to say. Although, as a group, we discussed that this reaction may have been an impact of being aware that our speech was being recorded, therefore it may have been less natural and a false representation of the way that we speak in conversation. It could also be impacted by how comfortable we felt with the subject of conversation and the person we were talking to.
• However, I also found that I was the more confident speaker in this situation as I took more turns on average and spoke for slightly longer. I also set the agenda by self-selecting to take the first turn. On the other hand, the number of turns I took may not be evidence that I was the more confident speaker, as they were often interruptions to show my agreement with what the other person was saying (which could be less significant). Similarly, I may have only spoken for longer because I often took long pauses when speaking, suggesting that I may not have been confident when speaking, therefor had to take longer to think about what I was going to say.
• The content of the conversation may not have given a good representation I how I am as a speaker, as the subject of  occupation was not something I had a lot to talk about. This made it hated to talk in depth about something when I didn't know what to say. It also made it difficult for the other participant as they did not have a job themselves, therefore could not talk about personal experiences. 

Research On Gender

Deborah Cameron's Discursive model

• Men and women do not use language differently in any significant way
• It is the idea that you perform your gender: 'doing gender'
• "Your genes don't determine your jeans"

Dale Spender and Pamela Fishman
Dale Spender:

• Feminist scholar that wrote the book 'Man Made Language'
• "male superiority is a myth". "It is because males have had power that they have been in a position to construct the myth of male superiority and have it accepted."
• "language is our means of classifying and ordering the world: our means of manipulating reality"
• Does not agree with the semantic rule in language that male is the norm

Pamela Fishman:

• Focused on some of the features of women's language considered by Lakoff:

- Tag Questions : questions do not signal uncertainty or powerlessness, but are instead used by women as a means of keeping conversation going.

- Women use tag questions to gain conversational power; it is required when speaking to men as they often respond minimally.

- Experimented by recording conversations between American male-female couples. She found that women used tag questions when following a thought of suggestion.

• Differences in male and female language is explained in terms of expectations; men are more dominant because it is what is expected of them by society.
• Women have to do more of the 'conversational shitwork' because men are less concerned to do so.

O'Barr and Atkin's challenge to the deficit theory (1980)

• Suggested that there is no real difference in male and female language, but the situations that they were in result in different ways of which they use language.
• "Women's language or a Powerless Language" was the title of the book that they wrote.
• They studied the language of a courtroom and found women's language to be both powerful and assertive.
• Witnesses of both sexes used the features of Lakoff's 'female language'.
•  Their conclusion : "these traits are actually a 'powerless language' rather than the 'female language".

Mary Beard

• "Part of growing up as a man is learning to take control of public utterance and silence the female..."
• "The woman will speak and then wait for a response relevant to her argument. Then a man will intervene with 'what I was saying was...', with no relevance to what she has just said. It is as though the woman does not exist; men ignore her, dehumanize and silence her".
• "If a female takes on the stereotypes of 'male language', they are accused of 'barking' or 'yapping' (being 'bossy'). It is considered freakish as it is 'not of a woman's nature'".

Beattie

• Found that men and women interrupted more or less equally (men 34.1 average, women 33.8 average) - so men did interrupt more, but by a margin so slight that it was not significant.
• "The problem with this is that you might simply have one very voluble man in the study which has a disproportionate effect on the total".
• "Why do interruptions necessarily reflect dominance? Can interruptions not arise from other sources? Do some interruptions not reflect interest and involvement?"

John Gray

• The most common relationship problems between men and women are a result of fundamental psychological differences between the two sexes.
• Each sex is acclimated to it's own 'planet's' society and customs, but not to the others.
• Each sex can be understood in terms of distinct ways in which they respond to stress:

- Men 'retreat to their cave' to avoid the problem and forget about it,

- Women prefer to talk to someone and seek advice; even if it does not provide a solution.

• This can create conflict, as men retreat whereas women want to feel closer to someone.
• "Men are motivated when they feel needed while women are motivated when they feel cherished"
• "We are unique individuals with unique experiences"

Bibliography in notes.