Gender and Language

Men and women express themselves differently in both verbal and non-verbal communications. Most if not all of the differences between male and female communications are socialized. Because of gender socialization, men and women will use different diction and linguistic styles.

I am familiar with each of the examples of gender-based language listed in the class notes. In fact, I can think of many more ways in which women and men use language differently from each other. For example, many women use terms like "like," or "y'know" more than men do in casual conversations. Women tend also to converse using more empathy than men, who may speak from personal experience before saying, "Oh, I know exactly how you feel." Moreover, I have noticed that more women than men will make a simple statement sound like a question by raising the tone of the final word of a sentence. The effect conveys insecurity and uncertainty, just as the use of "like" and "y'know" does.

These and other linguistic phenomenon can be traced to social status issues, just as the class notes suggest. I would further hypothesize that uncertainty in women's speech is directly related to women's lower social status vs. men. Women are socialized to be less domineering than men are and their speech may reflect that. In the class notes, this phenomenon is referred to as cooperative speech vs. aggressive speech.

Likewise, women are socialized to be politer and more deferential than men are, and their communication styles reflect that as well. This line of thought coincides with the thesis offered Deuchar (1988) outlined in the class notes. Women may use standard forms instead of prestige forms "to maintain face in interactions that offer them little power." When women do use prestige forms, they may do so to assert their power directly.