Discourse and Gender：Features and Approachesof Gendered Language Use

薛昱

Abstract：This essay discusses the different discourse styles assigned to male and female speakers；then it explains the main two approaches to interpret the difference：the dominance approach and the difference approach.More detailed sociolinguistic studies should be done since the gender differentiation interacts with social differentiation.

Key words：sociolinguist，discourse analysis，gender differentiation

1.Introduction

The relationship between discourse and gender has always been a topic of interest.Do women and men talk differently？ Why do women and men talk differently？ Research on this area in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis started in the early 1970s.In recent years，with the development of sociolinguistic interest and womens movement，some critical reviews of literature are presented and new approaches are suggested.This essay discusses the different discourse styles assigned to male and female speakers.

2.Different Discourse Styles between Men and Women

2.1 Linguistic Features

Research on how women and men interact with each other has shown that they do not play the same role in interaction.Some of these differences，such as talkativeness，interruptions and overlaps are explored.Studies suggest that men tend to get and keep the floor more often than women，talk longer，interrupt more，and more often keep control of discourse.Women tend to get and keep the floor less frequently and for less time，and seem to be collaborative and cooperative.

2.2 Conversational Styles

2.2.1 Questions and Tag Questions

Both tag questions and questions function to draw speakers into conversation and to keep conversations going.In interactions，questions are stronger than statements.In Fishman（2001）s study of transcripts of couples in conversation，she found that women ask many more questions than men.Research findings so far explain that women use more interrogative forms to protect their face：asking a question is much less threatening than making an assertion.

Another linguistic form associates with womens speech is tag questions.According to Lakoff（1995：63），tag questions decrease the strength of assertions.Look at the two sentences below：

a.The weather is awful.

b.The weather is awful，isnt it？

Lakoff claims that women are more likely to use sentences like b，she concludes that by doing so，women may give the impression of uncertainty and of looking to the addressee for confirmation.

2.2.2 Commands and Directives

Directives are requests and commands which try to get someone to do something.Because they generally impose on the addressee，it is often considered more polite to issue them indirectly in order to prevent hurt feelings.So one may say “could you pass the salt，please” or “would you mind passing the salt，please” instead of just “pass the salt，please”.Not surprisingly，it is women who are seen as caring about others feelings and upholding politeness norms.Conversely，men tend to issue direct commands to demonstrate assertive and control（McConnell-Ginet 2003：188）.

2.2.3 Topics and Gossips

Researchers have growing interest in the topic difference between men and womens speech.Several studies compare the all-male and all-female conversation and find that men tend to discuss impersonal issues such as current affairs，travel，sports，while women discuss more about people and feelings such as doubts，fears and family problems.

When women discuss emotions and feelings，they often use gossip as a way to interact.Gossip is a term used almost exclusively of womens talk.By contrast，men have little use for gossip since they believe talk is designed to convey information and facts.（Tannen 2009：104）.

3.Two Approaches to Discourse and Gender

3.1 The Dominance Approach

A variety of explanations have been proposed for gender differences in discourse.One of explanations focuses on differences in the social power：men have power，women submit.It sees women as an oppressed group and interprets linguistic differences in womens and mens speech in terms of mens dominance and womens subordination.

3.2 The Difference Approach

Another approach to explaining why women and men have different discourse features is first proposed by Maltz and Borker.It emphasizes the idea that women and men belong to different subcultures since they tend to learn appropriate ways of interacting from their same sex peers.In many societies，the mens interaction tends to be more competitive and control-orientated，while women interact more cooperatively and focus on relative closeness（Holmes 2014：7）.The differences in language use are largely a product of different socialization，and these different patterns of interaction may lead to miscommunication between the sexes.

4.Conclusion

This essay explores the linguistic variation related to the gender of the speaker.It describes differences founds in the speech of women and men，and relates these linguistic differences to the social roles assigned to women and men in the society.We have to remember that gender differentiation in language interacts in a complex way with other kinds of social differentiations.

References

McConnell-Ginet.（2013）Language and Gender.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

Fishman，P.（2001）Conversational insecurity.In：Giles，H.et al.（eds.）Language：Social Psychological Perspectives，127-132.Oxford：Pergamon Press.

Holmes，J.（2014）Women，Men and Politeness.London：Longman.

Tannen，D.（2009）Gender and language in the workplace.In：Wodak，R.（ed.）Gender and Discourse，81-105.London：SAGE Publications.

Lakoff，R.（1995）Language and Womans Place.New York：Harper & Row.

（作者單位：浙江工商職業技術學院）