Gender and Language Usages From a Socio—cultural Perspective

Shan Chen

【Abstract】Females and males use language in a very different way regarding their pronunciations， vocabulary choices， sentence structures and pragmatic meanings. This paper is to list the major differences in gender-related language usages， and then the primary socio-cultural reasons will be presented to analyze these differences.

【Key words】language usages； females； males； power； social expectations

【作者簡介】Shan Chen， Changde Vocational Technical College.

Males and females are obligatory to make choices in their daily life. These choices may be manifest in the words they opt for to express themselves， the tones and pitches they articulate， the sentence structures they construct and the meanings they intend to convey and actually convey. This paper aims to list some of the divergences among the linguistic items adopted by males and females， and then the primarily related socio-cultural reasons will be explored.

1. Differences in Language Usages

One can quickly be picked up among the crowds， not only by their appearances， but also by their styles especially their language styles. When it comes to telling the differences between women and men， this also applies. Various language usages， including pronunciations， vocabulary， sentences and pragmatics， can help to delimit the boundary existing between males and females.

1.1 Pronunciations

Initially Lavob has shown a stratification of phonological variables according to gender， age， socioeconomic status， and situational context. Statistically， in an early study of children， Fischer （1958） found that boys used a higher frequency of final -in as opposed to -ing than girls. In the 24 children he studied， only 17% of the girls used more -in than -ing， in contrast to 58% of the boys. In Singapore English， Hiang & Gupta （1992） found that postvocalic r occurred more frequently in females than in males （cited in Major， 2004）.

Qualitatively， take Japanese as an illustration， watashi （I） is often pronounced as atashi by female， which can show a smaller mouth shape appreciated by their society. Moreover， interjections including the pronouncing of /ɑ/ are used more frequently by male， while /i / by female. It seems that women and men are inclined to adopt separate pronunciations to indicate their divergence.

1.2 Vocabulary

Males and females are found to use disparate ways to memorize vocabulary， from which yielded different lexical production （e.g. Murphy， 2011）， just as Bouchard， etc. （2009） revealed that girls and boys follow different developmental paths of language acquisition， namely， between 8 and 30 months， girls understand more sentences and produce more words than boys， but boys catch up with girls and then seem to surpass them during the 30th month.

Growing up， females use more “empty” adjectives， such as adorable， charming， divine and nice. They also use more intensifiers than men， such as “I feel so happy” and “The movie is very moving”. Besides， women use hedges more than men do， just like “Its kinda nice” （Freeman & McElhinny， 2001）.

1.3 Sentences

It seems that women always use the correct and formal grammar in their sentence productions， which isnt always the case for men.

Females use more tag questions than males. They frequently express such sentences as “The weather is really nice today， isnt it？” In other situations， women utilize question intonation in statements to express uncertainty like “My name is Tammy？” （Freeman & McElhinny， 2001）. Compared with women， men dispose their utterances to a casual and simple direction， which can be effortlessly understood in that men neednt others to echo them， and they are confident to be the predominant positions to assert what they want to say.

Very often， its stereotyped that female talk or gossip too much， and therefore women can generate more sentences than men in the conversations. However， this bias excludes the very fact that men actually talk more than women in meetings， television talk shows， and classrooms. Hence， it makes sense to hold that the amount of sentences is distributed differently in womens and mens utterances， with more of womens in some informal context， while more of mens in some relatively formal context.

1.4 Pragmatics

Unlike women who tend to hide or imply their actual meanings in their speeches， men are often straight forward， directly meaning what they want others to believe. Therefore， it is traditionally assumed that womens speech is more polite than mens. Major （2004） reported in his study that male speakers showed a higher percentage of casual or less prestigious speech forms than females， and that the male and female speakers used more casual forms in the less formal style， and in both styles males used more casual forms than females.

Even using the same words or phrases， underlying emotions of males and females， may vary from each other. Holmes finds that men use you know slightly more often to express linguistic imprecision， which is contrary to the fact that women use you know more frequently to express emphasis or attribute knowledge to another speaker， and men and women using you know at approximately the same rates to express appeals and conjoint knowledge （cited in Freeman & McRlhinny， 2001）.

2. Socio-cultural Reasons for Those Differences

This part is to select two major social factors pertained to gender-linked differences in language usage—power and social expectations to explain why women and men resort to different language styles.

2.1 Power or Social Identities

Conventionally， men are responsible for outside work to support their family， whereas women are obligatory to work inside to maintain the sound running of the whole family. Different social assignments implicitly specify womens and mens occupation in their daily life. Power or social identities influences both males and females when it comes to decision-making， of course， language usage being one of the many different choices. Its widely accepted that men use hard language to show their predominant position in the world， while women adopt soft language to manifest their subordinate position to men.

The dual-culture model proposed by Tannen holds that many men， as individuals in a hierarchical social order， approach the world where they try to achieve and maintain the upper hand if they can， and protect themselves from others attempts to put them down and push them around. Life， then， is a contest， a struggle to preserve independence and avoid failure. However， women approach the world as individuals in a network of connections. They try to seek and give confirmation and support， and to reach consensus. They try to protect themselves from others attempts to push them away. Life， then， is a community， a struggle to preserve intimacy and avoid isolation. Male and female display their unique ways to eye the social world （cited in Hudson， 2000）. Correspondingly， language is one of their tools to convey their different social values and thought patterns， on the ground that men are always trying to grasp the opportunities to show off their power， while women always manage to veil their inferior positions， so as to confirm to their social identities.

2.2 Social Expectations

Unequal social power between males and females， naturally， leads to different social valuations and requirements exerted by the society them.

Hammer， etc. （2011） conducted a longitudinal investigation and concluded that the childrens gender affects mothers language usage to their children because mothers are amenable to different acculturation styles when interacting with their daughters and sons. This is tantamount to acknowledging that different social expectations can instill different inputs to males and females in their childhood， resulting in their various language comprehension and language production.

Therefore， just as Lakoff argues， a female faces a double bind. If she does not learn to behavior like a lady， she will be criticized， ostracized， or scolded. If， on the other hand， she does learn to behavior like a lady， she will be systematically denied access to power on the ground that she is not capable of holding it. Trapped by this dilemma， to some degree， the more education a female receive， the more etiquettes she will obey and the more familiar she will become to the social rules underpinned for the sake of traditional education and other social members expectations （Freeman & McRlhinny， 2001 ）. It is implied， therefore， that education can narrow the biased social expectations attached to females and males.

The role of gender cannot be overemphasized and excluded out of context， variation， intra-group difference and inter-group overlapping. There exist complicated relations between language and gender. Multiple perspectives should be taken to approach the issue at the textual level， since most gendered features are represented in texts. Research cannot separate the parameter of gender from other social and contextual factors.

References：

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[2]Freeman，R.&McElhinny;，B.2001.Language and Gender.In Sandra，L.M.& Nornberger，N.H.Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press/ FLTRP.

[3]Hammer，C.S.，Lawrence，F(xiàn).，Rodriguez，B.，Davison，M.D.& Miccio，A.W.2011.Changes in language usage of Puerto Rican mothers and their children：Do gender and timing of exposure to English matter？ Applied Psycholinguistics，32：275–297.

[4]Hudson，R.A.，2000.Sociolinguistics .Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press/ Cambridge University Press.

[5]Major，R.C.2004.Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology.Language Variation and Change，16：169–188.