Pamela Fishman (1983) - gender theory

Fishman was responsible for the dominance model a year after Cheshire's study. she focused on tag questions, listening to 52 hours of pre-recorded conversations between young American couples. She agreed with Lakoff finding about how women use tag questions more often, (4 times more). However, the conclusion she drew was very different to Lakoff. She argued that questions are used by females to start conversation and to continue dialogue, she calls this 'conversational shitwork'. Fishman accepts this is down to male dominace (much like Tannen and her difference model the 'Status Vs Support' difference in particular). Males are reluctant to do this 'shitwork' due to their dominant role. This links to the 'difference model' by Deborah Tannen.