Language and Gender theories

Deborah Tannen

Her theory, the difference model, explains that being two separate genders impacts our language and can cause miscommunication. She tells you that men dominate conversation and interrupt more frequently than a woman to gain status. Tannen basis` her theory on 6 contrasts, one being competition vs co-operation.

Robin Lakoff

·         Her research (1975) is known as the `deficit approach`, this explains that male language is stronger, prestigious and more desirable than a woman’s. It also informs you that men speak more than women.

Pamela Fishman

·         She believes that women use hedges, polite forums and question tags to help continue a conversation and get everyone involved. She calls this “conversational shitwork” to hold the conversation together and keep it flowing.

Janet Hyde

·         She proposes a “gender similarities hypothesis” which explains male and females are similar on most but not all psychological variables. She tells you that there are more similarities between male and female language than differences and any variations in speech could be down to age, occupation, status, class etc.

Christine Howe

·         She explains her theory to return to the point of men and women’s language differences due to their gender. She explains that men are more likely to respond quicker to what is being discussed so they can put their viewpoint across before anyone else.

O'Barr and Atkin's

·         Her research is interesting, and seems to suggest that it is not so much differences in the sexes' language, more the situations that they face which result in the difference. This theory is known as the dominance theory: if there is a difference in language, it is because males have always dominated in both the home and workplace, and females have had to play the domestic roles.

Zimmerman and West

·         Dominance theory. They were investigating the presence of uncooperative interactive features, such as interruptions, in conversation. They wanted to find out whether the gender of conversation participants affected the use of these features.