Gender and Language
Gender and Language: do men and women speak and use language differently? Does it matter if they do or do not? Why?
March 29th, 2012
Gender and Language: do men and women speak and use language differently? Does it matter if they do or do not? Why?
“Language, in the form of popular, educational, artistic and scientific literature, informal conversation and formal rhetoric, conveyed at first hand or with the aid of intervening media, is the repository of our shared wisdom (or lack of it) about the sexes. It is also the main vehicle whereby this wisdom is disseminated thoughout society.” (Smith, 1985) The language difference between men and women is not a recent discussed and researched topic, but rather a topic debated for decades by both genders with a different range of areas relating to it, which includes who speaks more, who is most likely to have the best grammar, who expresses themselves better, who expresses themselves more. A variety of books associated to gender and language were published in the past years from various authors showing what are the differences and effect of communication between men and women. The miscellaneous variety of differences is enormous, and not all of them are stated in this text. There may be such a variety in the language spoken by men and women in different cultures worldwide that there was even a concern about the Carib language spoken in the Lesser Antilles, where it was at a certain point believed that men and women spoke a completely different language. (Smith, 1985) This paper will discuss diverse points of views concerning the differences in language and some studies concerning these differences. There are two main processes that will be analyzed and further explained, the biological differences between genders and the social differences, and how they contribute to the
March 29th, 2012
Gender and Language: do men and women speak and use language differently? Does it matter if they do or do not? Why?
“Language, in the form of popular, educational, artistic and scientific literature, informal conversation and formal rhetoric, conveyed at first hand or with the aid of intervening media, is the repository of our shared wisdom (or lack of it) about the sexes. It is also the main vehicle whereby this wisdom is disseminated thoughout society.” (Smith, 1985) The language difference between men and women is not a recent discussed and researched topic, but rather a topic debated for decades by both genders with a different range of areas relating to it, which includes who speaks more, who is most likely to have the best grammar, who expresses themselves better, who expresses themselves more. A variety of books associated to gender and language were published in the past years from various authors showing what are the differences and effect of communication between men and women. The miscellaneous variety of differences is enormous, and not all of them are stated in this text. There may be such a variety in the language spoken by men and women in different cultures worldwide that there was even a concern about the Carib language spoken in the Lesser Antilles, where it was at a certain point believed that men and women spoke a completely different language. (Smith, 1985) This paper will discuss diverse points of views concerning the differences in language and some studies concerning these differences. There are two main processes that will be analyzed and further explained, the biological differences between genders and the social differences, and how they contribute to the
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