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English Language Theories

Terms in this set (20)

Goffman
Identified the term 'footing' referring to participants stance towards each other.
Trudgill
Women's pronunciation is closer to RP than men's
Cheshire
Boys tend to use more non-grammatical terms, like 'ain't', than girls
Lakoff (Robin)
Women use more hedges and fillers; tag questions; apologetic requests, indirect requests, speak less, use fewer expltives, more intensifiers. She argued that these features of speech make women seem inferior, weak and needy and prevents women from being taken seriously
O'Barr and Atkins
Disputed Lakoff, and said it was males and females of a low social status who used these linguistic features
Zimmerman and West
Found that 96% of all interruptions were made by men, suggesting male dominance in conversation
Beattie
Questioned Zimmerman and West's theory that men's interruptions were a sign of dominance. He said it could be to show support and understanding
Tanner - Advice vs. understanding
Women seek comfort and sympathy for their problems, whilst men will seek a solution to the problem.
Tanner - Information vs. feelings
Men's conversation is message-oriented, based upon communicating information. For women, conversation is much more important for building relationships and strengthening social links.
Tanner - Order vs. proposals
Men will use direct imperatives ("close the door", "switch on the light") when speaking to others. Women encourage the use of superpolite forms, ("let's", "would you mind if ...?").
Tanner - Conflict vs. compromise
A woman is more likely to prevent fights and conflict by refusing to oppose or assert herself, even if it will not get her what she wants from the situation. Men are much more prepared to argue their preferences at the risk of conflict.
Tanner - Independence vs. intimacy
In general men favour independence, while women are more likely to seek intimacy.
Cameron
Argued that all theories were bias because they concentrate on the differences between men and women's speech rather than the similarities
Coates
'Women's talk' falls into four categories:
1) Bitching
2) Chatting
3) House talk
4) Scandal
R.B LePage
We speak the language of the social group with which we wish to be identified
Herbert and Straight
Compliments tend to flow from those with a higher rank to those with a lower rank
Edelsky
Men take longer turns during structured sections of meetings. They asked more questions, argued and tell more jokes. During free sections the genders are balanced evenly
Holmes and Marra
Women use just as much humour as men, using it to control conversation and contest superiors. Women are, however, more likely to encourage collaboration and supportive humour
Hornyak
The shift from work talk to personal talk is always initiated by the highest ranking person in the room
Fishman
Women do the interactional sh*t-work in conversations
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