Language and gender
Using any language involves many things; it could mean the words we select, the manner in which we produced it, the topics that are chosen, the way in which grammar is being used, the things that are worth saying and the way we arrange the events in the stories we tell.
And if your answer is NO, what do you think this reflects in your opinion?
It is only natural that men and women would speak the same language if they happen to live in the same society; however, studies have shown that the manner in which each gender uses this language is different from the other. For example, it seems that there is not much overlapping in the conversation between men; in addition, men seem to prefer to discuss sports over discussing personal matters.for example, they would prefer discussing the latest basketball game than a visit to the family doctor. As for women it seems that they prefer to use rising intonations, for example if a woman wants to declare her opinion about someone she would say in a rising intonation (She is such a bore!!!). In addition, women seem to prefer using highly polite forms of speech, for example, (I’d really appreciate it if you would give me notes to copy from)
But what is the reason for these differences? Well it must be due to several things, the tow factors that would come to mind are educational and genetic factors. However, the different manner in which they use language obviously differs from one culture to another. For example, the Western cultures and Eastern cultures do have these differences discussed above, but the differences are not identical and the ratios and frequencies of their occurrence must be different.
I would like to conclude by saying that each person whether man or woman is unique, therefore, the differences mentioned here are not strictly applied for every man and every woman, but are discussed in a general manner. In addition, I would like to read your comments about what you think of these differences and the examples you can give.
I like your topic very much as we notice these kinds of differences also when a boy is raised by women would tend to use different vocabulary in different situations than the vocabulary that women use. For example, more use of positive or negative minimal responses, such as, mmm, yeah, ohh. etc. In addition to using tag questions more often and giving a lot of complements. This boy may be described as a gay or girly especially in Gulf countries. Therefore, my job as a teacher hopefully in the future is to keep in mind that each student has his/her own cultural background and I should guide them to the right behaviour by giving them roles in certain plays performed or even some of class chores that helps in strengthening their personality and I must keep in mind not to ignore such students or make fun of them.
ReplyDeleteI would like to Thank Dr. Taiba for her lovely and very useful class discussion related to this topic. Also, I would like to thank my class mate Fatma for her efforts. :)
No, of course they don't speak the same way and that in my opinion reflects the different preferences that each gender has.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add that there are some communities were women and men don't speak the same language, even children would be thought the language each by his/her own gender. However, the differences between women and men might not be as obvious as the example above. We can notice that in the western community where the role of men and women overlaps the differences are not shown much in their speaking. Nevertheless, the differences could be noticed more often in the communities where women and men have more separate roles.
Thank you for your contribution, I am really fond of this topic.
There is a relationship between culture and language and it is that culture works as guidance for the language and vica-a-versa. That is because language is an important part of the culture, with it people can convey their messages .Also, and it is used to socialize with each other. Since, language is used in that great deal it is only natural it takes its shape, syntax, auxiliary and other aspect of the language from the culture. That is why language is used to express social identity through body language and accent.
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