Gender and Language The ideology of gender categories is typically enacted in linguistic practices; indeed, it is through language that the individual cultural understandings of gender categories are learned and the coordination of gender roles achieved (Foley 2001: 289)

LANGUAGE AND GENDER Sex versus Gender Sexual differences: masculine and feminine Gender categorization: Social construct Daily practices: social interaction Habitus

A concept by Pierre Bourdieu (with roots going back to Marcel Mauss), denoting the totality of learned, bodily skills, habits, styles, tastes, etc. Culture inscribed in the body Gender: habitus

Anthropology of Gender Rosaldo, 1974 Leacock 1978 Moore 1988 Study of the asymmetry of between the sexes: universal exceptions

Main Question Why it is widespread? Public realm and private realm hypothesis Women (work practices): private, viewed inferior Men: Public, risky activities, economic and social capital, politics

Socialization Perpetuation of asymmetrical patterns between the sexes Learning gender categories and rules in the childhood

The Asymmetry of the Sexes is not Universal Errington and Gewertz (1987) Gender can be complementary: Separate but equal Western versus Chambri (New Guinea) Western: Separation of the private and public: Exclusion Chambri: person define by his/her relations

What is the connection between Gender and Language? Gender as Ideology: Language as a tool for learning gender categorization Commonly highly valued ways of speaking association Example: Malagasy speech norms: Indirectness in speech: male activities Kabary Speech

Gender Styles in English Alternatives: pronunciation, word selection, grammatical construction. “You’re driving rather fast, aren’t you? “Well, I guess it’s approximately four feet high.”

Why? Socialization Gender roles and cultural values Social norms: construct and reinforce gender attitudes

Gender Roles Are Reflected In Language Styles Pronunciation: tone, intonation, volume Grammatical forms Choices of vocabulary

Phonological variations: pronunciation Conversational interactions Tendencies in language use Example: New England study: “-ing”; the progressive suffix of verbs

Fischer’s study(1958) –prefer –ing prefer –in –Boys57 –Girls102

Social Meaning in language use: -ing: Formality, symbolizing female speaker -in Informality, symbolizing male speaker Style of speech is connected to a u unified cultural structure of behavior

Intonation Rhythm. Volume, pitch Different intonation in English: Women: wide range of pitches, rapid shift in volume and velocity (more emotional) Men: Atonal (control, restrain) Cultural interpretation: cultural valued behavior

Grammatical Variants Standard versus non-standard grammar Cheshire (1982) in Reading, England

Present tense –s with non- singular subjects: “We goes shopping on Saturdays.” 2. Has with first-and second- person subjects: “We has a little fire keeps us warm.”

Tag Questions sentences in which the speaker makes a declarative statement and add on a tag in the form of a question about the assertion Louise and Lucille didn’t leave together last night, did they? Bill took Luke to the park last night, didn’t he?

Robin Lakoff: --are reluctant to make direct assertions --thus avoiding coming into conflict with the addressee --uncertainty lack of definite opinion

Choice of Vocabulary Different social and cultural domains: --assumption of expertise --profanity

Gender interactions Different styles Introduction to topics Topic control

Gender Bias in English Nouns, adjectives, and verbs English covertly and overtly degrades females normative roles and secondary roles Creating a context for interaction of genders ---term opposite sex ---covert and overt inequality

The child caught the ball. The ball was caught by the child.

Conversational Styles Assumptions about conversational domination McConnell-Ginet (1988) ---Men: 12 min --Women: 3.17 Edelky (1981) --25 to 400% longer

Cross-cultural analysis Ideology of gender enacted in language: Example: English Gender specific ways of comm… Universality of gender asymmetry Highly valued speech and men Three cross-cultural examples: Malagasy, Javanese, Kuna

Malagasy (Madagascar) Speech norms: indirectness in speech Articulated in public: Kabary ceremony Through use of proverbs, allusions and innuendo Kabary speech and male activities

Women and Exclusion Encourage to violate norms Women’s style of speech; secondary Indirect speech = public = male = prestige Direct speech= domestic = female = secondary

Javanese Language Importance of politeness for both sexes Status of addressee and speaker reflected in speech Highly stratified Weak distinctions along gender lines Strong ideology of gender equality Differences of speech in public and private

Private and Public Spheres (Javanese) Private Women: mas or “older brother” Men: dkik or “younger sibling” Difference in seniority Public Women: Less skillful Men: Greater art of polite speech

Kuna (Panama) Egalitarian society economic, political. Labor Complementary separate but equal Private and public contexts: speech styles Public: --equally accessible to both genders --Generally the domain of men Private: ---Exclusive for women

What do these examples tell us about the asymmetry in the cultural evaluation of the sexes? Malagasy and Kuna: Egalitarian Javanese stratified Malagasy and Javanese: marked linguistic behavior Kuna: no great differences

Languages with “Gender- Preference” Patterns Gender exclusive: alternatives appropriate to their gender Gender preference: language style a social or cultural choice Japan: class, seniority, gender Men: less polite and more assertive Women: more polite and less assertive

Summary Language reflect the way we construct gender: pronunciation, grammar structure, etc. Women’s domestic sphere -- less value Cultures evaluate gender styles in a similar way Example: Malagasy, Javanese and Kuna Languages Ways of evaluating lang and gender relationship ----Gender exclusive ---- and gender-preference patterns

Discussion Question In what ways are the relationship between language and gender cross- culturally similar or different to the relationship between language and race?