Evaluate the notion that male language is superior and more authoritative when compared to female language

How to answer the above question: A Guide

Start with… Dominance

Pamela Fishman:
Division of labour in conversations
•Women keep a conversation going (shitwork)
•Men don’t use such effects (found by Lakoff) as they already perceive themselves as dominant

However, Conducted by Zimmerman & West:
•Men dominant through power of interruption
•Men have conversational power
•Questioned by latest Stanford University Research, suggesting everybody perceives interruptions differently (See wider reading)

Move on to counter with… Deficit

Furthermore Robin Lakoff:
•Women’s speech deficient
•Supports above argument
•Women’s use of; Hedges, tag questions, empty adjectives signs of deficiency in conversational power

However:
•Lakoff’s study
•Is Generalised
•Is Outdated (1970s)
•Utilised a relatively small data set

Then bring in… Difference

Fronted by Deborah Tannen:
•Women Support, Men Status
•Women Intimate, Men Independent
•Women Cooperative, Men Competitive

The Latter of which was supported by Jane Pilkington:
•Collaboration among women in same sex conversations which wasn’t found in male same sex conversations
•Didn't study mixed sex conversations

Similarly, Jennifer Coates
•Same sex friendship groups converse differently
•Women Overlap: Men take turns (Could link to Dominance)

Furthermore, Jenny Cheshire
•Boys use more non-standard forms than girls and thus have difficulty communication in mixed sex conversation

However:
•Jenny found that this could be down to more than just gender factors…

This is where Dynamic roles so nicely in…

Janet Hyde
•Compared several hundred existing studies into male and female language use going back decades, taking a mathematical approach but not actually coming to a conclusion.

Deborah Tannen
•She utilised Janet Hyde’s research in order to back her hypothesis
•She Suggests there are more differences within genders rather than between them 

However some disagree suggesting gender must be at least a minor contributing factor

Then Conclude:
In conclusion, time has led to changes in either; the language of men and women, or our understanding of it. It is, however, true that currently we live in a patriarchal society which provides authoritative power to men, regardless of their language use. Hence male language can be argued superior and more authoritative.

Sources: All wider reading can be found here: http://timsenglinshlanguageblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/wider-reading.html

Other sources:
https://prezi.com/bitphlh9yssv/jennifer-coates-and-deborah-jones/ https://quizlet.com/28164794/gender-theories-flash-cards/

That's Just A Theory

Conversation

• Face theory - Goffman (1955)
• We project a particular image of ourselves to others, the image we present is called face. We present a respectful face in the hope that they will respect ours in return. Face-work often has the aim of maintaining status of participants.
• Positive and Negative politeness - Brown and Levinson (1987) 
• Having regard for another person's face is an important aspect of Face theory. One way we maintain face is through a politeness approach. 
• Positive Politeness: is demonstrated when we show people that they are liked and admired, this can be done through complimenting and enticing a relationship or closeness.
• Negative Politeness: is shown when we avoid intruding on others' lives, taking care not to impose our presence on them or pry into their personal affairs. This is indirectness done through hedging questions or tags. Such language includes several modal verbs 
• Cultural Variations: Particular societies and cultures may place greater emphasis on positive or negative politeness, for example Britain, which puts emphasis on Negative politeness.

• Grice's maxims
• Quantity will likely be the maxim held by most gamers, being efficient in the way they type and talk, especially in teamwork based games. 
• Quality is determined by game genre. It will upheld in teamwork based games,  and flouted in free-for-all games.
• Relation will likely be upheld, as talk will likely be related to the game in question.
• Manner, similarly to quality, will be determined by game genre or context, It will upheld in teamwork based games,  and flouted in free-for-all games. 
• Politeness Principle - Robin Lakoff (1973)
• Don't Impose
• "Avoid intruding on others' lives"
• This will likely be flouted, as to follow it could involve hedging questions
• Give options
• "Avoid making the listener feel obliged to do something"
• I think the options provided will be 'fight' or 'flight'
• Make your receiver feel good
• "Make others feel appreciated"
• I'm not sure many gamers know what these words mean.

Language And Gender

Deficit

In 1975, Robin Lakoff conducted a study comparing men and women's speech. She concluded that women are more polite, and use more specific linguistic techniques (such as; hedges, empty adjectives, and tag questions), but that men have a better sense of humour, and that their language was superior and more desirable. Her theory was published as "The Deficit Model", since women's speech was deficient to men's. Considering the context of 1975, this is understandable, where ladies were meant to be lady-like, and submit to what men told them. However, this theory can be argued obsolete, since times have changed in the 43 years since this study.

Dominance

Zimmerman and West conducted a similar study, comparing the amount of times men and women interrupt each other, studying both same-sex and mixed-sex conversations. They concluded that men interrupt more often than women. However, the validity of this theory is questionable, since the theory was published in 1975 and it was never specified what, exactly, an interruption was, since an interruption could be polite, a sign of interest in the subject. The theory was christened "The Dominance Model", since it claimed men dominate a conversation. A study by Beattie countered this model, describing men and women to interrupt equally in conversation.

Difference

More recently (and thus arguably the more reliable of the three) "The Difference Model" was published in by Deborah Tannen 1989, she is credited for her book "You just don't understand". This model simply suggests that men and women belong to different sub-cultures and preferences. Tannen believes that men see a complaint as a challenge, and talking as information with a practical purpose; And that women hedge their orders (to slyly manipulate men), and are reluctant to openly oppose others. Her model has been expanded by several throughout the years; Jenifer Coates in 1989 stated how all female-talk is co-operative; Koenraad Kuiper in 1991 put forward his study of a rugby team, concluding that men see 'saving face' with less importance; Jane Pilkington in 1992 built on this further, suggesting men are less supportive to each other.

Child Language Acquisition

• Behaviorism 
• Behaviorism is a view that assumes a learners passive response to an exterernal stimuli. Starting off as a clean slate and through positive and negative reinforcement and punishment, builds and denies antecedent behavior
• Theory by B.F. Skinner (1957)
• Nativism
• Nativism (or Innateness) suggests that children are born with an inborn or innate ability for acquiring language that is biologically determined. There is belief of children having a Language Acquisition Device and understanding tenses early due to a Universal Grammar
• Theory by Noam Chomsky (1991)
• Interactionism
• The social Interationist Theory (or Interactionism) incorporates nature into CLA, suggesting children can be influenced by their environment as well as that language input from care-givers. It considers the effect of isolation, and the zone of proximal development.
• Theory by Lev Vygotsky (????)
• Congnitivism
• The Cognitive Theory includes four stages of cognitive development
• Sensory-Motor Period (0-2) Children are born with Action Schema, sucking or grasping, Children's language is egocentric, and they talk either for themselves, or for association
• Pre-Operational Period (2-7) Children's language rapidly grows due to Mental Schema, Children's language becomes symbolic, allowing them to talk in tenses.
• Egocentrism- Language is egocentric as they see things from their own perspective. Includes animism referring to children seeing things as alive.
• Operational Period- (7-11+) The period of concrete operations and formal operations. Language becomes mature and logical, ability to see from new perspectives.
• Theory by Jean Piaget (????)

For further reading

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Psycholinguistics/Theories_and_Models_of_Language_Acquisition

FoxP2
The missing link between those who can speak and those who have difficulties. FoxP2 is the latest scientific discovery which fully supports the nature argument, having a gene with such power as to open the ability to speak to us. It goes well with theorists such as Chomsky and can back up any argument due to its recency.

Genie, A case study:

Howard Gyles, A theorist

Wider Reading:

Accent - The way you pronounce words, depending on geographic location

Dialect - The words you use, depending on geographic location
_________________________________________________________________________________

Regional accents are losing the battle to standard English
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/regional-accents-losing-battle-standard-english/

This article states the ever decreasing diversity of accents and dialect specific words. There is an especially interesting heat map of the UK, comparing pronunciations of certain words, such as use of the letter 'r' in 'arm'. The conclusion is the English language is becoming more standardised - bad news for regional accents.

How London accents have killed off local dialects across England
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/05/26/revealed-how-london-accents-have-killed-off-local-dialects-acros/

This article goes into further detail about how the heat map was produced, and other heat maps, such as whether 'scone' rhymes with 'gone'. Which is very interesting.

Regional Dialects are dying out - it's enough to get you blarting
https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/may/30/regional-dialects-dying-out-app-cambridge-university

This article translates several words which have lost their use across the UK, specific regional dialects that have died out.

I'm a professor with a working class accent - get over it
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/im-professor-working-class-accent-get-over-it#

This article talks about assumptions made of those with certain accents, how certain careers are associated with certain accents. Peter Larcombe wrote about his experience with a working class accent and how people display shock when he reveals he is a professor of mathematics.

I've got an northern accent but I'm not working class
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/23/northern-accent-working-class-middle-class-northerner-barm-cake-john-lewis

There is a wide assumption that being northern automatically makes you working class. This article goes into detail on the assumptions made around people from 'oop' north. It is possible for A; doctor, architect, and dentist to eat barm cake.

The 'sexist' words your children are no longer allowed to use at school
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11939909/sexist-words-school-playground-report.html

Training younger generations to not use sexist words such as 'Don't be a sissy... Be a man' has been targeted. Some schools are taking this as seriously as tackling racism, which seems excessive, to me. But that could just be because I'm not on the receiving end of this sexism.

Film industry guilty of sexism towards men?
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/31/kit-harington-film-industry-guilty-sexism-towards-men-game-of-thrones

Speaking of the receiving end of sexism, I didn't think men received much grief when it came to their gender. As some argue, Harrington is subject to the feeling of being 'objectified' which isn't exclusive to one gender. The article states that Kit Harrington was chosen by film by his good looks rather than something lesser.

Pink v Blue, are children born with gender preferences?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children

This article talks about media and marketing, and suggests they have an influence on children's toy choices. The store Hamleys was targeted for this, for having dedicated sections for blue boys and pink girls. A study I remember reading stated that when offered both toy trucks and dolls, male chimpanzees chose to 'play' with the trucks and try and figure out how it worked, while younger females chose Dolls and took them up trees, probably for safety.

Uniliver vows to drop sexist stereotypes from its ads
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/unilever-sexist-stereotypes-ads-sunsilk-dove-lynx

This article talks about the sexism in advertising and marketing, specifically targeting Unilever. In advertising women are shown to have domestic jobs and are working towards their beach body, while men are authoritative and more amusing. Unilever vows to drop these sexist stereotypes and show more intelligent women in their adverts.

Is immigration killing our Queen's English?

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3812071/Will-regional-accents-die-Experts-predict-technology-cause-voices-change-50-years.html
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/28/th-sound-to-vanish-from-english-language-by-2066-because-of-mult/
• https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/sep/29/its-the-end-of-the-frog-and-toad-for-regional-slang-says-report

Agghhhh, dis be terrifying news, we dropping du 'th' from every word! Apparently, due to this article, in the next 50 years, regional accents will be all but around. I somehow find this hard to believe.

The geordie accent is on it's way out
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/geordie-accent-way-out-say-11952972

The brummie accent could be dead soon
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/brummie-accent-could-dead-2066-11953140

Everything is looking bad, or is it? I'm sure conspiracy theorists shouting "The accents are aligning" and suspecting some ancient life to reveal itself. Which could be good.

A useful person:

Dan Clayton keeps his blog updated on everything going on in the land of the Exam Board, his blog is linked here: http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/

Using filters, you can find all that as required of his over 1000 blog posts.

E.g. Sociolect - which is divided into...

Regional accents:

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/dialect

Class & social groups:

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/social%20groups

Gender:

http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/gender%20and%20language

Some Importance ahead - Occupational Jargon 

People use occupational jargon to confuse and enthuse those around them, that seems to be the main reason for most cases, it also allows for a metaphorical 'wink' to be passed along to the reader who gets it. Occupational Jargon can be found in:

Media:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2012/04/journalese

This article talks of a strange English dialect, known as journalese. It refers to the jargon and concision of media headlines and posts, especially tabloid articles are unreadable to those who may not have English as their first language. The best example is one that is used, can you run by "Perch 'Twitter Abuse' Probe" and understand it first time.

Politics:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/30/politicians-bad-language-jargon

Not fit for purpose? The jargon-laden language of politics.

Political speakers may use their jargon-laden language in order to not only status-wise, but literally put themselves above others, using 'elevated lexis' or just some nonsense-collaberation of words which makes no sense even to those who wrote it. It is still a questionable act.

Doctoring:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm

Doctor slang is a dying art.

Doctoring is a profession already filled with acronyms, abbreviations, and technical terms, it can be difficult to detract jargon from the rest of it. However recent developements in silly language have lead to increased use of terms only doctors can understand, and even then, some have difficulty.

Business:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14653080

'Solutionising' business jargon
Business certainly has a lot of dreams and ideas it needs to note down, and includes a variety of language measures to do this in the most creative way possible. It really is a no brainer, providing you do blue sky thinking - (just some examples). Business seems like a career of terror, and it can be understandable for euphemisms to danger, such as downsizing - which could be due to and lead to some serious consequences. I believe this spiralled out of control into all the jargon we hear today.

Inter-"What's for dinner?" -ruption
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/18/why-do-people-interrupt-it-depends-on-whom-youre-talking-to

"hat wr perceive as an interruption varies systematically across different speakers and speech acts"
Stanford's Kathrine Hiltine, a doctoral candidate in linguistics argues that interruptions aren't all that meets the ye. Certain speakers see interruptions differently to others. What can be percieved as entuasiastic adjacency pairs can be heresy in others ears. A careful study of 5,000 (Are you listenting, Lakoff?) revealed two groups, high and low frequency speakers. High intensity speakers find silence dull, and see talking over eachother as a means of engagement.

Controversially, men percieve women who interrupt as rude, less friendly and less intelligent than men who interrupt. Judith Baxter and women in the boardroom would follow through with this.
Every study defines an interruption differently (Zimmerman and West)

When men talk over eachother in order to disagree, it is seen as interruption, when men talk over eachother in order to agree with eachother, it is seen as overlap. Cooperation compared to competition (Deborah Tannen)

The British Accent has been voted "The Sexiest in the world"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/28/is-prince-harrys-engagement-proof-that-a-british-accent-still-rules-the-dating-world
What did you take away from the royal wedding?

Pouf and you're offensive
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/26/the-words-we-use-matter-just-ask-a-teenager
Suzanne Moore goes through how rapidly language is changing, and how quickly political correctness is following suit. She argues that from sexual politics to actual politics, language is changing quickly and is dividing not only by generation, but also education, and it can be easy to trip up.

"One remark about what my daughter is wearing and I am informed I am the worst feminist of all time"

An ode to the F-word
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/15/toughen-up-senior-snowflakes-swearing-at-work-is-good-for-us

Re-Writing history
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2018/5/22/17377766/asperger-nazi-rename-syndrome 

This is a transcript of a conversation about renaming medical conditions. You may have heard of the recent aims to tear down confederate flags, and to rename Colston Hall. But now the changes go further and argue to redefine what people would otherwise use as everyday language. Medical conditions such as Asperger's syndrome are being targeted for the recent renaming scheme as Dr. Hans Asperger was a Nazi sympathiser and supposedly identified children as disabled so they could e ruled out, and euthanised (though Hans, who died in 1980, argued against these claims in the years post-war).

In my opinion, these claims are ridiculous. An entire medical condition doesn't need to be renamed because the person who named it did a perceivably wrong thing. Hans did a great thing, revealing Asperger's syndrome, something which is different to being a Nazi, something which is different to sending children to their death (even if this turns out to be true) and it is that aspect of Hans life, as a medical professional, which should be remembered with that name. And to those who say "his name does not deserve to be remembered", you're even worse than the Nazis.

A Dictionary of Dialect

DCblog: On a dialect labour of love, and a Hopkins illustration
http://david-crystal.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/on-dialect-labour-of-love-and-hopkins.html

David crystal posts his findings on the English Dialect Dictionary, discovering the contributions by Joseph wright and Gerard Manley Hopkins. The post includes a majority of words translated from Irish to English (Mainly A-C, Other events in Hopkins' life took him away from dialects).

Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11939909/sexist-words-school-playground-report.html

This article talks about tackling sexism in the playground, training younger generations to not use sexist words such as 'Don't be a sissy... Be a man'. Some schools are taking this as seriously as tackling racism, which seems excessive, to me. But that could just be because I'm not on the receiving end of this sexism.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/31/kit-harington-film-industry-guilty-sexism-towards-men-game-of-thrones

Speaking of the receiving end of sexism, I didn't think men received much grief when it came to their gender. As some argue, Harrington is subject to the feeling of being 'objectified' which isn't exclusive to one gender. The article states that Kit Harrington was chosen by film by his good looks rather than something lesser.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children

Pink v Blue, are children born with gender preferences? This article talks about media and marketing, and suggests they have an influence on children's toy choices. The store Hamleys was targeted for this, for having dedicated sections for blue boys and pink girls. A study I remember reading stated that when offered both toy trucks and dolls, male chimpanzees chose to 'play' with the trucks and try and figure out how it worked, while younger females chose Dolls and took them up trees, probably for safety.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jun/22/unilever-sexist-stereotypes-ads-sunsilk-dove-lynx

This article talks about the sexism in advertising and marketing, specifically targeting Unilever. In advertising women are shown to have domestic jobs and are working towards their beach body, while men are authoritative and more amusing. Unilever vows to drop these sexist stereotypes and show more intelligent women in their adverts.

The question:

Data: Use any data that is provided with the question

Define: Dominance, Difference, Deficit, and their related creators

Detail: Put the models in context and go into detail

Decide: Add a conclusion, including the most prevalent point

Evaluate the idea that spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication  

Miscommunication is a failure to communicate in such a way that the recipient misunderstands the intended message, The difference between the language use of men and women has in the past 50 years been targeted by theorists such as Deborah Tannen, Robin Lakoff, and Pamela Fishman to conclude whether the differences in gender and miscommunication show any correlation.

The most well-known post on the differences between men and women was the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus in 1992 by American author John Gray, which suggested the differences between men and women were so great, they might as well have been from different planets entirely. It is commonly associated with the difference theory, which was coined by Pamela Fishman (1980).

The difference theory suggests men and women speak differently because they are different, she specifically studied how women use 'hedges' and 'tag questions', concluding that women use three times more tag questions when compared to men, not due to uncertainty, but rather in order to keep the conversation going; using hedges for the same purpose. A more recent study has shown women speak differently to men in the boardroom, it showed "women were four times more likely than men to be self-deprecating, use humour and speak indirectly or apologetically" - this article is linked in the references.

The more obvious of the differences between men and women comes from their childhood, 'Pink v blue'. It is stereotypical of boys to like blue toy trucks while girls to prefer pink dolls. The cause of this difference in preference has been applied to; parent's actions, society, and advertising - but there is yet to be a clear conclusion. Though there have been several studies, examples of which are referenced later.

Another prominent theory is the Dominance theory, which was first published in 1975 by Zimmerman and West, being further developed in 1992 by Deborah Tannen. The Dominance theory suggests that men dominate a conversation, always being the primary speaker.

Zimmerman and West studied interruptions, overlaps, and silences between mixed and same sex conversations. It was discovered in the results that 100% of overlaps and 98% of interruptions during mixed sex conversations were men's, and that silences in mixed sex conversations were almost two seconds longer than in same sex conversations. It was also discovered that Women were more likely to interrupt other women than to interrupt men,

Tannen believes that interruptions can be used in a supportive manner by women (co-operative overlap), and similarly believes the longer silences were due to women being the supportive listener in conversation, which can be essential to group bonding. Tannen also discovered that women use more cloaked imperatives than men do ('Let's') and that men are more likely to use imperatives when conversing with their sons, rather than daughters.

The final major theory is the deficit theory, which was first published by Robin Lakoff in 1975. The deficit theory suggests that women's speech is deficient to men's, meaning it is weaker and softer. Lakoff studied; women's vocabulary, weak expletives, and intensifiers. Lakoff, like Fishman, studied the use of hedges and tag questions, but came to a different conclusion suggesting women used these linguistic features to punctuate speech with uncertainty and to not convey direct opinions.

Lakoff also concluded women's use of intensifiers was also to avoid committing to an opinion, or conveying a strong statement, this can create the appearance of uncertainty, when really they are certain. The use of weak expletives can also be argued to make a women's speech deficient, and can convey the wrong sense of urgency to a man.

Spoken interactions between mixed-sex conversations have been argued, and have been proven to be different than interactions with the same-sex. So I believe spoken interactions between men and women are characterised by miscommunication, although the language use of men and women will remain a common place for debate in the future.

References:
Women speak differently to men in the boardroom
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jun/19/women-language-boardroom-study

'Pink v blue' - are children born with gender preferences?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/dec/13/women-children

The 'sexist' words your children are no longer allowed to use at school
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11939909/sexist-words-school-playground-report.html

Analysis and Keywords

Task 1

Analysis of Text A corrected in Bluey-grey-greenish (because why not use this colour):

Text A is from Mumsnet and is a forum discussion about school Proms. The purpose of the discussion, initiated by the participant woollyideas, is to seek reassurance from other Mums about her view that school Proms and unnecessary and extreme.  The purpose of the website, Mumsnet is to promote the site and encourage other parents to join. Some affordances of using forums are that an individual can interact with many users, and they are distant from other participants, so they can afford to convey their opinions strongly.   However, some constraints of forums are that the absence of face-to-face conversation means that ideas mean that meanings can be misconstrued, mainly due to the fact that participants cannot use paralinguistic features, emphatic stress and intonation.   The overall representation of school Proms in text A is that they are ridiculous, extreme and unnecessary and Mumsnet is represented as authoritative, useful but also friendly. 

The participant woollyideas uses the stative verb “want” in the interrogative “What sane parent would want to pay an entry fee to go to a “Prom Fair”...?” This represents parents as emotionally involved in and passionate about school Proms which, as it is used within the interrogative shows that the efforts parents go to for their child’s Prom is ridiculous.  The expressing of strong opinions

like these represents Mumsnet as a place for debate. The mode of text A means that woollyideas

is distant from the group of parents whom she is targeting, so she can afford to convey her opinion more strongly without directly offending them. By attacking this group of parents, woollyideas positions herself above them.

Woollyideas goes on to target this group of parents even more later on in the response when she

groups them by using the determiner “these” in the interrogative “Who are these parents who think that this sort of expenditure... is ok?”. In the post, woollyideas  goes from saying “What parent” to “these parents”- in the earlier part of the response; she is being more general and using the singular form, then she later using the plural grouping “these” parents in order to target them more directly, which again puts them in a lower position than herself.  It represents such parents as ridiculous and conveys woollyideas’ disgust at the amount of money they spend.

The participant MuckyCarpet uses the subordinating conjunction “although” in her response:

“Don’t be a grump! Although the helicopter is way OTT!”

At first, she expresses her strong opinion about Proms but makes this more moderate by using the subordinating conjunction to contrast her view. This allows her to conform with the other

participants, perhaps because she wants to avoid starting an argument or causing offence. This

shows that whilst Mumsnet is a place for debate, it is still friendly. The use of the subordinating

conjunction shows that the participant has a balanced viewpoint.

Within the first paragraph of the text explaining the rules of the forum, a complex sentence is used: “Please bear in mind that whilst this topic does canvass opinions, it is not a fight club.” The conjunction  “whilst” is used to introduce the subordinate clause “whilst this topic does canvass opinions”. The fact that this clause is subordinate shows that the offering of opinions is not the most important thing about the forum. “It is not a fight club” is the main clause of the sentence, which shows that the most important thing to the creators of the website is that users stay safe and that the debate is friendly.   This represents Mumsnet as a safe place for debate that welcomes everyone. A constraint of an online message board is that if arguments occur, there is not a person there to mediate as the interaction is not face-to-face. Therefore, the use of sentence structure here almost acts as this mediator.   Furthermore, the positioning of this sentence right at the beginning of the forum makes it clear to participants the conventions of the debate in order to make them think before they post.

Task 2

Martin Joos' five levels of formality

1. Frozen;                                                                                                                                        Set phrases or conventional structures, language that never changes. e.g My father has deceased to join the heavenly choir
2. Formal;                                                                                                                                            Speaker and audience, no usual interruption or interaction, standard english. e.g My father has passed away
3. Consultative Level;                                                                                                                      Where interaction is normal to anyone, less standard form of english. e.g My father has died
4. Casual Level;                                                                                                                                An informal setting between friends, people who know each other well. e.g My dad has died
5. Intimate Level;                                                                                                                    Language reserved for close friends and family, may have shared context. e.g My old man just kicked the bucket

Task 3

Synthetic Personalisation: 

Fairclough's theory of Synthetic Personalisation is the use of a second person pronoun (e.g 'you') to treat a mass audience as though they were an individual - it's used in advertising and persuasion. 

e.g. 'Why don't you take a break and buy this new bubble bath'

Sources:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?page=2&t=1282577

https://quizlet.com/126415282/martin-joos-5-levels-of-formality-flash-cards/

https://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2012/05/01/how-did-that-register-five-levels-of-formality-in-language/

http://media.openonline.com.cn/media_file/rm/dongshi2004/yyyyxgl/CHAPTER8/chapter8-3.htm

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

Two different species, men and women, trying to communicate by one language, with varying success. The book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' by John Gray suggests this, and multiple people agree with it. But just how true is that statement?

Deficit

In 1975, Robin Lakoff conducted a study comparing men and women's speech. She concluded that women are more polite, and use more specific linguistic techniques (such as; hedges, empty adjectives, and tag questions), but that men have a better sense of humour, and that their language was superior and more desirable. Her theory was published as "The Deficit Model", since women's speech was deficient to men's. Considering the context of 1975, this is understandable, where ladies were meant to be lady-like, and submit to what men told them. However, this theory can be argued obsolete, since times have changed in the 43 years since this study.

Dominance

Zimmerman and West conducted a similar study, comparing the amount of times men and women interrupt each other, studying both same-sex and mixed-sex conversations. They concluded that men interrupt more often than women. However, the validity of this theory is questionable, since the theory was published in 1975 and it was never specified what, exactly, an interruption was, since an interruption could be polite, a sign of interest in the subject. The theory was christened "The Dominance Model", since it claimed men dominate a conversation. A study by Beattie countered this model, describing men and women to interrupt equally in conversation. 

Difference

More recently (and thus arguably the more reliable of the three) "The Difference Model" was published in by Deborah Tannen 1989, she is credited for her book "You just don't understand". This model simply suggests that men and women belong to different sub-cultures and preferences. Tannen believes that men see a complaint as a challenge, and talking as information with a practical purpose; And that women hedge their orders (to slyly manipulate men), and are reluctant to openly oppose others. Her model has been expanded by several throughout the years; Jenifer Coates in 1989 stated how all female-talk is co-operative; Koenraad Kuiper in 1991 put forward his study of a rugby team, concluding that men see 'saving face' with less importance; Jane Pilkington in 1992 built on this further, suggesting men are less supportive to each other.

These theories can all be argued old-fashioned but despite the changes in society, parts of all the models have held up. So, Are men from Mars and women from Venus?