Language and gender

[Guest]

Language and gender

I just took lacking career ambition to its very highest (lowest?) level. Good eh? Actually Brand seems like a pretty intelligent interesting man, and the story of how Graham and Damon fixed up their differences actually made me cry, so, it's no more than I deserve really.

WE I don't mean that the modes of speech etc of men and women are indistinguishable in all cases or that differences can't be usefully looked at; I am just as wary of saying no generalisations can be made, because that often seems to me to backfire when talking about this sort of stuff. Then again I wouldn't like the job of sorting out why some people say kind of sort of like I dunno kind of like that type of stuff, like, given all the factors like where you grow up, where you live now, how old you are, what kind of job you do, how many teenagers you know, how many films you watch and where they come from, what books you like, etc etc etc, from what sex (since you're right about the term 'gender') you are.

[delicatemoth]

Language and gender

Hmmm, perhaps if my language was more blunt and efficient my original post wouldn't have been timed out by the message board.

My point was a more general one about the attribution of behaviours as gendered, which then tend to be essentialised. I've no objection to Tannen's observations and conclusions, but just the title of John Gray's book raises my hackles. I prefer to look at gender as a continuum rather than a binary opposition.

Wiki on ecriture feminine, if that's helpful to Tubby. I really liked this idea when I first came across it - not so sure now. I felt it was a way out of the 'gender prison', but I've always been partial to exotic feminist ideas!

[Tubby Isaacs]

Language and gender

Thanks all for this. I will read it more closely when I have done a bit of preliminary reading so that I can understand it better.

May I raise a practical point at this stage?

The essay is a thousand words or so, and we choose the title. The idea is clearly to show what we know about the subject.

Afterwards, there will be a 900 word analysis of a text of our choice in terms of gender. I'm not really clear what this might be. Any idea what would be interesting?

[Guest]

Language and gender

I still don't really understand what the 'in terms of' terms are. As per GY's questions above. They must have provided a little more guidance to the student surely?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Language and gender

Not that I've seen it. There's a series of lecture notes, and there's no title. Honestly, it's really broadbrush, it's supposed to take no time at all and just give you the chance to show off some knowledge.

Also, a really good essay will incur suspicion.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Language and gender

Sorry, GY/Lyra, it could easily encompass both the way genders use language and the way ideas of gender are reflected in language.

LL's point about active, backed up by a bit of jargon and a few more examples, and some references is the sort of thing I think they want.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Language and gender

Hey everyone, a title has been found. This time it's more what you were expecting- a precise question. It's (not verbatim) 1000-twelve hundred words:

Explain one of the main theories about language , Deficit, Dominance and Difference, and discuss it from a contemporary viewpoint.

ideas appreciated.