Essay on Gender and language usage

Introduction

One of the main aims of this essay is to highlight the main differences between the language usage of the males and females. One of the main educational fields that have been seen to study the differences in the language usage based on genders is Sociolinguistics. This is the field that has been known to study in detail the variations and differences in the ways language are used among different social groups and strata (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003).

Men’s use of language

Several studies have been done on the way men use language. It has been highlighted that there are three main objectives of the speech and language usage by men. The first main aim is to make sure that they can assert their position or dominance over the other with the help of their speech. The second main aim is to make sure that the audience can be attracted and maintained for a longer period. the third and most important aim behind the male speech is to make sure that one’s self can be asserted once it is felt that thee other person is holding the floor (Talbot, 2010). Thereby from here, it can be seen that the language, which is used by the men, is to make sure that they can prove their dominance and position. The following table will show and highlight some of the main examples of the language usage by men.

*Usage of language*	*Examples*
Men use greater amount of quantitative references	The station is 30 miles away.
Men have been seen to use more of judgmental adjectives	Her overall performance was poor.
Males use more commands.	Turn the fan off now.
Men use more location words.	Take it off the chair and put it on the table.
Men have been seen to use brief sentences	That looks good. Now what?
Self references have been especially used by the men in their language	I agree with that.

On the other hand it has been seen that there are other greater differences between the langue usage modes of men and women. Men use more slangs as compared to women. Men use swearing more often as comoared to women. They are known to use lesser intensifiers and they use lesser adjectives.

Women’s use of language

The studies have highlighted that as men, there are certain aims of speech of women. The first main aim in this case is to make sure that the relationships of equality and closeness can be maintained. The women are more loving and family oriented based on which there speech reflects the same. The second main aim of speech of women is to make sure that when there is a need, they criticize the others in the ways that are less offensive and more acceptable for the others. The third main aim is to make sure that the speech and the conversation of the other females is interpreted in a proper manner with a certain level of sensitivity. It has been highlighted that the speech of women is more on the concerned side in order to make sure that they do not hurt or offend the others (Goddard, & Patterson, 2000). The following table will highlight some of the main ways in which the females use language.

*Usage of language*	*Examples*
Women have been seen to use more of intensive adverbs	Is not the movie terribly interesting? Don’t you think?
Women have been seen to use more of qualifying clauses	Something in which
Women use more of emotional references	The situation made her rather angry
Women use longer sentences	Whilst I am thinking that it may not be a good proposition, personally think you might want to …
Women use more initial adverbials	Owing to the options that are available to us now
There is a great deal of uncertainty in women’s speech	It seems rather impossible, I suppose.
There is a great deal of hedging in female speech.	She is a mot like Jennifer in that case.
Females use great deal of negation in their speech.	Is it not the statue of liberty?
Females use simultaneous opposites.	He looks angry yet reasonably calm.
There is a greater usage of questioning in female speech.	Do you think this presentation is good enough?

Other than this, it has been seen that the tone of women is much softer and polite as they reflect more concern. The females have been known to use more politeness markers that include thank you and please. These are also some of the main usages that make the female language usage softer. One of the main fact that has been seen in these cases is that the females use increasingly polite multiple modalities. One of the main examples is “I was wondering if you could do me a favor, if it wont take much time of yours”. It has been seen that the women tend to use more of tag questions. These are the smaller questions that are added at the end of statements. For examples, it is amazing, isn’t it? Women use more intensifiers (Sunderland, 2006). On the other hand, female speech consists of more adjectives. It has been seen that the men use more of swearing. However, in the case of women it is seen that they use more euphemisms as compared to swearing. One of the main facts that have been seen in the case of the female speech is that their speech lacks humor and they use lesser jokes. Females are known to be more concerned about the correct ways of usage of grammar in speech. When the vocabulary usge is taken into account, it is seen that females tend to use extensions of vocabulary to use more of descriptive language (Lakoff, 2004).

References

Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2003). Language and gender. Cambridge University Press.

Goddard, A., & Patterson, L. M. (2000). Language and gender. Psychology Press.

Lakoff, R. T. (2004). Language and woman’s place: Text and commentaries(Vol. 3). Oxford University Press.

Sunderland, J. (2006). Language and gender. Routledge.

Talbot, M. (2010). Language and gender. Polity.