The Problems of Sociolinguistic Studies of Gender...

The Problems of Sociolinguistic Studies of Gender Differences Introduction It has long been assumed that women and men differ in their use of language. These differences are supposed to represent (and perpetuate) the social divisions between women and men. Few researchers will disagree that women and men’s speech styles are different, though they may disagree as to what extent or as to what these differences may mean. Expecting to find such differences, I began a study of a two-hour conversation with my family. But in the course of attempting to transcribe my family’s conversations and in reviewing the current research, I encountered many difficulties. Nearly every article I read seemed to contradict the previous†¦show more content†¦In her study, she found that use of more Standard English forms by the women in the community reflected their different job opportunities. The women mainly worked in white-collar jobs, such as teaching, where education and an understanding of Standard English were necessary. They also tended to have jobs that isolated them from members of their home speech community. The men in Nichols’ study, however, worked in higher-paying, blue-collar jobs with co-workers who were mainly from their home speech community. Nichols’ position is that, because of this discrepancy, the women were more motivated to use Standard English than the men were (Nichols 1983). Assuming that differences between women and men are due to the fact of their gender is a perfect example of what Aries calls the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error refers to a tendency to attribute a person’s behavior to some aspect of that person (e.g. gender), without considering the social context (Aries 1997: 92). In the example above, Nichols illustrates how opportunity and motivation can shape linguistic behavior. Of course, gender probably had an effect on the type of job opportunities available, but had only an indirect effect on linguistic behavior. Researcher Bias Most researchers begin their study with the expectation that they will findShow MoreRelatedVariation in Address Forms for Arab Married and Unmarried Woeman in the World1512 Words   |  7 Pagesnamely, positive politeness and negative politeness refers to the strategies that is speaker uses to express solidarity, intimacy or equal status with addresses. By contrast, negative politeness refers to the expresstion of social distance or status difference (Holmes, 1995:297). 1.2 Terms of Address The most common honorifics in communication are usually placed immediately before a persons name. 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