Stereotypes and sexism (gender class work)

Audience: 16 year old students

Sexism in language is the tendency to speak of people as cultural stereotypes of their gender, some people feel insulted by sexist language as it creates an image of society where women have lower social status than men. The English language can be seen to reflect the power that men have historically. Language can also reflect social power by treating words to refer to women as 'marked' where as those that refer to first men are 'unmarked' some examples of marked terms are:
Poet - Poetess
Actor - Actress
Waiter - Waitress
Peoples way of thinking can often be influenced by theories Deborah Tannen's difference theory explores the ideas that males and females engage in conversation differently, Tannen's theory believes that the differences begin at childhood she suggested that there are six main differences these differences are (men - women):
Status vs. Support
Independence vs. intimacy
Advice vs. understanding
Information vs. Feelings
Orders vs. Proposals
Conflict vs. Compromise
These six differences directly support common stereotypes among men and women these stereotypes being women are emotional whilst men are strong.

Transcript

Callum: Junior talk about your job in the co-op




Junior: I work at the cooperative in Bath (.) what else am I suppose to say?


....




Junior: Well I have to (.) when there is a delivery I have to put stock out on the shelves (.) you have to do this thing called stock rotation this is when all the new stock you have to move all the old stuff to the front and all the new stuff to the back to make sure the sell by date doesn't run out before it is sold


In this conversation I did not take control of the conversation as suggested in Zimmerman and wests dominance model, this can be backed up by my tag question in my first bit of speech it could be interpreted as me looking for guidance on what else to say. However once the topic of the conversation was set I began to confidently speak about my job and what I do, when speaking I was being straight to the point informing only about my job and what has to be done,

Still I Rise - Poem by Maya Angelou 1978

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? 
Why are you beset with gloom? 
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken? 
Bowed head and lowered eyes? 
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you? 
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you? 
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs? 

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou's message in this poem is to stand up with your head held high. The first word 'You' is a self assertive word suggesting that this poem is addressed to others strongly backed up by the date of when the poem was written. In the third stanza Maya Angelou is writing in the future tense to implies that her and all African American women's rise is inevitable. Maya Angelou also says that 'i'm a black ocean, leaping and wide' this verse is a powerful metaphor for Angelou overcoming the oppression of white people in 1978. The use of the repetition of 'I rise' at the end of the poem helps the reader become aware of the main theme of this poem which is Maya Angelou and African American people overcoming the oppression of society in that time and to stand proud.

Labov 1963 Martha's Vineyard

This study was taken place on an island 3 miles off New England on the US East Coast called Martha Vineyard. This study was focused on the social influences on different dialects, Labov collected data by interviewing multiple informants talking about topics that would involve words with desired vowels. Labov found that the islanders chose to differentiate from the mainlands as they rejected the values and resented the intrusion of tourists. The islanders did this as they wanted to establish themselves as an independent social group with superior status to tourists.

This study was relevant because until then dialect change only focused on rural factors not social factors but based on Labov's study the conclusion was that social factors were most important factors to dialect change. Labov established that a number of factors were involved in dialect change not just locale, he also established that prestige matters (over and covert)

Bibliographies:
http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/research/vinyard.html
http://www.mvtimes.com/2011/08/16/50-years-language-study-began-marthas-vineyard-6918/

Jennifer Lawrence

Contexual Features of the text
After the Sony hacking scandal Sony had sensitive information leaked on the world wide web, this information included the wages of what some stars made in a movie. this exposed that the females were being paid a significant amount less than the male stars in the movie. The context of Jennifer Lawrence's article is her responding to the news about how she made less money than her colleagues this news has left Jennifer Lawrence both upset and angry this led to her writing this article on the issue.

'Male' and 'Female' language
Jennifer Lawrence supports and contradicts Lakoff's theory about men and women speaking differently. Throughout Jennifer Lawrence's article she uses both male and female language such as 'fuck that' taboo words are more frequent among men this is because they are seen as terrible words with bad meaning behind them. Throughout Jennifer Lawrence's article she frequently uses taboo words, this is seen as a male way of speaking because as the typical stereo type is that men swear more than women. Jennifer Lawrence is very direct when writing her article as she uses many imperatives and many swear words to get her point across and to try and make the reader feel her  anger, this constantly contradicts Robin Lakoff's theory. Throughout the article Jennifer Lawrence does not include a lot of humour which supports Lackoff's theory as she says 'women do not have a sense of humour' however she does include a few sarky comments such as 'i found out how much less i was being paid than the lucky people with dicks',

Conclusion
I agree with her point that men use their dominant nature to get what they want. Whereas females may not take the same approach as males to get what they want as they may use indirect requests such as stated in Robin Lakoff's theory

Dialect change

The English language today has many different dialects  each person’s spoken English has unique variations. Differences in speech can be due to age, sex, health, size, personality, emotional state and personal idiosyncrasies so are dialects changing?
Dialects are changing due to the fact of people moving inside and out the country, with the constant moving of people some dialects can not be associated with one place. This makes it difficult for foreigners to distinguish which dialect is which.

The reason why dialects are seen to be changing is because of bidialectalism, this is when someone uses two dialects  or accents of the same language. This is commonly seen in the youth of today as in a formal setting their dialects will change to suit the setting whereas when they are with their friends they will often switch to their non standard dialect.

Dialect leveling is a linguistic phenomenon studied and observed by dialectologists and sociolinguists. Dialect leveling is the decrease of differences in dialects, it is believed that this can be due to more people moving from rural areas into towns and cities standardizing the English language. Dialect leveling can be influenced by the different types of media. Dialect leveling occurs mostly in socially and geographically mobile groups and in contexts where people have a tendency to adapt to their listener in order to ensure they better understand.People who come to a new town adapt their language and unconsciously leave out local language elements so that the hearer will understand them better.

Transcript work

What do you notice about the use of proper nouns and/or pronouns in referring to people and events concerned
In this transcript the Barrister holds power over Mr Neil, when Mr Neil is speaking there are lots of short pauses, filler words and constant repetition of words. This can imply that Mr Neil feels quite unsettled when speaking to the Barrister. When addressing Mr Neil the Barrister calls him by his title 'Mr Neil' this can set the level of formality at this event as he is not using a personal pronoun.

Which parts of dialogue seems prepared or part of a courtroom conventions and which seems spontaneous
Throughout the transcript the Barrister is constantly asking Mr Neil questions that he has prepared, it is implied that he has prepared the questions from the lack of short pauses he has. Whereas when Mr Neil is answering his questions it suggests from the time taken to reply to his questions. When the Barrister says 'The rear of your car (.) now (.) did anything happen to you (.) as a result of driving your car that day?' Mr Neil takes 2.5 seconds to reply with a one word answer and straight after with no delays the Barrister replies, when the Barrister constantly does this it makes Mr Neil feel unsettled as he feels the pressure from the Barrister.

Who seems to have the most power in the dialogue and why?
The Barrister has the most power in this transcript as he is the more confident speaker. When Mr Neil speaks he has lots of repetition 'no i can't remember 'em seeing me no' he has lots of fillers 'er i accidentally (.) bumped it slightly with er' and he has lots of short pauses '(2.5) no' all this can suggest is that Mr Neil feels unsettled by the questions that the Barrister has asked him.

What else seems puzzling/interesting/unusual and why?
I do not find this transcript interesting or unusual, i find it very conventional as it is just a court examination. In this transcript it is just Mr Neil asking yes/no questions it is dominated by the Barrister asking questions, given the context this is exactly how i'd expect it to be.