Sociolinguistics: Language and Sex

Dwiyana Anung
Laila
• Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between
language and society. Specifically, the main content of
sociolinguistics is the study of languagestructure and social
context. Sociolinguists try to analyze from the various social
cultural phenomena and explore different discourse behaviors.
• Language exists as a system of symbols, in terms of abstract
thinking and senses, it reveals a method and pattern to describe
the objective world.
• It is known from linguistic research that in many societies the
speech of men and women differs. In some cases the
differences are quite small and are not generally noticed: they
are probably taken for granted in the same way as, say, different
gestures or facial expressions. For example, in many accents of
American English it has been found that women's vowels are
more peripheral (more front, more back, higher, or lower) than
men's.
• In English we differentiate between the sexes only in the third
person singular: he, she. In French the third person plural is
also differentiated: ils, elles. In Finnish there is no distinction
even in the singular: han can equivalent to either he or she. In
other languages of the world, sex differentiation extends to the
second person and even to the first person. In Thai, for
example, in polite conversation between equals, a man will say
phom for the first person singular pronoun “I” whereas a
woman will refer to herself as dichan.
• English also has number of pairs of words for males and
females which appear, at first sight, to be equivalent:
gentlemen - lady; man - woman; boy - girl
• The connotations of the word lady for example, are different
from those of the word gentleman, lady is in many respects
actually equivalent to man. Many English speakers tell their
children that it is impolite to call or refer to someone as a
woman (but not a man).
• For example: shop assistant in Britain may be referred to sales
ladies (but not sales gentlemen). Ladies' wear can be found for
a sale alongside men's wear, etc.
• The sexual connotations become clear if you compare the two
sentences: She's only thirteen, but she's already a woman -
She's only thirteen, but she's already a lady.
• Minimal Response is one of ways in which the communicative behavior
of men and women differ. For example:
a) Women has response frequently when they have a conversation for
example: paralinguitic features such as “mhmm” and “yeah” , which
is behavior associated with collaborative their language use.
b) Men has response less than women when they have a conversation
for example: generally use “mhmm” and “yeah” less frequently.
The “mhmm” women use quite frequently mean “I'm listening”,
whereas the “mhmm” men use tend to mean “I agree”.
• Question, men and women differ in their use of
questions in conversation. Men's usually ask something
to do point that different with women. Women use
questions more frequently. They usually use qestion tag
to avoid making strong statements. Women usually not
to do point when they want to ask something, that
different with men.
• Turn taking, women's behavior characteristically encompasses
a desire to take turns in conversation with others, which is
opposed to men's tendency towards centering on their own
point or remaining silent when presented with such implicit
offers of conversational turn taking.
• Changing topic of conversation, this difference may well be at
the root of the concept that women chat and talk too much, and
may still spark the same thinking in some men.
• Women:
 Sharing their problems and experiences with others, often to
offer sympathy.
 They usually ask their friend about their problems.

• Men:
 Male tendencies to non self disclosure and professing advice or
offering a solution when confronted with another's poblems.
Because men usually solve their problems by themselves.
• Language reflects sexism in society, but language itself is not
sexist.
• It can connote sexist attitudes
For example:
 Manly courage, womanish tears, etc
 My cousin is a nurse  assumption: woman
My cousin is a professor  assumption: man
 Abusive words for women but not for men such as bunny,
chick, etc
• Different meaning
 a governor  governs a state
 a governess  takes care of children
• Association
 male nurse  because it is expected that a nurse will be a
female
• The use of husband’s name
 Mr. and Dr. Fromkin vs Dr. Fromkin and Mrs. Fromkin (more
frequent) although both have doctoral degrees
Thank You