http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/27/eight-words-sexism-heart-english-language

The Guardian 

Eight words that reveal the sexism at the heart of the English language

"the history of terms that refer to women shows how deep negative attitudes go" 

In this article from the 'Guardian' the blogger goes into detail about the history of sexist remarks made about women. He says that linguists call it collocation (the likelihood of two words occurring together), however his argument is that sexism through language is deeply rooted from the 'English speaking world' and not at the fault of the dictionary that they suggest.  

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/15/the-year-in-sexism-women-2015-feminism-misogynist

The year in sexism: how did women fare in 2015? Laura Bates 

Over the past 12 months, women 'ruined Fifa' and were told not doing enough housework was making them fat. From Nigel Farage making a boob of himself to the supposed death of feminism. This article goes through month by month sexism in 2015. 

      LANGUAGE AND GENDER REVISION 

Robin Lakoff (1975)

Lakoff's research can be seen as representative of the ‘deficit approach’ or ‘deficit model’ to language and gender. The influence of Robin Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place on the study of language and gender is undeniable. In Twenty Years After Language and Woman's Place, the original text's editor Mary Bucholtz offers a reminder that the work was, at the time of publication, ‘met with widespread criticism’. In the introduction to the book, Lakoff admits: ‘It is my impression, though I do not have precise statistical evidence’. This is evidenced in her use of language in the book; there are no statistics but phrases such as ‘many men’, ‘men tend to’. 

 What is very clear is that Lakoff's work is still often quoted today and its list of the main features of female speech remains an integral part of language and gender discussion:

1. 1 Hedges: Phrases like ‘sort of’, ‘kind of’, ‘it seems like’
2. 2Empty adjectives: ‘divine’, ‘adorable’, ‘gorgeous’
3. 3Super-polite forms: ‘Would you mind …’, ‘Is it Ok if …?’
4. 4Apologise more: ‘I'm sorry, but I think that …’
5. 5Speak less frequently
6. 6Avoid coarse language or expletives
7. 7Tag questions: ‘You don't mind eating this, do you?’
8. 8Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation
9. 9Indirect requests: ‘I'm so thirsty.’ – really asking for a drink
10. 10Speak in italics: Use tone to emphasis certain words, e.g., ‘so’, ‘very’, ‘quite’.

Lakoff's research can be seen as representative of the ‘deficit approach’ or ‘deficit model’ to language and gender.

    Deborah Tannen and the 'Difference model'

Deborah Tannen was originally a student of Robin Lakoff and her book You Just Don't Understandwas published in 1990. She is an advocate of the difference model (the theory that men and women do speak differently): ‘The desire to affirm that women are equal has made some scholars reluctant to show that they are different. There are gender differences in ways of speaking, and we need to identify and understand them.’ Tannen represents male and female language use in a series of six contrasts to show this difference:

• Status vs Support: Men use language to show power and dominance in conversations; women are more likely to use language choices that support and agree with others.
• Independence vs Intimacy: Men will use language to show they do not need to rely on others; women will prefer to use language as a way of connecting with others and maintaining closeness.
• Advice vs Understanding: Men are more likely to offer solutions to a problem through their language choices; women will show empathy and understanding to a given situation.
• Information vs Feelings: Similar to Tannen's Advice vs Understanding concept, men are far more likely to be factual in their language choices; women, in contrast, will use language choices that are less factual and stem from a more emotional viewpoint.
• Orders vs Proposals: In conversations, men are far more likely to be direct in their language using imperatives to command others; women will avoid such a commanding tone and be more suggestive in their language choices (for example, a man may say ‘Close that window it's cold’ whereas the woman is more likely to say ‘Isn't it cold in here?’ suggesting the window needs to be closed).
• Conflict vs Compromise: Men are more likely to use language to argue a point; women will use language to avoid such conflict and are far more likely to negotiate with others to try and find a solution or compromise.

The difference model certainly offers an alternative view to the deficit model discussed earlier. Tannen is not the only advocate of this theory. 

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-7701-7702/assessment-resources#

AQA English A-Level Frameworks and Specimen Papers 

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/the-incredible-thing-we-do-during-conversations/422439/

Turn Taking and The Incredible Things We Do In Conversation 

The article above discusses the amazing way conversation takes place and how we learn to do this from a young age. Communication skills (e.g turn taking) are important for our survival as are ability to put forward what we want keeps us alive and expressing our opinions enable us to do good for the world. 

In the article it talks about timings in our conversations and our natural human response ;  "On average, each turn lasts for around 2 seconds, and the typical gap between them is just 200 milliseconds—barely enough time to utter a syllable."  It is said that turn taking is our fastest human response and while the other person is talking we sub-consciously are already thinking of our reply.  "For a short clause, that processing time rises to 1500 milliseconds. This means that we have to start planning our responses in the middle of a partner’s turn, using everything from grammatical cues to changes in pitch." 

Language and Gender // Theorists 

https://quizlet.com/9012037/language-and-gender-theorists-flash-cards/

Dominance - Sees women as the oppressed group in society, which they interprets differences in women's and men's speech. 

Difference - sees women as belonging to 'different sub-cultures', who are differently socialised from childhood onward, therefore may have different problems in communication as adults. 

Deficit - the idea that women speak politically incorrect (marked forms) and men correctly (unmarked forms) . 

Robin Lakoff (1975) - Women's 'Politeness Features' (e.g Tag questions, Hyper-correct pronunciation and grammar) She argued that these features of speech make women seem more inferior, weak and prevents women's speech from being taken seriously. However her worked can be critiqued for being outdated as equality between the sexes has improved since 1975. 

Zimmerman and West (1975) - there study showed that the men made the majority of interruptions and overlaps in conversation, supporting the idea that men are more dominant than women and they tend to believe they are the superior gender. 

Deborah Tannen (1990) - suggests that men are more aware of status; interrupt more, give more direct orders, don't mind conflict. In contrast to females who are more interested in bonds - tend to talk  less and agree more; polite indirect orders (e.g 'i'm really thirsty' with the real meaning of 'Can i have a drink please') Men are competitive and women are co-operative.  She expresses her idea of the 'Six contrasts to differences' , including things such as 'Status Vs Support' (men use language to show power and dominance, whereas women are likely to support and agree') and 'Independency Vs Intimacy' (men use language to show they don't need to rely on others, contrasting to women that connect with one another).

Pamela Fishman (1983) - she suggests that women use tag questions (supporting Lakoff's work), BUT she says they are used to set the agenda and create a conversation rather than to be polite.

Jennifer Coates (1993) - She suggests that all female talk is co-operative, based on negotiation and support. She quotes the dominance approach 'sees women as an oppressed group, and interrupts differences in women's and men's speech in terms of dominance and women's subordination'. This stems from the idea we live in a patriarchal Western society that sees women as the subservient group that are over powered by men ( links to Zimmerman and West's idea).

Spoken Language, Genres of Speech

Conversations in daily life

·        Referential – planned interaction. Communicating the facts.   E.g a teacher giving a lesson to a class of students.

·        Expressive interaction – unplanned interaction. Expressing are emotions to people.  E.g talking in the morning to someone as the conversation isn’t rehearsed.

·        Transactional exchange – planned/unplanned interaction. We want to get something done.  E.g buying an item in the shop.

·        Interactional exchange – primarily social and they allow us to share our experiences with those around us to help develop relationships.

                                                    Spontaneous speech

     Informal register (usually with friends and family)

Topic of conversation isn’t thought of in advance

 Conversation flows freely and no-one assumes a particular role

      Overlaps and interruptions between speak

       Deictic expressions

Pre-planned speech

     Not in control of the response

      Rehearse what you want to say before the conversation starts.

     Normally contains a formal register

     Fewer non-fluency features

    Address tones/ordering

An example would be a news show , such as BBC NEWs, where they would start of by saying ‘First tonight’ as it gives the audience a formal structure of what is about to follow.