Language and Gender The language of men and women often, there are obvious differences between the language typically used by women and those used by men. The different words used by men and women are obviously a part of their culture and of a biological difference between them. Moreover ,there is no determine explanation whether we are talking about the differences biologically or culturally. In past years, many people have expressed various opinions on the terms "sex" and "gender", although in ordinary usage these terms overlap. The definition of the Dictionary In The American Heritage dictionary, we can find the definition of gender
Differences in men’s and women’s speech People will consciously and unconsciously perform each identity. Language is a form of performance. The conventions of linguistic behaviour of men and women are strained from the performance of the felt and desired gender identity of a person. The above-mentioned conventions are based on natural discourse of the genders as well as on the ideologies of gendered speech behaviour within a society. Feminist movements realized that language was one of the instruments of female oppression by males.
Seeing as language is a way of one expressing itself we can connect language to identity. As in order for one to demonstrate itself we have to be able to express our feelings and emotions and we do so through communication. Some characteristics of language is that it's dynamic, meaning that it changes constantly for example, the English people speak now is not the same English that people used to speak hundreds of years before. Language changes and modernizes itself in order to evolve and has many variations through dialects. Different language communities have certain ways of talking that will set them apart from others and those differences are known as dialects.
The term gender, as opposed to the concept of sex, refers to the non-physiological aspects of identifying an individual as male or female. The genre is a product of cultural and subjective constructs that constantly change over time, context and environment. So, when it comes to gender differences, there is more talk about differences and explicit or implicit attributes between men and women in a spectrum resulting from socialization. In fact, it is the differences between the sexes that socialization has inculcated, which is attributed to femininity and masculinity. From a summary point of view, if sex is our biology, then everything else is the genre.
The Genderlect Theory: Explaining Communication Between Men and Women Communication is an essential part of everyday life. People encounter some form of communication with others on a daily basis, whether it is face-to-face, electronically, etc. However, communication is not universal in that everyone interacts with each other through these several methods. Thus, numerous studies about communication from different viewpoints have been conducted. One of these perspectives is analyzing communication through gender.
Sex is a biological condition, i.e. defined as a set of physical characteristics. Gender is a social construct which is set out by the society in which we all live. Sex is the same in every culture. A man is a man and the same goes for women.
To put it simply, gender is the identification of male or female due to their ability to perform as male or female (reproductive roles). it could also be seen as a range of characteristics pertaining to and differentiating between masculinity and femininity. Gender plays a very significant role in the society. The gender of a person could determine how well they fit in the society as some societies tend to favor the males better than the females as they believe that males are superior to female. This in some societies is a problem as women are trying to fight for their right to be able to do things that the males do.
What is gender? Gender is the intersection of the relationships between sex, gender identity, sexuality and gender expression; gender is an achieved status Gender is not just sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexuality. These aspects are a basis for gender, but they do not determine gender. Sex is the measurable organs (anatomies), hormones and chromosomes that determines us as male, female or intersex. It is what we are born with, a product of biological processes (DNA, evolution, mutation, replication, reproduction, and selection).
Gender and Language Gender and Language is an interesting topic that results motivating to investigate about. It has been studied for a long time due to its importance on discourse analysis nowadays. There are many aspects that for me, we must consider before giving an opinion about it. Both genders have their own uniqueness and qualifications and at the same time these features turn to reflect on cultural aspects, which make this topic even more complex for a deeper study. So within this topic are various facets related to differences between men´s and women´s language as well as if women talk more or less than men, if women´s speech is less straight, precise and pertinent than men´s, and also there are biological factors to consider.
The issue of “gender” and “gender identity” has occupied significant place in literary theories and more specifically in feminist literary criticism. Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines gender as – “the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex.” Feminist critics have attempted to distinguish between “sex” and “gender”. For them sex is a biological phenomena while gender is socially constructed. There is no direct relation between gender and biological sex. “Masculinity and femininity are essentially coercive categories that straitjacket men and women” (Nayar 83).