3. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
There are differences in the way Women and Men talk:
Biological and Environmental Influences
Neurological Development
Role Models
Life Experiences
4. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
By the time a child is of school age, vocabulary accounts
for the greatest gender difference.
Children will speak of their interests
In general:
Girls- dancing
Boys- wrestling
5. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
Elena Escalera study (Journal of Pragmatics)
Children’s conversations may be more about activities, than
differences in conversational goals
Activity accounts for gender differences to a great degree
6. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
Research shows:
Women speak more politely than men
Men use crude and profane language more often
Interestingly:
When competing, or when men or women speak with a man,
less noncommittal and imprecise language is used
Both genders are more direct
7. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
Males and females also differ in their use of nonverbal and
verbal language in conversation.
Women face their conversation partner
Men are distant
Women introduce new topics more frequently than men
Women sustain a topic infrequently (36%); men (96%)
Women openly talk about relationships and feelings
Men favor talking about impersonal topics
8. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
2008- Nat. Institutes of Health, comprehensive survey
(Gender Differences in Language Use)
Findings:
Women use words related to psychological and social
processes
Men refer to object properties and impersonal topics
Men tend to use language for instrumental purposes
(conveying information)
Women tend to use language for social purposes
(feeling through intense adverbs and modal axillary verbs)
9. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
The study used the “stream of consciousness” context
Results:
Female- “Okay, well I am watching this movie. I’m not really
watching it because I’m typing, but I’m listening to it. I really
can’t type that well, so there are probably going to be a few
misspelled words. My sister made me mad a while ago
because I asked her to call me when her husband got home
and she didn’t.”
Male- “I find it amusing that I’m writing a stream of
consciousness about what I am thinking, my mind is
completely focused on what I am going to write in the stream
of consciousness paper. Thus, my stream of consciousness is
about my stream of consciousness about my stream of
10. Gender Differences in Style and
Vocabulary
Communicating between genders is traced to rearing experiences.
Growing up…
Boys play in large groups/ Girls, in small groups or pairs
Boys seek a winner/ Girls do not have a winner
Boys compete for first place/ Girls take turns and share
Boys boast and achieve status/ Girls seek acceptance
“Alphas”
Boys with high status give orders to those of low status.
Girls manipulate the behaviors of others by offering suggestions.
11. Sources
Escalera, E. (2009). Gender Differences In Childrens’ Use of
Discourse Markers: Separate World’s or Different Contexts?.
Journal of Pragmatics, 08(41), 2479-2495.
Newman, M., Groom, C., Handelman, L., Pennebaker, J. (2008).
Gender Differences in Language Use: An Analysis of 14,000
Text Samples. Routledge Taylor and Francic Group, 45,
1532-6950.
Hulit, L. M., Howard, M. R., & Fahey, K. R. (2011). Born To Talk:
An Introduction to Speech and Language Development. (5ed.,
Vol. th.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education
SpinDvil. (2007, June 27). Clip of That 70’s Show [Video File].
Video posted to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjNSwB_Iuu0
