How and why do women and men speak differently?

How and why do women and men speak differently? Task: How and why do women and men speak differently? What explanations do different approaches in Sociolinguistics provide for the differences in language use by them? Which of these approaches do you agree with and why? In recent years, the assertion that women and men typically employ different speech style is pursued in a wide range of studies. Also, different sociolinguistics approaches such as variationist sociolinguistic, interactional sociolinguistic and ethnography of communication have put forward different explanations regarding this issue. Following by that, three approaches of language and gender have been also proposed by Jennifer Coates in her book â€Å"Women, Men and Language† (1986), which are the deficit approach, the dominance approach and the cultural difference approach to clarify this issue. Firstly,variationist sociolinguistics explains that different social conditions, for example different ages, genders, social classes and identities of interlocutors may discover different patterns of speech style. In this manner, it is suggested that the deficit approach which is proposed by Coates (1986) has followed the variationist sociolinguistic approach as deficit approach explains that the social status and identities of women have affected their speech style. According to Coates (1986), deficit is an approach established by Lakoff (1975). Robin Lakoffs (1975) influential exploratory essay, Language and Womans Place, about the ways womens speech differs from mens suggests that women are disadvantaged relative to men by a commonly inferior, less forceful â€Å"womens language† which they learn through socialisation. Also, she emphasises various female forms and styles conveying weakness, uncertainty, and unimportance. For instance, Lakoff argues that tag questions (1975: 16) and hedges (1975:54) are always used by women where they were unwilling to state a proposition directly. Indeed, her claims have been proven through a research carried out by Michael et. al. (2010) which determines the differences in conversational styles of men and women in Malaysia. The research points up that Malaysian women used more questions and hedges in their speech than men in order to keep the conversation going (Fishman, 1980; cited in Michael et. al., 2010). In this way, a psychological explanation given by Lakoff (1975) to womens usage of questions and hedges is due to the nature of womens secondary status, which is their sense of inferiority. She states that women feel unsecure of themselves because they have been taught to express themselves in â€Å"womens language†, which abounds in markers of uncertainty. Correspondingly, in Penelope Browns study of mens and womens speech patterns in a Mayan community in Mexico (1980), she found that a frequent correlation between higher status and the male sex affects the speech of men from that of women. She established that women in the Mayan community used the extremes of politeness, while men spoke more ‘matter-of-factly (Brown, 1980). Therefore, Brown (1980) relates these findings to the powerlessness social position of women in Mayan community as well, such as their vulnerability in relation to men and their need to protect their reputations. Hence, it seems reasonable to predict that women in general will speak more formally and more politely, since women are culturally referred to a secondary status relative to men and a higher level of politeness is expected from inferiors to superiors. Regarding to the same issue, other variationist explanations are given through Trudgills and Labovs researches. Trudgill claims that women typically hypercorrect where they speak more formally, using a higher proportion of prestige forms than men do in order to strive for social advancements. Likewise, Labov (1966; 312-495) found that at each socioeconomic level, except the very lowest, employ the same pattern. For example, in the description of Labovs investigations in New York City (1966), English speakers in New York sometimes pronounce the /r/ sound in words like ‘car, ‘floor and ‘fourth, and at other times they omit it. Beyond the finding that all speakers fluctuate between the inclusion and omission of /r/, Labov shows that speakers from a high socioeconomic level tend to pronounce /r/ relatively often. However, /r/ inclusion is more frequent in the speech of lower middle class women where they pay much careful attention in their speech. They use the upper mid dle class or the upper class as their reference as their accent has higher prestige and their own vernacular forms do not appear as often in casual speech (Labov, 1966). Besides, Labov (1966) suggests that the more formal a context of speech becomes, the more will the lower middle class women adopt the features of the higher class and will even overtake the rate of the upper class in the most formal style. Furthermore, Fischer (1958; cited in Angle Hesse-Biber, 1981) also found that women were more probable than men to prefer the standard gerundive suffix -ing to the more informal -in. In relation to Labov (1966), hypercorrection of the middle class women is associated with a relatively high level of linguistic insecurity as their extreme attention to external standards can be coupled with the weaker economic base of women, their relative powerlessness, and the oppressive nature of social stratification. In contrast, the tendency of men to actually lower the status level of their s peech is seen as evidence that men have a covert norm of prestige that runs contrary to that assigning prestige to the standard forms. Secondly, ethnography of communication approach which is used as a mean to study the interactions among members of a particular speech community which has a specific culture could be used to explain the differences in speech style of men and women as well. This is because speech communities create and establish their own speaking codes or norms (Philipsen, 1975). Essentially, the dominance approach with is suggested by Coates (1986) could be associated with ethnography of communication as well, as male dominance is always one of the factors or cultures of some speech communities that affects mens and womens speech style. One of the examples from which dominance approach is applied is in Korea, which the country social structure consists of a royal monarch, a patriarchically dominated family system that emphasises the maintenance of family lines (Cho, 2006). Also, this structure has tended to separate roles of women from those of men. Therefore, Cho claims that Korean women are seen a s the powerless and subordinate group whose difference speech style is resulted from male supremacy. An example of male dominance in Korean society illustrated by Cho (2006) is, a married Korean woman will rarely introduce herself to others with her own name, but habitually calls herself someones mother or wife, even though she has a profession. One might also explain this in terms of the dominance model, where female uses a term that identifies her relationship to husband, either as a mother or a wife, to show her subordination to her husband. Conversely, male uses his own name to offer himself with an individual identity. Next, interactionist sociolinguistics approach is mainly interested in what language use can tell about social processes. Besides, it asserts that environmental factors are more dominant in language acquisition. In other words, interactionist approach places the importance on home and cultural environment in language learning. Thus, this approach is followed by Deborah Tannens (1990, 1992) cultural differences approach when she describes communication between men and women as â€Å"cross-cultural communication†. She (1992:109) asserts that cultural differences between men and women including diverse expectations about the gender role of talk in relationships and how they have to achieve that role. Tannen (1990) outlines, speech styles begin to established in childhood and continue through adulthood. She believes that women and men have dissimilar pass experiences. Boys and girls grow up in different cultural environment. They travel in different worlds and adapt to different c ultures, reinforcing patterns established in childhood. In order to elaborate on speech styles, Tannen (1990:77) depicts that most men are very quiet at home, but will freely talk up in public and participate in discussion groups. Basically, they use a reporting communication style, to preserve independence as well as negotiate and maintain status in a hierarchical social order. Also, men avoid small talk. Conversely, women have a rapport communications establishing connections, negotiating relationships and enjoying private conversations (Tannen, 1990). They do most of the talking in private conversations such as when they are at home. However, when in a public occasions, women are not as comfortable in voicing their views. In this manner, Tannen (1990) asserts that men are more concerned with status and independence whereas women prefer connection and intimacy. She considers that these cultural differences can give women and men a different perception at the same situation and the refore they employ different speech styles. In my viewpoint, I believe that there is a truth in the claim of interactionist approach, and I think that this approach has best described the language and gender issues. As what has been claimed by Tannen (1990), I agree that men and women come from different sociolinguistic subcultures would have different conceptions of friendly conversation, different rules for engaging in it, and different rules for interpreting it. Hence, cultural differences approach which follows interactionist approach has evidently described that cultural differences will truly impose a number of differences in speech style between men and women. Nevertheless, my point here is that cultural differences alone cannot sufficiently clarify the whole pattern of language difference. In fact, deficit approach and dominance approach may make some contribution even though there would be some biasness or stereotypes included in these approaches. This is because there is a clear pattern for language style shown by di fferent linguists over the years, which correlated with men to be that of power and dominance, and that associated with women to be that of powerlessness and submissiveness (e.g. Lakoff, 1975). To summarise, gender different in patterns and styles of communication should be viewed as a complex issue where there are many approaches and factors involved in it. Individuals would not use one form of speech style in all occasions and with all people. They would consider various factors and decide on different communicative strategies to transmit meaning correctly and effectively. Effect of Mineral Deficiency on Plants | Experiment Effect of Mineral Deficiency on Plants | Experiment This will affect both germinating seedlings and growing plants. Different concentrations of CO2 can cause plants to grow at different rates. Plants need CO2 in the air in to respire in the same way, as we need oxygen. Without it they would not be able to create energy so they couldnt grow. The problem with trying to monitor the affects that different amounts of CO2 would have on the cress seed is that it is hard to control the level of CO2. In school we do not have the equipment. Amount of water in the soil (assuming that it is grown in soil): This will affect both germinating seedlings growing plants. Plants need water for the transportation of different molecules such as glucose. It is essential for growth. They do this by osmosis. With out water they would dry out die. Water also makes germination easier because it softens the shell. Amount of light (Intensity, wavelength): Only growing plants need light in order to grow. Seeds dont need light because they are usually under ground when they germinate. Plants need light because this is how they get food. The sunlight gets trapped in the plants leaves by chloroplast cells and turned into energy. The reaction by which this takes place is called photosynthesis. The equation for this reaction is 6CO2 +6 H2O = 6O2 + C6H12O6 Sunlight is not only vital for the plants growth but also vital for us because without light all plants would die meaning no oxygen in the air. Different wavelengths reflect off the leaves, only certain wavelengths get absorbed. Competition: Competition can affect germinating seedlings and growing plants. Competition is caused by a dense population of animals or plants in the same area competing for the same resources. The more competition there is then the less the plants will grow. This is because the minerals, nutrients and sunlight (in plants case) have to be spread out more thinly or shared out amongst a higher number of plants. In some cases plants will die due to a lack of nutrition. PH: Can also affect both germinating seedlings and growing plants. Cress needs a neutral PH level to grow at their best. Some plants like camellia can grow in acidic soil because they have adapted to the soil over many years. Some plants like herbs benefit from alkaline soil. Different plants grow best in different soils. Minerals/nutrients: Minerals and nutrients are essential because they are needed as energy. They are absorbed with water through the roots by osmosis. They are then transported by the xylem up around the plant. Different nutrients are needed for different uses e.g. Iron for strengthening the stem. The factor that I wish to investigate is how different minerals affect the germination and growth of plants. The aim The aim of my experiment is to see how 3 different solutions lacking 3 different minerals affect the growth and the germination of a plant. The different solutions I am going to use are: Lacking Nitrogen Lacking Sulphur Lacking Magnesium I am also going to have a control test, which has all the nutrients a plant would have in normal soil. This is so I can compare the experiments to it allowing me to see what changes the absence of the minerals has. The Method To do this I am going to have 4 different petri dishes, 1 for each solution. In each dish there will be 4 different sections each containing 5 seedlings. The reason I am doing this is to make it a fair test. By having 4 different sections I am essentially I am repeating the experiment 4 times. Every day I will water the cress seeds using their own solutions. To create the appropriate solutions I did a pre-test using a replicate of my actual experiment and to I watered the 20 cress seeds over a week. I used a normal Sachs solution to water them. Form the experiment I found that 1.5 ml cubed for each section was to little because although the seedlings germinated the plants did not grow very quickly. I decided to use 2ml cubed for each section. The solutions I made were 1/3 Sachs and 2/3s water. This is a diagram of my experiment. It shows the 4 different petri dishes. In order to be able to monitor the cress I will draw up a table. For each day that I water the cress I will observe: How many seeds have germinated, The height of the seedlings, No. Of leaves on seedling, And any other observations. All this will do is make it easier to analyse my results. Prediction I predict that nitrogen is going to have the most devastating effect on the germination and growth of a plant. The reason I think this is because it converts sugars made by photosynthesis into protein. Protein is needed for growth. I think that they will be short and have yellowing leaves due to facts from my research. Research Mineral Used in Deficiency Magnesium Chloroplast Yellow leaves Nitrogen Chlorophyll cells and Amino acids Reduction in growth and yellow leaves Sulphur Amino acids and proteins Reduction in growth and yellowing leaves Fair test To get my results I watered my plants over a period of 2 weeks. An important aspect of my test was getting reliable results. This will help me to me evaluate my experiment fairly. To make my test as fair as possible I made sure all of my petri dishes were in the same conditions as each other. This meant that any effects could only be caused by the factor that I am experimenting with. We watered them all as regularly as each other, placed tem all in the same spot, made sure that they were all in the same temperature, light etc. I must also take into consideration the fact that anomalies could occur in my results or some of the effects could be caused by natural causes. For example the heaters in school could stop running, some seeds may be infertile or there could be an abnormally cold or hot day. Conclusion/evaluation Overall I think that the lack of nitrogen in the solution has not caused much difference to the growth and germination to the seedlings. I expected them not to grow as tall as the any of the others, to have yellow leaves and only a few of them to have germinated. The first thing that I noticed about my results was that they contradicted my prediction. The seedlings lacking Nitrogen were the fastest to germinate (this includes the control). I found this strange because Nitrogen is the most vital nutrient of the three we experimented with. Judging by the results I have collected it seems that plants do not need Nitrogen to germinate but it is needed for growth because the seedlings in the Nitrogen solution are described as yellow leaved and short. I can see this because the seeds that lack nitrogen germinate more quickly than the seeds in the control test. I also noticed that the seedlings in the solution that lacked magnesium ended up with the darkest leaves. My research shows that a sign of a plant with a magnesium deficiency has yellow leaves. The cress seeds in my experiment that are in a solution that lacks magnesium have the darkest leaves. This could be caused because the plants found that the Sulphur in the solution counter acted the effects of the lack of magnesium. Also it seems that the solutions did not effect the growth of the plants, they all seemed to grow to the same height at the same rate. This is proven by the control test also growing to this height. Sulphur had the greatest effect on the plants overall. By the 4th day into the experiment, the solution lacking sulphur was the only solution in which few seeds had germinated and had yellow leaves and short seedlings. I think that it is because sulphur is used in both germination and growth. It is used in proteins and Amino acids (the building blocks of protein). These are both vital nutrients as they are used as energy in the plant. Overall I think that if I had carried out my experiment for longer, the effects would have been greater. I could have also chosen more diverse nutrient/minerals. This would have caused fewer problems with which mineral caused which effect and I would have seen greater effects. I did find out that magnesium causes a decrease in energy due to fewer chloroplast cells. Sulphur causes short term and long term effects in growth and causes yellowing of leaves and Nitrogen does not cause short term effects but I predict will slow growth and cause yellowing of leaves in the long run.