SOCIOLINGUISTICS

SEX, POLITNESS,
AND STREOTYPES
By 11th Group
Detta Silvia ( 1811230055 )
Harianti ( 1711230078 )
Uswatun Nur Khasanah ( 1811230059 )
A. Women’s Language and Confidence

While some social dialectologist suggested that women were status conscious, and
that tis was reflected in their use of standard speech forms, Robin Lakoff, an
American Linguist, suggested almost the opposite.

1. Features of ‘Women’s Language’

Lakoff suggested that women’s speech was characterized by linguistic features
such as the following :
a. Lexical hedges or fillers, e. g. you know, sort of, well, you see.Hedging
is an aspect of women’s insecurity. According to Lakoff, one would
expect‘you know’ to be randomly scattered through out women’s
speech since it usage issupposed to reflect the general insecurity of the
speaker.
b. Tag Question, e. g. she is very pretty, isn’t she? A tag question is used
when is the speaker is stating a claim, but the speaker is nottotally sure
about the truth of that claim, for example: Juan is leaving, isn’t he
c. Rising intonation on declaratives: e. g. it’s really good Women show
non-assertive behavior by using question intonation in conjunctionwith
declarative sentences
d. “Empty” adjectives: meaningless, can be omitted or changed into
another word, e. g. divine, charming, cute.According to Lakoff, certain
words are used almost exclusively by women
e. Precise color terms, e. g.magenta, aquamarine Lakoff suggested that
there are some colors that are less common and used bywomen only,
such as mauve and chartreuse Because women like details more
thanwomen do.
F. Intensifiers such as just and so, e. g. I like him so much.
Female often use intensifiers as so, such, quite, and vastly. E.g. I hate her so
much.

G. “Super polite” forms, e. g. indirect request, euphemisms.

Women are said to frame request and other sorts of utterances with
excessively polite form such as “Would you please open the door, if you
don’t mind”. Theseforms are often used by women than men.

H. Avoidance of strong swears words, e. g.fudge, my goodness

Taboo language or non-standard words, have considered on strong swear
words.
2. Lakoff's Linguistic Features as Politeness Devices.

a. Expressing uncertainty (rising intonation)

Example: (Bella is a student. She is telling her friends about the event in her school) Prom night was
held in the last July, was it? From the example above, Bella is uncertain about the time and she
indicateswith rising tag which signal doubt about what she is asserting.
b. Expressing affective meaning (falling intonation) The tags question in this point may have a
function as facilitative or positive politeness devices, providing and addressee with an easy entrée
into a conversation. The example: (Bella has new friend named Andy. When she is eating in the
cafeteria with her friend, Dina she meets Andy and she introduces him to Dina)
c.Expressing criticism (falling intonation) A tag may also soften a directive or a criticism.
The example: (Bella has new shoes but her sister wears it without asking to her first)
Bella: It's good shoes, wasn’t it?
d.Tags may also be used as confrontational and coercive devices. This tag is used to force feedback
from an uncooperative addressee
 INTERACTION

InteractionInteractional sociolinguistics is
a theoretical and methodological
perspective on language use that is based
in linguistics, sociology, and anthropology.
 GOSSIP SEXIEST
LANGUAGE
GOSSIP
Relaxed in-group talk that goes on between people in informal
situations
.

The differences between men and women gossiping.

Women Gossiping
Usually consist of experiences, problems, feeling Avoid
criticizing people in order not to make the atmosphere becomes
discomfort.

Men Gossiping: Tend to argue about certain topics, criticized

each other and sometimes make the conversational partner feels
down.

SEXIEST LANGUAGE
language Is concerned with the way that language expresses
negative and positive stereotypes of women and men.
Can a language be sexiest?

Feminists have claimed that English is a sexist language. Sexism involves

behaviour that maintains social inequalities between women and men.
GOSSIP SEXIEST
The Example of the English language LANGUAGE
discriminates against women In the semantic area the English Metaphor.
1. Animal imagery
2. Food imagery
3. Many words reflect a view of woman as a deviant, abnormal, or
subordinate group.
THANK YOU
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