Introduction

This investigation will focus on the area of genders different use of language. More specifically, it will
look at the language used male and female television chefs. I will be testing Robin Lakoffs Language
and Womens place theory which says that womens language contains many key features, including:
Hedges, empty adjectives, polite forms, apologetic language, and hyper correct grammar.
Aims
1. Identify and account for the common language featured used by television cooks
2. Identify and account for any variation that occurs because of gender

Hypothesis
Women will use more adjectives and hedges whilst males will focus more on the physical aspect of
cooking.

Methodology
I will use four different television chefs, two male and two female. I shall watch and transcribe a
recipe for a cake from YouTube, taking into account emphatic stresses, intonation, fillers and pauses.

Analysis
Adjectives

A common linguistic feature is the use of adjectives; cooks often use these to help promote their
recipe. Lakoff suggested that when talking women tend to use more empty adjectives. The
information I have found on adjectives, rejects Lakoffs theory that women us more empty adjectives
than men. It is clear to see that it is in fact the men that use more empty adjectives, and the women
that use more affective adjectives to help describe their recipe. When looking at my data it is clear to
see that Nigel Slater, a man, has used the most empty adjectives in total. Below is a table to show the
adjectives used by each cook, highlighted in the table are empty adjectives:
Male Female
Jamie Oliver Nigel Slater Mary Berry Nigella Lawson
Lovely x 4 Simple Creamy x 2 Fudgy
Fantastic Golden Light Melting
Shiny Butterscotch Thick Dark x 3
Creamy Good Fine Bittersweet
Silky Creamy Beautifully Chocolaty
Beautiful Light Posh Crazy
Fantastic Large Hot Sweetness
Beautiful Fine Slowly Gorgeous
Great Lovely Gently
Richer Expensive Lighter
Moist Perfect Speckled
Light Denseness Deep
Star Fresh Gooey
Strange Stiff Triple
Loveliest Smooth Melted

Nigella Lawson uses adjectives effectively to entice and attract the attention of the viewer, thus
encouraging them to try her recipes. In the sentence theres just something about them (.) chewy (.)
fudgy melting bellied Nigella has used the rule of three to create a grammatically incorrect sentence
that helps to lure in the viewer, giving her own opinion and giving the viewer an insight as to what is
to be expected from the recipe.
As seen from the table, Jamie Oliver uses the empty adjective lovely four times. The use of this
empty adjective is only affective to the person saying it, as only they can define what lovely means to
them. Although lovely is an adjective, it is not as effective as those used by Nigella fudgy, Buttery
or Chewy all adjectives which conjure up images of the finished product. This helps to highlight the
aim of the show which is to excite interest with the audience.
Nigel Slater has used the most empty adjectives, and has also used the most intensifiers. This is
revealed in the phrase really good colour Nigel has used the pre-modifying empty adjective good,
combined with the intensifier really to try and emphasis what the cake should look like, he is relying
on the visual stimuli rather than describing what it should be like.

Deixis

All of these transcripts require some degree of contextual information, due to the fact that people
normally watch the program; the information may not necessarily make sense when read out.
However when paired with the actions of the cook, the viewer is given information visually as well as
aurally. This is shown specifically when Jamie Oliver speaks, for example when he says thats what it
should be like the viewer is obviously provided with a visual aid in order to understand what their
cooking should look like. This appeals to the audience as it helps them to improve and understand
what they are doing. Nigel Slater also uses deictic sentences, for example when he says just smooth
that down a little bit. By simply reading this we unsure what that is, however, when provided with
the image of Nigel smoothing the surface of the cake, the sentence immediately makes sense.


Spoken Mode Features

In Lakoffs theory, it is said that women use hyper correct grammar, this has been proved in my
findings.
Jamie Oliver often uses grammatically incorrect language, something that is prominent in spoken
mode. However, he uses this to the extreme in order to create synthetic personalization, making the
viewer feel more comfortable and able to learn. This is shown in sentences such as Two nuts
chocolate torte (.) cheesecake mold but you can pretty much use anything you like really I just find it
easy cos you click it out. The use of ellipsis is common in spoken mode; however this has been done
purposely to create a punchy and direct first sentence and attract the viewers attention.
Jamie Oliver often uses incorrect grammar to include the audience and not alienate them with the use
of unfamiliar words.
In sentences such as were gunna whiz it up til its a powder deletion til and and the colloquial
verb gunna have been used to create a grammatically incorrect sentence. Jamie often misses out
letters in words, or assimilates them; this is shown in the sentence its nothing where he replaces the
th with a double ff. However his use of deletion and glottal stops arent a sign of laziness, but are
commonplace in a person from the London/Essex region of England. However, I think these are
Intoxicating Difficult Explosion
Soft Buttery
Creamy Oozing
Juicy Chewy
Moist Coax
Herby
Sweet
Sharp
Sticky
Rainy
sometimes accentuated in order to appeal to the viewer, and help include them. As well as this, his
use of informal lexis such as alright are very common and often repeated, helping to converge
towards the audience, and appeal to their language use, making them more inclined to listen and try
the recipe.

As the program is pre-recorded and an auto-cue is used, many of the transcripts do not contain as
many non-fluency as we would expect from normal speech. However, there still are a few features
that I find interesting, for example the use of vocalization, this is shown in the table below:


As you can see, Jamie Oliver uses the most vocalizations, and Nigel, the least. In the case of Mary
Berry, she has used many of the same fillers, however this could be due to hesitancy, or the fact that
she is older, and therefore could be more forgetful.
Nigella has used the vocalization mmm in the context the sentence no ones gunna miss one (.) are
they (1) mmm this implies that she is enjoying what she is eating, and is encouraging the viewer to
try it out for themselves.
Jamie Olivers vocalizations create a tenor of excitement within his program, using vocalizations such
as ooooooooooh with a rising intonation suggest that he is enthusiastic about his recipe and help to
create a semantic field of invention and enjoyment.

Use of pronouns

An interesting feature of these transcripts is the cooks use of personal pronouns to create a sense of
synthetic personalization within their show. In the table below is a list of the pronouns I found in the
transcripts:

Jamie Oliver Nigel Slater Mary Berry Nigella Lawson
You x 11 You x 2 You x 14 You x 8
I x 17 I x 14 I x 6 I x 10
Me x 3 Me x 2 Me x 2
We x 13 We x 2 We x 2
Your x 1
No one x 1

This use of pronouns is particularly prominent in Jamie Olivers show, where he has used twenty first-
person pronouns in total. This is of interest as it shows how he is referring to himself when talking,
rather than the viewer. He is very much focused on what he is doing. However his use of the second
person pronoun we is used more than any other cook, this helps to create a forced relationship
between cook and viewer and helps to include them in the show.
Sentence function
Sentence structure


Discourse
Phonology

Specialist lexis
Spoken mode features

Jamie Oliver Nigel Slater Mary Berry Nigella Lawson
Um Uh Uh
Ooo Uh Mmm
Oooooooooooh Uh
Ooh Um
Mmm