La Ode Alfin Haris Munandar

Fahrurrozi
 Introduction
A major issue in the sociolinguistics of speech is the
relationship between sex and language. Since the mid-
1970s research on language and sex has concentrated on
the role language plays in the location and maintenance
of women in a disadvantageous position in society.
 Disadvantageous position?
 It is not rare to see in certain society that men are seen
superior to women. Even in western society, which
uphold the emancipation, is indeed shows
discrimination towards women.
 Worst, women realize this discrimination but they
accept it as normal. Though, some may not realize it.
 Within the language, this discrimination is known as
sexism in language.
 Sexism in Language
 Sexism in language or sexist language is language
which excludes one sex or the other, or which suggests
that one sex is superior to the other.
 Within the sexist language there is a well known
problem termed “the he/man” problem and terms of
address.
 The He/Man Problem
 This problem is actually deals with the grammatical
use of generic he/man in the language.
 Generic use here means the use of nouns and
pronouns which reffers to people in general sense, and
to individuals of unknown or indefinite sex.
Generic use of “He”
 How much can you tell about someone from (???)
choice of Wellington boot?
 How much can you tell about someone from his
choice of Wellington boot?
 How much can you tell about someone from his or
her choice of Wellington boot?
 How much can you tell about someone from his or
her choice of Wellington boot? Is he or she marked
out as middle class if he or she opts for a pair of
Hunters?
Cont...
 If you’re allergic to oils or perfumes, remind your
therapist before s/he lays hands on you.
 How much can you tell about people from their choice
of Wellington boot?
 *If you’re allergic to oils or perfumes, remind your
therapists before they lay hands on you.
 How much can you tell about someone from their
choice of Wellington boot?
 Singular “They”
 Bodine in Wolfson has pointed out, the use of singular
they is not only quite common in spoken standard
English but has a long history use in the language.
Until the nineteenth century, grammarians had said
nothing against this usage. It was only during the
period of prescriptive zeal that grammarians began to
make vehement objections to the use of they for sex-
indeterminate reference.
 Generic use of “Man”
 If a woman is swept off a ship into the water, the cry is
‘man overboard’.
 If she is killed by a hit and run driver, the charge is
‘manslaughter’.
 If she is injured on the job, the coverage is ‘workman’s
compensation’.
 When we would like to refers to all human being in
this world, we use ‘mankind’
 Terms of Adress
 When an invitation to a reception given by the
president of the university for newly tenured faculty
was sent to a female professor who had recently been
awarded tenure. The invitation was adressed to Mrs.
John Smith. The fact that John Smith had not been
awarded tenure and was not, indeed, involved in
academics at all was irrelevant here, and the woman
whose achievement was being celebrated was not even
accorded her own name or rank.
 Gender Related Language Differences
(Women’s speech by Lakoff)
 Lexical Choice
 Question intonation in statements
 Hedges and tag question
 Emphatic modifiers and intonational emphasis
 Hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation
 Superpolite forms
 Client Speech
 According to Crosby and Nyquist, What Lakoff termed
as Women’s speech is not actually the characteristics
of women’s speech, rather it is the client speech. In
their research, they found out that men and women
may and may not use the chracteristic suggested by
Lakoff depend on the status of the listener they are
speaking to. So Crosby and Nyquist call this
characteristics as Client Speech.
 Powerless Language
O’barr and Atkins found that the features characterized
as women’s language by Lakoff are neither limited to
women nor characteristic of the speech of all women.
Rather, those features originally isolated by Lakoff were
directly linked to the position of the speaker.
Cont...
When status was low, both men and women were found
to use a high percentage of features associated with
women’s speech, while both men and women who had
high status were found to make very little use of them.
Thus, the higer the status of the individual speaker, the
more “powerful” their language. Given these findings,
O’Barr and Atkins suggest that what Lakoff has termed
“women’s language” would be more appropriately
termed “powerless language”.
 Implication for Second Language
Teaching
Language learners needs to know how to use an
appropriate language in an appropriate situation.
Language learner should be made aware of the
controversy concerning issues of sexism in language.
Such as the use of singular they. Language learners need
to to be directed to avoid sexism in pronoun usage.