Gender and Age Pertemuan 7

Matakuliah : G0362/SociolingusticsTahun : 2007

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Learning Outcomes

Pada akhir pertemuan ini, diharapkan mahasiswa akan mampu :• Menghubungkan konsep jender dan umur

dengan penggunaan bahasa

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Outline Materi

• Definition of gender• Gender-exclusive speech • Gender-preferential speech• Gender and social class• The influence of age on language use

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Gender-exclusive Speech

Many languages have marked female or male features in their language. In the textbook by Holmes, she mentioned some examples:– Indians in Amazon: the women and men use

different languages to speak to each other;– In Yana and Chiquita (American Indian

languages): men use longer words than the women

– Japanese women and men use different vocabulary referring to the same things.

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Reasons of these differences

Linguistic differences often reflects social status and power differences between men and women. For very hierarchical community (where men is usually

more powerful than women), the difference is only one of many dimension reflecting the social hierarchy.

Gender-exclusive speech reflects exclusive social roles (men and women have different roles in the family and society).

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Gender-preferential speech

• In Western countries, how different is the language used by men and women?– As usually there is no role differences (men

and women equally have jobs, do housework, care for their children, etc.), there is no difference in the forms of language use.

– However, the frequencies of the forms do differ.

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Marked forms of Western men and women’s language

• Women tend to use more standard forms then men;– Men drops their [h]’s more then women in Australia;– In Norwich, men use [in] form at the end of words like speaking and walking then women in all social class.

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Gender and Social Class

• Example 5 (Holmes, 1992:168)– Linda lives in the South of England and her dad is a

lawyer. She went to stay for a school term with her uncle and aunt in Lancashire. When she went home, she described the way her aunt and uncle talked. Uncle Tom, a plumber, talks just any other men in the construction site. He omits his h’s, like ‘ouse’, and ‘ome’,and [kup] and [bus]. Her aunt talks like her uncle at home, saying ’talkin’, killin’, or ‘standin’. She works in a shop, and when she talks to customers she says ‘house’ and ‘home’ –just like a real lady.

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Age

• Age is a factor that influences language use:– Kids say ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’, instead of

‘mom’ and ‘dad’ or ‘mother’ and ’father’– Young people would likely to say ‘what’s up,

man?’ more than a 40-year old woman/man– Young people would use the word ‘cool’,

‘wicked’, ‘rad’(=radical), to say ‘really good’

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Age and vernacularism• As someone grows older, the language he/she uses would change.

During childhood till their teenage years, they use vernacular. But when they enter workforce, they use less vernacular and more standard language. This will reach its peak approx. in their 30’s. As they are comfortable in their jobs they will use more and more vernacular, until they are retired.

Age

Deg

ree

of

vern

acul

ar

0 20 30 40 50

retirement

Enter work forceReach comfortable position

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Conclusions

• Gender and age influence the use of language.• There are languages which have different

vocabulary for men and women (sex-exclusive).• Men and women have different preference when

they use a language• As someone grows older, the language changes

according to the demand in their surroundings.