[…] a terrific post by Dan Clayton over at the Macmillan English Blog about Deborah Cameron’s linguistic research on gender. Basically he’s pointing […]
[…] the Macmillan Dictionary blog, Dan Clayton picked a fight about whether or not there’s any difference between how men and women speak; Janet Gough explored gender-neutral words; and Stan Carey considered hopefully. Arnold Zwicky took […]
[…] Are there linguistic differences between the sexes? […]
Dan:
I think the evolutionary rap about differences in male-female discourse is nonsense. I do think the societal element plays a role, and that power is probably the most important determinant for any differences in male-female verbal interaction. My assumption is purely based on personal experience and anecdotal information.
Gender speech issues would continue to be a source of controversy. Naturally, women are more soft spoken than men, this may be in accord with what the article is about i.e upbringing. But the evolutionary whatchamacallit is pure trash!
[…] a terrific post by Dan Clayton over at the Macmillan English Blog about Deborah Cameron’s linguistic research on gender. Basically he’s pointing […]
[…] the Macmillan Dictionary blog, Dan Clayton picked a fight about whether or not there’s any difference between how men and women speak; Janet Gough explored gender-neutral words; and Stan Carey considered hopefully. Arnold Zwicky took […]
[…] Are there linguistic differences between the sexes? […]
Dan:
I think the evolutionary rap about differences in male-female discourse is nonsense. I do think the societal element plays a role, and that power is probably the most important determinant for any differences in male-female verbal interaction. My assumption is purely based on personal experience and anecdotal information.
Gender speech issues would continue to be a source of controversy. Naturally, women are more soft spoken than men, this may be in accord with what the article is about i.e upbringing. But the evolutionary whatchamacallit is pure trash!