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1997
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Women, language and identity
1
Janet Holmes
Victoria University of Wellington
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the ways in which women and men use language to mark
gender boundaries, and to convey femininity and masculinity in the construc-
tion of a gendered identity. The first section of the paper examines evidence that
language serves as a gender identity marker not only in the particular
phonological variants used more by women than by men, but also in the
wider stylistic range evident in women's discourse in some communities. The
gender distribution and social meanings associated with particular pragmatic
particles and interactional devices provide another indication of the ways in
which women and men construct and express femininity and masculinity in
interaction. The final section analyses the construction of stereotypical gender
identities through conversational interaction, firstly by means of a narrative
and secondly through the carefully crafted dialogue of an advertisement. The
paper demonstrates the complementary nature of macro-level quantitative
studies and qualitative ethnographic analysis in gender research.
KEYWORDS: Gender, social dialect, discourse analysis, stereotypes,
narrative
INTRODUCTION
Linguistic behaviour expresses complex social meanings. Through language we
assert or cede control, we indicate the different social groups with which we
identify, the social roles we embrace, and the sometimes conflicting values we
espouse. As many researchers have demonstrated in their recent work,
language is used to symbolise our different social identities, and in any
particular interaction we draw on its symbolic power to construct a particular
identity or identities, and to express our conformity with or rejection of
mainstream norms and values (e.g. Cameron 1995, Coupland and Coupland
1995, Coupland, Coupland and Giles 1991, Crawford 1995, Eckert and
McConnell-Ginet 1995).
Language and gender research has progressed quite dramatically over the last
thirty years from a predominantly essentialist paradigm which categorised
speakers primarily according to their biological sex, and used mainly quantitative
Journal of Sociolinguistics 1/2, 1997: 195223
methods, through a period which recognised the significance of cultural
categories such as gender, and socio-psychological dimensions such as feminine
and masculine, when more qualitative approaches have predominated. In recent
research a more dynamic social constructionist approach offers the possibility of
combining the benefits of ethnographic and survey approaches.
As Mary Crawford (1995: 172ff) argues, there is no `best' method for gender
and language research; a judicious, reflexive, critical and self-questioning use of
a range of approaches is needed (see also Fairclough 1989, Potter and Wetherell
1987, van Dijk 1985). Constructing a gendered identity in interaction is an
active, on-going creative process, but it is a process which draws on the
participants' familiarity with the significance of particular choices. Individuals
use language in face-to-face interaction to express, create, challenge and
subvert a range of social meanings (Cameron 1995, Eckert and McConnell-
Ginet 1995), but they draw on established sociolinguistic norms in doing so.
Just as quantification depends on detailed preliminary analysis (as well as native
speakers' intuitions) in establishing valid units and categories of analysis
(Schegloff 1993), so qualitative ethnographic analysis cannot account for
individuals' linguistic choices in a social vacuum patterns are rarely evident
at the micro-level.
In what follows, I first discuss the significance of sex as a sociolinguistic
category in social dialect research, examining the evidence that, for some
variables in some communities, it is a more fundamental and salient social
category than social class. The second section explores the relationship between
gender and the use of particular pragmatic particles and interactional devices,
demonstrating the importance of attention to the social meaning of these items
in accounting for their interpretation as expressions of femininity and mascu-
linity. The final section focuses on two particular examples of interaction,
illustrating how individuals construct a gendered identity in particular social
contexts. The first example comprises a narrative. Telling stories is one very
explicit means of constructing a particular social identity. The analysis illus-
trates how a very conventional gender identity can be constructed through a
narrative describing a mundane family outing. The second example examines a
more complex instance of impression management, showing how a carefully
crafted dialogue constructs a more varied range of gender identities, and the
ways in which these draw on societal norms and expectations for their effect.
GENDER IN SOCIAL DIALECTOLOGY
It is useful to begin with the question, `has gender proved a useful category in
social dialect research?' Or has it simply been a fashionable one which has
concealed more sociolinguistically significant and relevant social categories? To
what extent has survey research isolated linguistic features which are
distinctive signals of female identity, as opposed to features of more formal
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styles, for example, or particular social classes? Are there instances where the
choice of particular variants genuinely functions as a signal of female identity?
There has been some debate as to whether it is appropriate to use biological
sex as a pragmatic way to operationalise the socio-cultural category `gender' in
sociolinguistic research (e.g. Crawford 1995, Eckert 1989, Labov 1990).
Nevertheless, the vast majority of large scale quantitative surveys continue to
treat this variable as a dichotomy for the purposes of correlation with linguistic
variables. So, initially at least, I will discuss `gender' identity in social dialect
research, while recognising the crudeness with which the concept is measured
in most surveys. I do not intend here to summarise thirty years of social dialect
research. Rather, I will make just two points which indicate the directions in
which we might look, and the findings we must take into account in searching
for an answer to questions about the significance of gender as a sociolinguistic
variable:
i(i) gender differentiation is a recurrent robust finding in social dialect surveys;
(ii) stylistic variability is often greater in women's speech than men's.
Firstly, it is clear that in all sociolinguistic surveys to date there are some
linguistic variables which are realised significantly differently by women and
men.
2
The stable (ING) variable, for instance, has been found to differentiate
female and male speech in every social dialect survey of an English-speaking
community which has been undertaken. In our Wellington Social Dialect
Survey (Holmes, Bell and Boyce 1991) in New Zealand, the men used almost
twice as many instances of the vernacular [In] pronunciation as the women
(46% vs 24%). Similar examples could be provided for many different variables
in a range of communities.
Initially, such gender variation was often explained in terms of class: it was
suggested that women were using forms typical of a higher social class.
However, this treatment of class as fundamental was challenged by female
sociolinguists (e.g. Cameron and Coates 1984, Horvath 1985). Barbara
Horvath (1985), Jennifer Coates (1993) and Lesley Milroy (1992) noted that
for a number of variables (mainly involving consonants), gender was a
demonstrably more salient and fundamental category than social class. The
dramatic contrast between male and female levels of glottalization on Tyneside
provides an illustration: glottalization of (p) is near-categorical for both working
class (99.5%) and middle class (96.5%) men, while women glottalise (p) much
less often, with a clear social class contrast (60% for working class vs 27% for
middle class). Milroy comments that glottalization `is better described as a male
norm than a working class norm' (1992: 167). In Tunis, Michel Jabeur (1987,
cited in Milroy 1992: 171) provides further examples where linguistic varia-
bility correlates with women's and men's usage, not with educational or
occupational social dimensions. And Miriam Meyerhoff (1996a) describes an
intriguing example from Vanuatu, where the salience of gender boundaries was
evident in the tendency for women, but not men, to use the inclusive yumi
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pronoun in addressing her, indicating that at times her gender was more salient
than her status as outsider. Moreover, in our Wellington survey, neither class
nor ethnicity produced such significant differences as gender for the stable (ING)
variable.
3
The (ING) variable also illustrates my second point. In many speech
communities, women's linguistic behaviour is remarkably style-sensitive:
women consistently style-shift more than men. This has been evident from
the earliest surveys and can be clearly illustrated by Peter Trudgill's (1972)
Norwich data. The most dramatic variation in Trudgill's data is that between
the casual style (17% [I] ) and more formal styles [97%100% [I] ) of working
class women, an 80% shift from the vernacular to the standard variant.
Similar examples can be provided from many social dialect surveys (e.g.
Labov 1966, Milroy 1980, Nichols 1983). Reviewing a range of data, J. K.
Chambers summarises:
The empirical evidence clearly shows women as much more able performers than men
in the whole spectrum of sociolinguistic situations . . . they command a wider range of
linguistic variants . . . they have the linguistic flexibility to alter their speech as social
circumstances warrant. (Chambers 1992: 199)
While Chambers' formulation could be regarded as polemical, the research he
cites provides convincing evidence that in western urban contexts women tend
to use a wider range of linguistic variants than men, and that their usage varies
according to identifiable contextual factors.
There is, moreover, supportive evidence from other cultural groups. Patricia
Nichols (1983) documents the wider stylistic range of working class Black
women in South Carolina, reflecting their social networks and the variety of
people they encounter in their daily interactions. Sachiko Ide (1982) demon-
strates that Japanese women use a wider and more complex range of honorifics
than men, and notes that they are very responsive to contextual factors (see also
Ide 1991, Ide et al. 1986). Genevieve Escure (1991) comments on the linguistic
repertoire of Belize women, which encompasses a wider range of the creole
continuum than that of Belize men. So, while this generalisation does not
describe all linguistic variables, and is subject to some caveats,
4
it does
summarise patterns across a number of different communities.
Once again, initial interpretations tended to imply that this extreme style-
shifting was evidence of women's over-weening social ambition: it was
suggested that women were using more standard forms in contexts where
they had the opportunity to pay attention to their speech (e.g. reading aloud), in
order to claim higher status than they were entitled to. More recent explana-
tions, however, appeal to the linguistic market-place, suggesting that women's
stylistic flexibility is rather a reflection of the wide range of social identities they
are required to control.
5
Penelope Eckert notes, for example, that gender
differences in variation are `attributable to social forces that attach to women
by virtue of their place in the economy' (1989: 255). Language is one form of
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symbolic capital, and authority in the area of linguistic usage is one of the
avenues available to women to assert their influence in society. Women are
often the family brokers in interaction with outsiders: it is more often women
than men who interact with others in shops and neighbourhood interactions, as
well as in communications with schools, and between institutional bureau-
cracies and the family (see Chambers 1992, Moonwomon 1989, Tannen
1990). Women's social activities and jobs often involve them in interaction
with a wider range of social contacts than men's (e.g. Escure 1991, Milroy
1980, Nichols 1983). In such contexts, in order to be effective in their
interactions, they are responsive to a variety of pressures, and they con-
sequently tend to accommodate to the speech of others (e.g. Bell 1984;
Coupland 1980; Giles, Coupland and Coupland 1991).
6
Alternatively, in
some communities, language may be one of the few areas where women are
permitted to be creative and where they perceive opportunities to subvert and
challenge societal norms (see Weedon 1987).
So the wide variation observed in the speech behaviour of many women can
be interpreted as a response to the often conflicting demands of their various
roles (Moonwomon 1989: 244). In other words, an explanation which takes
account of the function of language as a means of expressing social identity
provides a plausible account of this particular contrast between women's and
men's behaviour. From this perspective, women's identity is signalled not so
much by the choice of particular linguistic variants which contrast with those
preferred by men, but rather by the ways in which women are often required to
use language to construct a much wider range of social identities and express a
wider range of social roles than men.
PRAGMATIC AND INTERACTIONAL DEVICES
When we turn from the quantification of mainly phonological and morpho-
logical variables to a consideration of pragmatic particles and interactional
variables, the significance of particular choices as expressions of gender identity
becomes even more apparent.
The quantification of discourse variables, using the variationist approach
which was first developed for the analysis of phonological variables, has proved
much more productive than sceptics initially predicted. At an early stage,
Elizabeth Dines (1980) provided evidence of the relevance of social class in
Australia to the distribution of set marking tags such as or something, and that
( (sort of) stuff). Michael Huspek (1989) identified social class patterns in the
United States in the distribution of you know and I think. Sylvie Dubois and
Barbara Horvath (1992) used a variationist approach to demonstrate the
relationship between the form of an interviewer's question and the interviewee's
response in their Sydney data. And in New Zealand, Meyerhoff's (1994)
analysis revealed a high correlation between Maori ethnicity and the frequency
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of occurrence of the informal question tag eh, used in utterances such as really
neat eh and pretty dumb eh.
More recently Maria Stubbe and Janet Holmes (1995) analysed a range of
pragmatic particles in conversations and interviews involving 53 New
Zealanders from the Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English
(WCSNZE). The results indicated that style and class were particularly signi-
ficant social factors influencing the range and distribution of pragmatic
particles. The overall frequency of pragmatic devices tended to increase as the
formality of speech decreased: just over 50% more of the seven pragmatic
devices analysed occurred in informal conversation than in interview style
(Stubbe and Holmes 1995: 77). And the particles you know and eh were much
more typical of conversational contexts and working class speech, while I think
was more frequent in formal contexts and middle class speech (see also Holmes
1985).
Pragmatic particles attracted early attention in language and gender research
owing to the extensive impact of Robin Lakoff's Language and Women's Place,
which identified items such as you know, sort of and I think as `hedges' and as
instances of `women's language' forms. The flurry of quantificational research
which followed this claim has been well documented, and its methodological
weaknesses have been thoroughly discussed (e.g. Cameron et al. 1989,
Crawford 1995, Graddol and Swann 1989, Holmes 1982, 1984a, 1995,
Preisler 1986). This early research took no account of factors crucial to the
validity of variationist analysis, such as the relevance of the total envelope of
variability in counting forms (see Lavandera 1978, Milroy 1987, Schegloff
1993); and women's and men's behaviour was frequently compared without
controlling for factors such as opportunities to contribute to the discourse. It
was also characterised by variable attention to the influence of social factors
such as the social context in which the data was gathered (e.g. over-general-
ising results from very formal or experimental contexts), or the discourse style
involved (e.g. ignoring the difference between the casual conversation of peers
and transactional interactions).
7
The variable functions of pragmatic devices emerged as another factor
relevant to the analysis of gender differences. Pragmatic particles differ crucially
from phonological variables in that they express inherent social meaning: they
`can be analysed coherently in semantic terms' (Milroy 1992: 173). So, while
simple quantification was appropriate for phonological variants, it often
concealed important meaningful distinctions when applied to pragmatic
devices. Analyses of tag questions, for instance, identified at least four contrast-
ing functions:
II(i) facilitative, inviting participation (e.g. you've just arrived in New Zealand
have you?);
8
I(ii) softening, attenuating a criticism or directive (e.g. that was a bit dumb
wasn't it);
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(iii) epistemic modal, expressing uncertainty or tentativeness (e.g. his plane
arrives at six doesn't it?); and
(iv) challenging, expressing aggression (e.g. well it's obvious i'n'it) (see Cameron
et al. 1989, Holmes 1982, 1986, 1995, Sollitt-Morris, 1997).
Pragmatic particles such as I think and you know can express either tent-
ativeness or conviction, functioning either as hedges or as boosters (Bonnano
1995; Holmes 1985, 1986), a crucial distinction in the light of the claims made
about `feminine' speech in gender research. And pragmatic tags, such as
American OK and New Zealand eh, serve a wide variety of functions in
interaction (Meyerhoff 1992).
The insight that the same forms could serve a range of functions, and in so
doing express very different social meanings, has recently been extended to
studies of other features of women's and men's interaction. Initially studies
simply quantified forms such as minimal responses (mm, yeah) and interrup-
tions, without taking account of their functional complexity (e.g. Fishman
1983, Hirschman 1974, Leet-Pellegrini 1980, Strodtbeck and Mann 1956).
More recent research examines the function of interactional feedback. Analysis
has been extended to a larger and more open-ended set of short utterances,
often together with vocalisations such as laughter (e.g. Reid 1995, Stenstrom
1994). Supportive positive feedback, expressing agreement, has been distin-
guished from neutral or non-committal responses (e.g. Pilkington 1994, Stubbe
forthcoming). The results confirm earlier patterns identifying women's con-
versational contributions as more actively supportive than men's. Analysing
conversations from a sample in the WCSNZE, for instance, Stubbe (forthcoming)
reports: `There is a clear tendency for the men to respond more neutrally and
minimally, while the women's feedback includes a greater proportion of
responses which are both overtly supportive and more extended and contra-
puntal in nature.'
CONSTRUCTING GENDER IDENTITY IN LANGUAGE
Interpreting linguistic forms
The analysis of the function of pragmatic and interactive particles highlights a
number of important points. Firstly, counting forms is demonstrably un-
illuminating if one is interested in the contribution of pragmatic particles to
the construction of a particular gender identity. An aggressive, challenging tag
question is self-evidently dramatically different in its effect from a facilitative,
supportive tag.
Secondly, any analysis must be sensitive to the potential complexity entailed
by the multi-functional nature of linguistic forms (Brown 1980, Holmes 1984a,
Ochs 1992). Particular forms such as tags and high rising terminal intonation
contours not only serve a variety of pragmatic functions, they also express a
range of social meanings, including gender identity. Elinor Ochs characterises
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this as a `constitutive relation between language and gender': hence, forms such
as tag questions `index social meanings (e.g. stances, social acts, social
activities), which in turn help to constitute gender meanings' (1992: 340).
She notes that many features associated with one gender or the other `have as
their core social meaning a particular affective stance' (1992: 341). So, for
example, certain features associated in Japanese with women's speech `convey
an affect of gentle intensity' which is part of the preferred image of Japanese
women and motivates their differential use by women and men. Such features
index `femininity'. Similarly certain linguistic features index particular social
acts: the imperative, for instance in some contexts directly `indexes' ordering,
which in many cultures is associated with speaking like a male or with
`masculinity' (Ochs 1992: 341).
Recent research into the relationship between language and gender has
increasingly adopted a social constructionist framework, and a more qualita-
tive, ethnographic methodology. Language is viewed as the site of the cultural
production of gender identity: subjectivity is discursively constituted (Butler
1990, Weedon 1987). In other words, each person's subjectivity is constructed
and gendered within the social, economic and political discourse to which they
are exposed (Weedon 1987: 21). Using this approach, people operate within
subject positions, positions created and sustained by the use of language.
Speakers are regarded as constantly `doing gender', and the different ways in
which women and men behave are accounted for by the gendered social
contexts in which they operate. This approach examines `what speakers
``mean'' in their situated utterances' (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 1992:
474), and `how gender is constructed in social practice' (1992: 472).
Clearly, identifying the function of forms in context is crucial from a social
constructionist point of view: someone using a facilitative tag, or supportively
overlapping another's speech, or providing positive agreeing verbal feedback, is
doing gender very differently from someone using a challenging tag, disrup-
tively interrupting, and using neutral or non-committal feedback.
Deconstructing social categories
A similar point can be made about social categories: over-simplistic analysis
distorts the complex reality. As mentioned above, social dialect research has
become increasingly sophisticated in its treatment of social class and ethnicity,
recognising, for example, `the complex relation between the categories used in
the socioeconomic classification of speakers and the social practice that under-
lies these categories' (Eckert 1989: 246). But the same level of sophistication
has not been evident in the operationalisation of `sex' as a sociolinguistic
variable. Because it is usually easy to classify people by sex, this biological
category has generally been substituted for the cultural category `gender',
which is the appropriate focus of the sociolinguist's attention.
Reflection on the complexity of the construction of the category of `gender' in
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any community also leads in the direction of ethnographic qualitative research.
Using `gender' rather than `sex' as a basic variable emphasises the fact that a
person's gender is socially constructed from the roles, norms and expectations of
the community in which they participate. Simple binary classification is no
longer possible; gender is a complex continuum which interacts with other
social dimensions such as social status, ethnicity, age and power. A more
satisfactory way of studying the linguistic realisations of gender thus involves
examining the way individuals express or construct their gender identities in
specific interactions in particular social contexts.
Constructing social meaning from linguistic forms
As Ochs notes, certain usages express particular social meanings which become
associated with `feminine' or `masculine' styles. In western culture, those with
power may exercise the right to speak for longer in contexts such as meetings,
they may interrupt others, use joking insults as silencing devices, or alter-
natively they may explicitly require others to contribute (cf Sollitt-Morris 1997).
Because positions of power are in general more often held by men, these
strategies tend to be encoded as `masculine', and when they are used by men in
particular interactions they contribute to the construction of normative
masculinity.
9
By contrast powerless people tend to be tentative and cautious in expressing
their views. As Robin Lakoff (1975, 1990) noted, those who are `out of power'
must be polite; they must avoid rocking the boat. Because, as a group, women
rather than men are more often excluded from power, social meanings such as
`tentative', `conforming to mainstream values', `conservative', `supportive',
`polite' tend in many cultures to be associated with or cluster with
`feminine'. As Eckert says: `Femininity is a culturally defined form of mitigation
or denial of power, whereas masculinity is the affirmation of power' (1989:
257).
In Britain, Milroy (1992: 177) points to evidence that status is another
potentially relevant dimension: there is `a pervasive stereotypical belief that
the speech of high status men is effeminate'. In this case, presumably, `out-of-
power' drops from the cluster. Eckert (1989) makes the same point in the
context of a more extensive discussion of the relationship between power and
gender. She notes that women's and men's speech diverges most among the
working classes, `where power is the scarcest . . . where women's access to
power is the greatest threat to men' (1989: 256). But, while working class
men eschew feminine behaviour of any kind, features of feminine behaviour
`appear increasingly in male style as one moves up the socioeconomic
hierarchy, until in the upper class, what is called effeminacy may be seen
as the conscientious rejection of physical power by those who exercise real
global power . . . by appropriating the physical power of others' (1989:
257).
10
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A social constructionist approach explores how people use linguistic forms
associated with particular social groups, such as women and men, and
linguistic devices and strategies associated with or symbolising particular
social dimensions or stereotypes, such as feminine or masculine behaviours
gendered behaviour patterns in particular interactions. Using a more
ethnographic qualitative method of analysis, this approach explores how
people use language to create, construct and reinforce particular social
identities. It examines how women and men `negotiate the norms, behaviours,
discourses, that define masculinity and femininity for a particular community at
a particular point in history' (Cameron 1995: 43).
DOING GENDER IDENTITY
In this final section, I use two conversational excerpts to illustrate the ways in
which people construct gendered identities in everyday conversational inter-
action. Both examples involve a narrative. Telling a story is one means of
presenting oneself (and others) as appropriately feminine or masculine in terms
of current societal ideology. There is a great deal of research on the use of
narrative in the presentation of self both from a psychological perspective (e.g.
Bruner 1987, 1990, 1991, Linde 1993) and from a more socio-cultural point of
view (e.g. Bruner 1990, Chafe 1994). Following a very valuable review of the
characteristics of different approaches, Deborah Schiffrin succinctly sum-
marises:
The form of our stories (their textual structure), the content of our stories (what we tell
about), and our story-telling behaviour (how we tell our stories) are all sensitive
indices not just of our personal selves, but also of our social and cultural identities.
(1996: 170)
In her own very detailed and illuminating analysis of the contents, linguistic
structures and pragmatic meanings expressed in two stories told by women in
an interview, Schiffrin demonstrates how the particular stories `display their
teller's sense of who they are' (1996: 191). Given the scope of what is being
attempted in this paper, the analysis below is necessarily selective and less
detailed, but it has a similar aim.
An analysis of 96 naturally occurring stories from the WCSNZE showed that
stories were often used by conversationalists to construct or reinforce a
particular kind of gendered identity for the narrator. In this New Zealand
corpus, the gender identity constructed was typically a rather `conservative' one
(i.e. an identity conforming to the society's beliefs about the way women and
men should behave), confirming Chris Weedon's point that there is over-
whelming societal pressure to accept particular gendered constructions:
As children we learn what girls and boys should be and, later, women and men. These
subject positions ways of being an individual and the values inherent in them may
not all be compatible and we will learn that we can choose between them. As women
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we have a range of possibilities. In theory almost every walk of life is open to us, but all
the possibilities which we share with men involve accepting, negotiating or rejecting
what is constantly being offered to us as our primary role that of wife and mother.
(1987: 3)
The fact that individuals are continually defining and redefining themselves in
interaction offers possibilities for change and development, but there is
undoubted pressure to accept the conservative or current societally accepted
definition of normal and appropriate behaviour, the norm to which people must
relate. In the interactions analysed below, the protagonists predominantly
present themselves as conforming to society's definitions of appropriate mascu-
line and feminine behaviour for individuals involved in the social roles being
described or enacted. Both excerpts, then, construct rather conservative
gendered identities; the first, Helen's story, portrays her, however, as not just
accepting but even embracing the primary role of wife and mother to which
Weedon refers.
Doing female identity
Excerpt 1 occurs in a conversation between two close friends, Helen and Joan,
both middle-aged Pakeha
11
women pursuing well-paid professional careers.
Helen's story, `We tried to go to the pool today', is embedded within a long,
complex response to a question from Joan about the state of health of Helen's
father, Jason. The specific story which is the focus of this discussion is an
account of Helen's attempt to take herself and her children to the swimming
pool (Excerpt 1).
Excerpt 1: `We tried to go to the pool today'
H: and so today we wen- we tried to go to the pool today I tri- I wanted to go to aqua
fitness at eleven
J: oh good on you
H: well I wanted to go to aqua fitness at eleven so we gathered up Susie and
everybody and their togs and we tear over there just- get there about three
minutes before the class is supposed to start and the pool is all closed for some
other spe- you know they're not /no\
J: /oh a\
H: aqua- aqua fitness is cancelled some
J: /sport thing\
H. /sporting thing\
J: oh
H: and I th- so I thought oh god I thought you know after we'd s- go- spent half an
hour getting there so then I said let's go to Freyberg so then we get I don't want to
go to- Annie didn't want to go to Freyberg and the other two DID and you know
w- so I said we're going to Freyberg we've got this far
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/so we\ get round to Freyberg it's lane
J: /right\
H: swimming only which is no good for the little kids [tut] so I thought + oh god this
really isn't working out at all and actually it was rather sort of /muggy an hot to
be driving round Wellington with a car full of children\
J: /[laughs] I mean (only car) I know\
H: so then /I said oh well\ we'll go and we'll
J: /you've got to (deal )\
H: go to um the Karori pool what the hell we'll go to the Karori pool
J: mm mm
H: and we'll just swim there wh- well we could have done that in the first place
except that I couldn't have done my class and /the\ w- and it's
J: /no\
H: not quite as w- good as those bigger pools so on the way to the Karori pool we
stopped in and saw Jason and i- and Annie was saying I don't want to go in will
you drop me home and I said why don't you stay with Jason /and\ make
J: /mm\
H: him some lunch
J: mm
H: so we went in and visited him and I said Annie'll stay with you and make you
some lunch and she gets on quite- and she chats away with Jason and they have
quite a nice-
J: /she's very good with\ adults isn't she
H: /yes she is\ she's- well she's good with him too I don't know they sort of get along
/nicely\ and um better
J: /mm\
H: than the other two do really /you know\
J: /mm\
H: she sort of somehow gets it right with him and he seems to make an effort too so
she stayed with him for an hour we went- the other two and I went and swam at
the pool Andrea did SEVEN lengths
J: goodness me
H: with a little breaks in between but she's never swum a length of that pool before
/and she just suddenly discovered\
J: /(that's so good)\
H: she could swim a length [laughs] and got so keen she didn't want to stop she said
I'll just do another one and then /I'll do another one so that\
J: /that's terrific\
H: was (fun so) she looked like a [laughs] s- Liz was there with her friend John and he
said /she\ looked like a goldfish you [laughs]
J: /mm\
H: /know s- (there's) a little head ( )\
J: /[laughs]\ (he'd find out when we-) yeah
H: a- a (rolling) in the water
J: /[laughs] oh\
H: /[laughs]\ and legs sort of sagging in the water o- and breaststroking away
J: /good on her\
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H: /you know\ but she was obviously really sort of getting a kick out of the
achievements
J: /that's so good\
H: /so Annie stayed there\ and made Jason some lunch and then we went back
afterwards so I mean he's sort of all right he's pottering around but he's he's
walking with a stick
Transcription conventions
YES Capitals indicate emphatic stress
[laughs] Paralinguistic features in square brackets
+ Pause of up to one second
(4) Length of longer pause in seconds
. . ./. . .\. . . Simultaneous speech
. . ./. . .\. . .
(hello) Transcriber's best guess at an unclear utterance
? Rising or question intonation
- Incomplete or cut-off utterance
The `pool' story is a classic narrative, recapitulating past experience using a
sequence of temporally ordered clauses to do so (Labov 1972: 359360). Its
structure is in some respects reminiscent of that of a fairy story such as
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: the protagonist makes three attempts to achieve
her goal (taking her children for a swim) and succeeds only on the third
attempt.
A superficial look at this story might leave one wondering what was its
point. The most important `point' is far from explicit: the evaluative compo-
nent is deeply embedded in the context within which the story is told. At one
level, it is simply intended to bring Joan up-to-date on what Helen has been
doing: it is a story about a visit to the swimming pool with her children. At
another level it is one component in a complex answer to Joan's enquiry about
Jason's health. At yet another level (the level on which I am focusing), the
story constructs Helen's identity as a `good' daughter and a `good' mother.
Both these identities are very important to her. Of three daughters, she is the
only one who lives near her father; and she is a solo parent. Though in many
respects her life does not conform to the rather conservative norms of New
Zealand society, in these two areas, she clearly strives to do so. She takes her
roles as `daughter' and `mother' very seriously, and likes others to recognise
and appreciate the extent to which she meets society's prescriptions in these
areas. This message is conveyed in the `pool' story, but it is not always
conveyed explicitly. I will give just a few examples (a fuller analysis is provided
in Holmes forthcoming). Helen first presents herself as a good mother,
concerned for her children's comfort and well-being. This is most obvious in
the following three utterances:
so we gathered up Susie and everybody and their togs . . .
it's lane swimming only which is no good for the little kids . . .
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and actually it was rather sort of muggy and hot to be driving round Wellington with a
car full of children . . .
While the message is easily inferred from the latter two utterances, it is not quite
so clear from the first. In fact, this utterance indicates Helen's willingness to take
an extra child Susie on this outing, thus providing a playmate for her youngest
child, Andrea, another indication of her thoughtful mothering.
Helen also constructs her identity as a good daughter. Here the most
obviously relevant sections of the story are:
so on the way to the Karori pool we stopped in and saw Jason . . .
and I said why don't you stay with Jason and make him some lunch
so we went in and visited him
and I said Annie'll stay with you and make you some lunch
and she gets on quite- and she chats away with Jason . . .
so she stayed with him for an hour . . .
so Annie stayed there and made Jason some lunch
and then we went back afterwards . . .
These utterances represent Helen as looking after her father's needs: he is
provided with the companionship of his grand-daughter, with whom we are
told he gets on well, and also with his lunch. And, incidentally, we see here the
ways in which young girls are socialised and taught that their proper role is to
look after men.
More subtly, Helen constructs her identity as good mother and daughter in
the account she provides of the way she `manages' Annie, and in the analysis
she presents of Annie's relationship with Jason. Annie is a somewhat difficult
teenager, as Joan knows, and as indicated earlier in this story by her reluctance
to cooperate with Helen's attempts to rescue their outing:
so then we get `I don't want to go to' Annie didn't want to go to Freyberg . . .
And later:
and Annie was saying `I don't want to go in will you drop me home'
Helen presents herself skilfully persuading her daughter to look after her grand-
father's needs, and, at the same time, she constructs a much more positive
identity both for her difficult daughter and for her rather grouchy father:
and she gets on quite- and she chats away with Jason
and they have quite a nice
. . . well she's good with him too
I don't know they sort of get along nicely
and um better than the other two do really you know
she sort of somehow gets it right with him
and he seems to make an effort too
Similarly, Helen constructs the identity of her youngest daughter Andrea as a
small, sweet, endearing little girl by her use of a range of linguistic devices,
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including the effective use of diminutives and attenuators such as quite (sweet),
just and little, the pragmatic particles sort of and you know, the adverb particle
away in the phrase breast-stroking away, and the repetition of phrases and
syntactic patterns (I'll just do another one and then I'll do another one). These
components all contribute to Helen's affectionate picture of her little girl
swimming gamely away, as does the paralinguistic laughter, and the attribution
to an observer of a comment that emphasises how sweet and amusing Andrea's
behaviour is.
Though there are hints of an alternative discourse which on other occasions
Helen may choose to voice more extensively and explicitly (see Holmes forth-
coming), and some evidence of the relative nature of the individual's identity, of
reflexivity and slippage (Weedon 1987: 106), overall, this particular narrative
resolves into Helen's construction of herself as a normatively good mother and
daughter, reinforced by the construction of conservative gender identities for
her two daughters.
The expression of gender identity in this text is most obviously illustrated,
then, by the kind of qualitative analysis of the discourse I have undertaken. But
Helen's gender is also expressed through her use of phonological variants which
are more frequent in New Zealand women's speech than men's. So, to give just
two examples, Helen consistently uses the standard variant of (ING) throughout
this excerpt (e.g. sporting, going, working, driving, etc.), and she uses a con-
servative aspirated variant of intervocalic /t/ at a level of 53% in the selected
extract, almost exactly the (50%) level typical for middle-aged middle class New
Zealand women as described in Holmes (1994). Moreover, her use of pragmatic
particles and attenuators such as you know, sort of, quite, and just also
contributes to the construction of a somewhat conservative, feminine gendered
identity. I will return to this point in the conclusion.
Finally, it is worth emphasising that gender identity is constantly being
constructed and people may reinforce norms at one point, but challenge and
contest them at others. In this excerpt, in this particular context, on this
particular occasion, Helen constructs a predominantly conservative identity. In
other contexts with different participants, using features such as more
vernacular variants, imperatives and bald disagreements, the identity she
constructs is very different. Manipulating linguistic variants to emphasise
different aspects of a gendered identity is a continuous process.
12
Doing male identity
Men too construct their gender identity through their discourse. In some
contexts this will be a predominantly conservative or normative masculine
identity; in others, men behave in ways more usually framed as `feminine'. The
men's stories I have analysed in the WCSNZE often reflect a concern with status,
and with giving an impression of worldly wisdom. In men's stories, `doing
gender' tends to involve presenting themselves as in control, knowledgeable,
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skilled and competent (see Holmes forthcoming). The excerpt I have selected for
discussion illustrates these themes in this case in the construction of different
aspects of New Zealand male identity. Excerpt 2 consists of a conversation
between two Maori young men, possibly cousins, walking along a New Zealand
country road after a rugby match.
This excerpt is a New Zealand television advertisement for a bank. At the
time, the bank used a slogan which emphasised the importance of teamwork,
and the advert achieves its effect by focussing on one very significant context in
New Zealand culture where teamwork is crucial. The bank's name is never
mentioned in the dialogue; it appears on screen briefly just before the end of the
advert. The advert is unusual, then, in that it consists entirely of a dialogue;
there is no explicit commentary.
13
I will return to the dialogue's function as an
advert after discussing the gendered identities this dialogue constructs for New
Zealand males.
Excerpt 2: `You can't do much without a great team'
J: [drawls] wow days this good don't come around too often eh bro? did you see me
did you see me feed quickly out to the wing and back inside to the second five and
[drawls] oh into the hands of Joey Wano and he's through and he scores a try
saves Saint Stephen's takes the cup right in the last minute of play YES
++
G: did a- winger did a nice shot
J: who? Shorty Goldsmith? yeah he's an awesome winger old Shorty eh
G: and that second five that put you through the gap + that was pretty smart
J: yeah it was eh
G: could've had a go himself I reckon
J: yeah no he's smart Jimmy good player good player
(4)
G: you've got a new coach this season too haven't you
J: yeah
G: he taught you that move too didn't he
J: what move?
G: the move that scored you the try
J: oh yeah a while back + suppose he did yeah
(5)
G: awesome game Joey
(4)
J: awesome team George
++
G: you can't do much without a great team Joe(y)
(5)
J: George thanks bro
++
G: don't mention it bro
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It is important to bear in mind that the excerpt is not a `natural' dialogue, but
a carefully crafted interchange produced by an advertising company (Saatchi
and Saatchi). Consequently it must be treated with some caution, and
recognised as providing information on stereotypical rather than representative
speech features. It is equally important to bear in mind that adverts often
operate within a mythological social domain, drawing on stereotypical rather
than realistically representative societal values, attitudes and beliefs. Having
recognised these constraints, however, adverts can be usefully regarded as
informative cultural reflexes, and a sociolinguistic analysis can provide illumi-
nating insights into the ways in which a society constructs stereotypical gender
identities and reinforces normative models of femininity and masculinity.
14
The excerpt begins with a narrative in which Joey re-creates his moment of
glory. It then develops into an exchange between the young men in which
George, the older of the two, relentlessly challenges Joey's construction of `the
way it was' by systematically identifying the contributions of other team
members to the winning try. Joey initially cheerfully acknowledges the skills
of the others, until he begins to see where things are leading, and his defensive
what move indicates some resistance. But it is just a final wriggle before he
capitulates. Finally, harmony is restored as Joey indicates he has taken the
point: success results from the co-ordinated efforts of a good team.
There are many points which could be made about this dialogue as a
convincingly constructed piece of discourse. The syntax and lexis are char-
acteristic of colloquial New Zealand English, while the phonology is typical of
East Coast Maori English, as are some of the discourse features. The unrounded
and centralised pronunciation of the GOAT diphthong in coach, go and suppose,
for example, is a stereotypical feature of Maori English. The use of bro, short for
brother but meaning `friend' or `mate', is regularly heard more often in the
speech of young Maori than Pakeha. And the dialogue makes effective use of the
pragmatic tag eh, which functions as an ethnic identity marker in Maori
people's interaction, and which is associated particularly with the speech of
young Maori men (Meyerhoff 1994). In other words, this dialogue is skilfully
constructed to evoke the speech style of young Maori men.
During this brief exchange, the two young men construct several different
gendered identities, including at least two contrasting stereotypically masculine
identities, and one much more `feminine' identity associated with powerlessness
and politeness. The dialogue begins with a story, a skite (boast), in which Joey
literally constructs himself as a rugby hero, the man of the match. The present
tense expresses his enthusiasm and gives the story immediacy, but also
accurately incorporates a feature of another discourse, that of rugby commen-
tary. The distinctive prosody and syntax of sports commentary which have been
described by Koenraad Kuiper (1996) add another dimension to Joey's skite.
The use of another voice enriches the story (see Lee 1992; Ochs 1992: 338;
Sheldon 1992) and contributes to the effect Joey is wanting to create an
impression that he is recognised by thousands of viewers as the hero of the
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match, and that the magnificence of his triumphant try with all its positive
outcomes saving the honour of the school, winning the cup is appreciated.
Thus this opening story expresses a brash, overtly self-confident, belligerent
young male identity, an identity observable in young teenage boys in many
cultures, where brashness is often a disguise for the insecurity of the young man
on the edge of adulthood (compare the young Black adolescent males described
in Abrahams 1974 and Labov 1972).
Joey's enthusiasm and high spirits are also reflected in the repetition, e.g. did
you see me? did you see me? Repetition expresses emphasis and intensifies
illocutionary force (Holmes 1984b). It is a means of indicating enthusiasm,
support, and agreement, and is often used by young men where other groups
might use an intensifier, e.g. good player good player vs he's a really good player.
Once again, too, there are resonances of another discourse, since repetition is a
very `Maori' discourse strategy, typical of Maori oratory where it is extensively
used for intensifying and emphatic effects.
15
A related device, in terms of its effect, is the post-posing of the subject through
right-dislocation, e.g. he's an awesome winger old Shorty; he's smart Jimmy. This
too serves an emphatic function, suggesting Joey is giving credit where it is due,
while also identifying the player by name for George's benefit. As the dialogue
progresses, this over-confident brash young male identity is steadily deflated,
though, as mentioned, it reasserts itself briefly in the somewhat belligerent
challenge what move? as Joey attempts to evade the point George is making.
By contrast, George represents the `cool', hard-headed, taciturn male found in
so many New Zealand novels (James and Saville-Smith 1989; Phillips 1980,
1996). His task is to knock Joey into shape and teach him how to behave in an
appropriately masculine way and also in this case in a culturally appropriate
way. The requirements of two rather different social identities happen to
coalesce here: the macho, silent, undemonstrative and inexpressive Pakeha
male who keeps his emotions under firm control for fear of embarrassing his
mates, and the requirements of Maori culture that individuals act in a self-
abnegating way, recognising that their contributions should always be seen in
the context of the group, avoid seeking personal glory, and so on.
16
One of Joan
Metge's Maori interviewees reports that his father `would come and watch me
play rugby but he never got excited on the sideline or yelled things like ``Well
played!'' Afterwards if I had played well, he would say that the team played well
he would never identify my performance' (Metge 1995: 166). Metge
comments that Maori disapprove of `pride which focuses on the self separate
from the group' (1995: 103). Those who boast `are quickly cut down to size by
other whanau [`extended family'] members, for they threaten whanau har-
mony and reflect badly on the group' (1995: 103).
This self-confident, authoritative, laconic male identity is expressed through a
variety of discourse devices. George's utterances are brief. He uses challenging
tags forcing Joey to re-evaluate his role in the match:
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you've got a new coach this season too haven't you
he taught you that move too didn't he
Even the less forceful I reckon in the utterance could've had a go himself I reckon
adds weight,
17
because of the status of expert rugby critic which Joey clearly
accords George (as evidenced in his opening appeal and his acceptance of
George's comments throughout). Many of his utterances include a positive
evaluation a nice shot, pretty smart, awesome game, but it is expressed in a
syntactically minimal form compared to Joey's comments.
18
And overall his
main message is a critical one.
The discourse features of the two male identities neatly contrast throughout
the central section of the dialogue, and then become unified in the final section.
So Joey's contributions become progressively shorter, more controlled and
damped down as the interaction progresses, more like those of George, in
fact, until finally they precisely echo each other:
awesome game Joey
awesome team George
And just as Joey's talk moves steadily down the emotional scale, from excited
self-congratulation to restrained gratitude, George's contributions move from
challenging but indirectly expressed criticism to explicit, though restrained,
approval.
At least one other rather different identity gets voiced throughout this
exchange. It is an identity associated with lack of confidence and a need for
re-assurance, features typical of the powerless, and stereotypically associated
with feminine rather than masculine identity. It is sporadically evident even in
the opening skite, for instance, in the use of the appealing tag eh and address
form bro. Here the insecurity of the adolescent young man feeling his way
towards adulthood surfaces briefly through the alternative disguise of over-
enthusiastic brashness. Subsequently Joey responds to George's challenges in
ways which are more typical of women's style than men's. He uses pragmatic
devices which appeal to his listener and emphasise affiliation: questions, tags,
hedges, agreement, and repetition are all used to appeal to George and
attempt to elicit approval. During the central section of the exchange, then,
Joey is constructing an identity associated with powerlessness, a `feminine'
identity. He is responsive rather than aggressive, and appealing rather than
assertive.
Interestingly, it has been suggested that such features are also more common
in Maori discourse. David Britain (1992) proposes that positive politeness
markers (such as the high rising terminal contour and the tag eh) which
indicate a wish for cooperation and agreement may have a special appeal to
Maori because they serve an important affective interpersonal function.
Certainly, Polynesian cultures place great emphasis on the creation of involve-
ment and rapport in informal discourse (Besnier 1989).
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It is also worth noting that while George's brevity and challenging approach
are characteristics common to both Pakeha and Maori male stereotypes, his
overall method of dealing with Joey is distinctively Maori. With five brief
comments on the game, which neatly, unostentatiously, and with great
accuracy identify the contributions of others to Joey's success, George steadily
deflates Joey's bubble. The message is not explicit he leaves Joey to draw the
obvious conclusion. Joey's what move challenges the inexplicitness (possibly
symbolically challenging the underlying message which is increasingly difficult
to avoid). George is forced to be explicit about the move he is referring to, but he
nowhere spells out the message. A Pakeha approach would typically be much
more explicit, with overtly critical comments, possibly accompanied by jeering,
swearing and verbal abuse.
Finally, a brief comment on the function of this dialogue as an advertisement.
Advertisements are typically `heteroglossic' in Mikhail Bakhtin's (1981) terms:
`the commercial is the meeting place of many different ways of speaking, many
discourses' (Lee 1992: 171). We hear the language of rugby commentary, of
Maori identity, and of New Zealand nationalism; we hear the voice of the brash
young adolescent male and the wiser older cousin, the language of humour,
teasing, and humility. The excerpt presents a model of positive New Zealand
identity and it is a very male identity. The equation of rugby and masculinity
with New Zealand identity is widely asserted and accepted, though obviously
not unquestioned (James and Saville-Smith 1989: 51, Kuiper 1991). The advert
appeals to cherished New Zealand values such as male `mateship', team spirit,
and the paramount status of rugby, the national sport (Phillips 1996). More
subtly, it uses a very effective Maori method of indirect teaching and learning to
convey its message (Metge 1995). Hence the bank is firmly associated with
highly valued New Zealand myths and icons. It uses humour (the young skiter
is properly but in a kindly way put in his place by his older cousin) and under-
statement, attractive elements of any communication in New Zealand where
many (especially men) get embarrassed when personal issues are made too
explicit or emotions too openly displayed. The message that `you can't do much
without a good team' is conveyed indirectly, but it is unmistakable, and the
audience, like Joey, is given plenty of time (via George's pauses) to take the
point.
The advertisers have unerringly identified a number of crucial components in
New Zealand identity, and especially New Zealand male identity, in constructing
this vignette. The process of knocking young men into shape also known as
socialisation that is portrayed in this advert is a very significant component in
the construction of New Zealand male identity. The dialogue presents in a
microcosm the on-going process of gender construction, as Joey and George do
their rather different New Zealand male identities, and as Joey is guided towards
more acceptable behaviour, in terms both of his gender identity and also his
cultural identity.
The two excerpts analysed have illustrated rather conservative New Zealand
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gender identities identities which conform to societal norms and expectations
about appropriately masculine and feminine behaviour. Though there is
evidence of change in some social groups, it must be recognised that the on-
going processes of gender identity construction overwhelmingly work to favour
the kinds of identities illustrated in this section. Though seeds of change can be
discerned as women enact power more overtly, and men refuse to suppress the
expression of their feelings, it is useful to recognise that the majority of
interactions tend to re-create traditional gender identities and express the
pervasive, though not universally accepted, New Zealand values exemplified
in these excerpts.
CONCLUSION
In every interaction, we make linguistic choices which express a range of
meanings. Social dialect research has indicated the ways in which women and
men signal their gender by their phonological and morphological choices.
Women and men differ in the relative frequency with which they use particular
linguistic variants, and in some communities, they also differ in the range of
styles which they control, a pattern that reflects the differing demands of
gendered social roles. Research on pragmatic devices and interactional dis-
course strategies has also demonstrated that choices among these can be used to
express particular speech functions or social meanings, such as `tentativeness'
or `aggression', support or lack of interest, meanings which have become
`gendered' as `masculine' or `feminine' through habitual association with
particular social groups. They become the locus of `purely symbolic sex role
differentiation in society', of masculine and feminine norms or dimensions
(Milroy 1992: 175).
Beatriz Lavandera (1982, cited in Milroy 1992: 175) uses the term `social
significance' to refer to the patterns identified in social dialect research, and the
term `social meaning' for those described by discourse analysts. Items such as
sounds, which are inherently meaningless, derive social significance from their
distributional patterns. Social significance is acquired by the pattern of an item's
use, its association with a particular social group. So a particular phonological
variant may have the social significance of `female' or `youthful' because it
tends to be used most often by these social groups. By contrast, items such as tag
questions and pragmatic particles express inherent social meanings such as
assertiveness, facilitation, rapport, tentativeness, and so on.
It seems to me, however, that when items with intrinsic meaning are
involved, the two concepts inter-relate. Forms which express social meaning
may acquire social significance on the basis of their distribution. So, as
illustrated above, particular particles are often favoured by particular social
groups (Stubbe and Holmes 1995). And, conversely, forms which acquire social
significance by association with particular social groups, may also express
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particular social meanings, as demonstrated by Meyerhoff's (1992, 1994)
analysis of the range of functions or social meanings associated with the
pragmatic tag eh, an item which characterises Maori speech, as discussed
above. In such cases, there is an obvious link between the social meaning
and the social significance of an item. The tag eh functions primarily as a
positive politeness device, inviting involvement, expressing solidarity and
rapport, values which rate highly in Maori culture. Similarly Britain's (1992)
analysis of the high rising terminal intonation contour identified its interactive,
positive politeness function as an important aspect of its social meaning,
accounting for its social significance as a marker of Maori and female speech.
The particular social meaning of such discourse features in the contexts being
analysed is relatively transparent: the pragmatic effect of a question tag or rising
intonation contour as an interactive positive politeness device is readily
comprehensible.
It has been suggested, however, that even where the link is not so obvious, it
may become established. Firstly, inherently meaningless sounds develop social
significance by association with the usage of particular groups (Eckert and
McConnell-Ginet 1995: 503; Milroy 1992: 176). Then, because particular
social meanings are associated with those groups, the purely linguistic variants
may also take on that symbolic association. So items expressing support and
rapport are often associated with femininity. Equally, through more frequent
use in the speech of women compared to men, particular sounds may become
associated with the expression of femininity.
Hence the distinction between social significance and social meaning may
blur in the context of the on-going construction of social identity in face-to-face
interaction as illustrated in the final section of this paper. A particular instance
of Helen's use of aspirated /t/ or the standard variant of (ING) can signal
`conservative feminine identity' in this context just as clearly as her choice of
lexical items such as sweet, dear and little in relation to her daughter. In other
words, the analysis demonstrates an association between the use of particular
sounds and the expression of particular social meanings. As a result of the
consistent association of various components, Penelope Eckert and Sally
McConnell-Ginet (1995: 505) similarly suggest that the choice of a particular
linguistic variant (a diphthong) in their analysis of the speech of two contrasting
adolescent American peer groups, `jocks' and `burn-outs', `takes on meaning
perhaps not in isolation, but at least as a component of a broader style' (1995:
503). In some contexts, then, speakers are simultaneously creating meaning for
a phonetic variant and for a social identity, and `the use of phonetic variation
and the construction of identities are inseparable' (1995: 503). In such cases
the phonological analysis typical of social dialect research provides information
about `how people are actively constructing their own social identities and
relations' (Eckert and McConnell-Genet 1995: 503). Analyses of this kind
strikingly demonstrate the mutually complementary nature of quantitative
and qualitative analysis (see Holmes 1996 for further discussion).
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The final section of this paper provided two examples of gender construction
in interaction. Talking to a `straight', somewhat judgmental friend, Helen
focussed on a conservative aspect of her gender identity her role as a good
mother and daughter. Many different levels of her discourse contributed as she
constructed this gender identity: phonological choices, lexical selections and her
use of pragmatic devices, as well as the topic and structure of the narrative she
chose to recount. The second example illustrated similar processes in a dialogue
constructed to associate a particular product with positive New Zealand values.
The choice of male protagonists is no accident in this context, and the analysis
demonstrated that their discourse was characterised by a range of devices
through which they constructed a complex set of competing gender identities
for different purposes, including two contrasting masculine identities and a
more feminine one.
In conclusion, then, recent research in language and gender clearly indicates
the importance of focussing not on biological sex, nor even on the culturally
constructed category of gender, but rather on the diverse realisations of the
dynamic dimensions of masculinity and femininity. This paper has attempted to
integrate insights from a dynamic constructionist approach with a more
traditional variationist approach to the expression of gender identity, a
direction advocated in Schiffrin's recent paper (1996: 199200).
19
The analysis
has illustrated some of the ways in which individuals draw on established
norms to encode particular aspects of their identity in particular interactions.
As Schiffrin says, identities are situated both globally and locally, and in any
interaction we are `continually locating and relocating ourselves, defining and
redefining ourselves and our worlds' (1996: 200). Both quantitative survey
research and qualitative discourse analysis can contribute in exploring the
ways this is achieved, the ways in which gender identity and gender relations
are constructed in interaction. For it is the interactive, continuously changing
ways that people use language to construct their gender identity and relations
which provide most insight into the way gender functions in particular
communities.
NOTES
11. This paper was presented as a plenary session at Sociolinguistics Symposium 11 held
at the University of Wales, Cardiff in September 1996. I would like to express
appreciation to the Centre for Language and Communication Research, University of
Wales, Cardiff, where I was provided with space and peace to revise it. I am also
grateful to Miriam Meyerhoff, two anonymous reviewers, and the editors, Nik
Coupland and Allan Bell, for valuable comments on this paper, and to Laurie
Bauer for confirming my phonetic analyses. The research was made possible by a
grant from the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.
2. I recognise that generalisations which treat women and men as an undifferentiated
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group often conceal a great deal of within-group diversity. Indeed, I am aware of this
problem at first hand from analyses I have undertaken. Nevertheless, I think there is
a place for generalisations, and that provided they are treated with caution they can
be very illuminating and stimulate further useful research (see Holmes 1993 for
further discussion of this issue).
3. The sample was constructed to permit a class difference only for women; working
class women used 25% vernacular variants vs 15% among middle class women.
There was no difference at all in the level of use of the vernacular variant by Maori
and Pakeha (New Zealanders of European origin): 34% for both groups. Other
variables patterned differently, however, and ethnicity proved more significant than
gender for several variables.
4. The Wellington Social Dialect Survey suggested a number of caveats and qualifica-
tions that might need to be made to such a generalisation. Patterns varied according
to whether a variable was a stable one, or was involved in linguistic change, for
example. Another relevant factor accounting for the extent of style shift was the
extent to which people relaxed during the interview. See Holmes (1993) for further
discussion. See also footnote 5.
5. In communities where the different role demands on men are more extensive than
on women, men's stylistic range will presumably be correspondingly wider. Further
research is needed to explore this point.
6. It is also worth noting that second generation women from minority ethnic groups
are more often bilingual than their men, further evidence of their stylistic flexibility
and tendency to develop a wider linguistic repertoire than their menfolk. Minority
women see the value of maintaining the ethnic language, which is so important in
terms of family relationships and ethnic identity, as well as learning English which
has obvious instrumental value. The material discussed in Holmes (1993) suggests
that women value highly the important role the community language plays in
maintaining community relationships, including those between grandparents and
children, as well as its unique role in expressing their ethnic identity. Women's
networks tend to encourage more extensive use of the ethnic language in regular
social interactions than men's do, and women place particularly high value on the
distinctive social and affective functions expressed by the ethnic language compared
to English.
17. In addition to my own research, there are now a number of other studies which
carefully attempt to control such factors: e.g. Bonnano (1995), Cameron et al.
(1989), Preisler (1986).
18. The context is crucial for accurate interpretation, but for space reasons I have here
left contextual detail to be supplied from the reader's experience (or see Holmes
1986, 1995).
19. When they are used by women, the `same' strategies are often evaluated quite
differently (Crawford 1995, Holmes 1984).
10. See also Moonwomon (1989) for further discussion of this point.
11. Pakeha is a Maori word which is widely used to refer to New Zealanders of European
(mainly British) descent.
12. Meyerhoff (1996b), for instance, discusses evidence from Jabeur (1987, cited in
Milroy 1992) and Trabelsi (1991) that in any particular communicative event, a
Tunisian woman selects from a range of potential female identities educated
woman, traditional woman, local Tunisian woman and she may well manipulate
linguistic variants from different languages (Tunisian Arabic and French) to
emphasise different identities at different points.
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13. Using Sussex's (1989) model to analyse Swiss TV commercials, Lee (1992: 171)
reports that 91 percent included explicit commentary or `comment' statements. The
comment presents a `commercial-evaluative statement about the product and its
relevance to the audience' (Sussex 1989: 164).
14. I owe this useful point to the editors of this Journal.
15. Reduplication is also a morphological strategy used in Maori (as in other Polynesian
languages) for expressing intensification.
16. Miriam Meyerhoff (personal communication) points out that one could also add into
the Pakeha side of the equation the pervasive and powerful New Zealand `Tall
Poppy' syndrome which discourages any New Zealander from attempting to rise
above the average by threatening to cut them down to size.
17. This is the equivalent of the deliberative function of I think discussed in Holmes
(1985).
18. A feature of male compliments. See Holmes (1988).
19. My paper was completed before I read Deborah Schiffrin's (1996) detailed and
illuminating analysis of `how narrative language reveals self and identity' (191).
Though the scope of the analysis and the kind of material analysed are very
different, the similarities in our conclusions are striking.
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Address correspondence to:
Janet Holmes
Department of Linguistics
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington
New Zealand
janet.holmes@vuw.ac.nz
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