Robin Lakoff`s most famous work was the subject of women’s language where she

believed women’s speech can be distinguished in certain features. The main area of interest

that Lakoff was most famous for are her theories on gender discrimination through language.

Lakoff argued that language is fundamental to gender inequality and it could contribute to the

lack of women’s power. She claimed that there were certain features of women’s language

that gave the impression women are weaker and less certain than men are. Some linguists

argue that the differences between genders, as well as these features of women`s speech are

universal, inherent and even biologically determined. So, the question is whether these gender

and speech features exist in today`s English or not.

These are Robin Lakoff`s speech features identified as “Women`s language”:

1. Hedging- uncertainty and lack of authority e.g. sort of, kind of

In today`s English men use hedge phrases as well as women.

2. Super polite forms – ‘If you don’t mine please may you..’

3. Apologies- ‘I’m sorry, but I think that… ’

In today`s society these features depend on the relationship between the people that

talk with each other and on the situation. If it`s a close relationship (for example, the

relationship between two friends) and an informal situation there is no need of using

super polite forms. On the other hand, if the situation is formal or the relationship

between the two people isn`t a close one super polite forms might be used. But that`s

not dependent on gender. Besides that, the factor of social status and power is also

very important here. For example, if we have a conversation between an employer and

an employee, the employee is more likely to use super polite forms or to apologize,

because he has less power than the employer and has probably a lower social status.
3. Hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation- e.g. women avoid ‘ain’t’ or double

negatives

In today`s English this is more a matter of education. Educated people, regardless of

the fact whether they are men or women, will use more hypercorrect grammar and

pronunciation than uneducated people. There are also some regions in the English-

speaking area where these forms like ain`t or double negatives are used more than in

others. So this feature can also depend on the region where the speaking person lives.

4. Tag questions – show that women want approval from their utterances e.g. ‘I’m

coming with you, all right?’

Tag questions are connected with the desire for confirmation of information of which

the speaker is uncertain. But at the same time they can be a sign of a lack of

self-confidence in the speaker. It stayed the way even in today`s English. Women still

use more tag questions than men. Sometimes they do it to be polite, e.g. Open the door

for me, could you?

5. Speaking in italics – women use exaggerated intonation or stress for emphasis,

e.g. ‘I am very frustrated with you’

That`s something that didn`t change. Women still speak more in italics, but that

doesn`t mean that men don`t do it at all.

6. Empty adjectives approval (men very rarely use empty adjectives in today`s society)

If a man uses these terms he appears more feminine as it damages his masculine

prestige e.g. ‘divine, lovely, adorable, delightful and sweetie’

 And that`s the same with:

7. Special lexicon- Lakoff states that such words are trivial and evidence of the fact that

women have been allowed control over unimportant things e.g. purple of blue women

would say violet

8. Use of implication- Lakoff claimed women use this because they do not feel the

authority to give orders e.g. ‘it’s cold in here, isn’t it’ instead of ‘shut the window’

or I`m so thirsty instead of asking for a drink.

Nowadays women still do this more than men out of different reasons, e.g. to be more

polite.

9. Question intonations in declarative statements- women raise the pitch of their voice at

the end of statements expressing uncertainty e.g. ‘Dinner’s in half an hour?’

This isn`t exclusively a feature of women`s language in contemporary English. Men

also do this when they want to confirm something.

10. Sense of humour lacking- Lakoff argued that women don’t joke as much or
understand

jokes. I don`t think that this is something that has to do with gender, it`s something

that depends on the character of a person.

I think that Lakoff’s theory can`t argue that women use certain features in language, in

society today people are from different places, different ages and are in different situations,

therefore speak in a dissimilar way. I agree that speech features can be a reflection of social

status and that language can contribute to lack of power and status in society even today, but

I don`t think that all gender and speech features by Robin Lakoff can be applied to today`s

English.
 University of Mostar
Faculty of philosophy
Department of English

Robin Lakoff`s gender and speech features

in today`s English

Ružica Palac
Mostar, February 2010