Gender And Language And Sociolinguistics

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Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics which studies the relationship between language use and social behavior, or the study of language in human society. Sociolinguistics studies how societies are shaped and influenced by language. Language is a method of human communication, whether spoken or written, that relates language and communication to sociolinguistics. Gender and language itself is an area of study within sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and related fields that investigate varieties of speech associated with a particular gender, or social norms for such gendered language use. Gender is the range of characteristics used to distinguish between male and female, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them.
Communication between the sexes is the most striking difference between women and men. Linguists have documented the way men and women’s communication styles differ over the recent years not only to determine which is best, but for the purpose of understanding and adapting. With recognizing the differences, men and women can improve with communication with the opposite sex. The general gender communications difference affects all men and women in every context.
Genderlect is defined as the language of the sexes. Genderlect is “a variety of a language that is tied not only to geography or to family background, but to the speaker’s sexual gender” (cite). With language and communication being considered a learned behavior, gender communication differences emerge at an early age. Deborah Tanen says in her book that “even if they grow up in the same neighborhood, or same block, or in the same house, girls and boys grow up in different worlds or words” (cit...

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... shoulder. Women avoid conflict to insure closeness while men use conflict to gain status.
Women and men’s context, style, and structure of communication also differ. Women discuss emotions, and express to understand and support. Men talk about sports, money, and express themselves to fix a problem, converse for competition, and use precise words and get to the point while conversing.
Women and men communicate differently depending on whom it is they are communicating with but there are a few improvements that can be made to help women and men communicate better and to better understand each other. Becoming aware and understanding your own communication style, while understanding the communication style of the opposite sex, is the first step toward an effective conversation. Adjusting to conversational styles and altering your conversation style to fit context.

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