Girl Talk
The most obvious way to tell whether a speaker is a man or a woman is to rely on pitch — a low-pitched speaker is usually a man, and a high-pitched speaker a woman.
But there are other, more subtle linguistic differences. In certain languages, such as Japanese and Thai, there are structural choices built into their systems of speaking that allow phonology, grammar, and vocabulary to be used differently by men and women to denote the sex of the speaker.
While English has no such system, linguists have concluded that there are singularities in the way each sex expresses itself. David Crystal, author of How Language Works, writes:
“Among the words and phrases that women are supposed to use more often are such emotive adjectives as super and lovely, exclamations such as Goodness me and Oh dear, and intensifiers such as so or such. This use of intensifiers has been noted in several languages, including German, French, and Russian.”
Isn’t that too precious? While it sounds at first like a loaded stereotype, it actually might be true. How often do you hear a guy call something lovely? Not very often. Crystal also says that women are more likely to ask questions during conversations and to “make more use of positive and encouraging ‘noises’ (such as mhm), use a wider intonational range and a more marked rhythmical stress, and make greater use of the pronouns you and we“.
Again, from experience, I guess I’d agree. But it’s still a little annoying, and isn’t that just a construct of the role of women in society? More to follow…
