DOI: 10.5176/2251-2853_2.1.80
Authors: Zhang yi jun
Abstract:
By exploring and categorizing the different theoretical backgrounds which have been developed over the years in the area of gender and language into three major models, this paper argues that to provide interpretations that move beyond the cultural dichotomies of male and female, it is necessary to take the contextual factors such as tasks into account since the three models: (1) deficit; (2) dominance; and (3) the sub-culture difference that emphasized the linguistic and cultural factors, were problematic to interpret language differences among genders.
The statistics analysis in this study showed that female students employed masculine (classical) writing style as frequently and skillfully as male students when they wrote argumentative texts, yet, female students used feminine writing features more frequent than male students when they wrote narrative texts. This result, which indicated that language differences connected more with different tasks than gender, may help shift sex-stereotypes mandates toward a cultural equality.
Keywords: masculine-feminine discourse, language usage, gender identity
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