Language and Gender Interaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Language and Gender Interaction - Essay Example In fact, Lakoff also goes further to point out that women find themselves in a no win situation; when they use powerless talk they are not taken seriously and when they become assertive they are frowned upon. This paper is a report on a study carried out to verify whether women indeed employ a register of speech different from that of men. The study also sought to find out if the manner of speech depended on the type of audience being addressed. The audience variables included same sex, mixed sex and an audience younger than the speaker (Children). The rationale of this study was to provide facts, if any were found to exist, about the issue of gender determined language. More often than not, allegations that are mostly aimed at trying to put women down in the social hierarchy have been made to the effect that it exists. Such allegations have rarely been supported by factual data. This study therefore aimed to gather factual data that could contribute to shedding light on whether women's manner of speaking is different from that of men. This could shed light and give direction to the debate. The main thrust of gender-based analyses of language has been the norm-and-devia... The masculine manner of speech is therefore the norm while the feminine method is the deviation, Hall, K. and Bucholtz, M., (1995). This forms the basis upon which the linguistic behavior of either gender is judged. Cameron, et al (1988) point out that it can't be a coincidence that men are aggressive and hierarchically organized conversationalists while women ate expected to provide support to conversation. This position seems to point out to an actual existence of differences in manner of and role in speech delivery that is dictated by individual gender. Indeed that existence of this gender schism is a matter widely taken for granted especially when religious scriptures with Judeo-Christian allegations of male supremacy come into play. Hard data to support such conventions is what is direly needed and there is too little of it. For instance, there is little evidence that in mixed gender gatherings women talk more than men. This is an issue that is assumed rather than proven to be true. Linguists Tannen, Deborah (1994) and Holmes, Janet (2006) have investigated conversational styles in business corporations to verify the gender stereotypes. Their study found that gendered speech does not exist along a continuum. Instead, both males and females use masculine and feminine forms of expression at different times in different contexts. One such context variable is the nature of the speech community. A speech community denotes any group of people coming together to discuss any given issue of mutual interest. Such a community can range from pupil s in a classroom to a crowd at an accident scene. As soon as the group is formed, rules of engagement in the conversation emerge. People will therefore talk differently

MOVIE REVIEW Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Movie Review Example Her head is shaved and her bangles broken. She is made to wear a piece of white unstitched fabric like the rest of the widows there. Chuiya gradually adapts to the lifestyle of Ashram and at the same time, she changes its dreary atmosphere with her innocence, energy and playfulness. Her bonding with two other widows, Shakuntala and Kalyani, is remarkable. Kalyani is the only widow who is allowed to keep her hair because she is forced to prostitute by Madhumati, the head of the ashram, to bring in money for the ashram. Chuiya’s accidental meeting with Narayan, a rich law student and follower of Gandhi gives a new turn to the plot of the movie. Narayan and Kalyani fall in love but their love affair is short-lived. When Madhumati learns about her love affair, she locks her up in the room. Shakuntala is represented as a positive force in this movie. The scene in which she unlocks Kalyani to meet Narayan is symbolic of freedom of the subjugated women in the name of religion. However, Kalyani refuses to meet Narayan’s parents because upon seeing his home, she realizes that his father was one her clients. From this point onwards, the tragedy in the movie deepens because she commits suicide after returning to the ashram and Chuiya is chosen to do her job. In the last scene of the movie, Shakuntala hands her over to Narayan, who is angered and disgusted by his father, is leaving with Gandhi on a train. The ending scene symbolizes hope and freedom at least for Chuiya, who evades her fate as a cursed widow. This film revolves around widows in India that are treated as outcasts by the mainstream Hindu society. Though this film is set in 1938, and a conversation between Shakuntala and a priest in one of the scenes inform the audience about the new law that allows widows to remarry; yet the sub titles at the end of the movie inform the audience that even at the turn of the 21st century, many women continue