Abstract
There has been a consensus across cultures that women are chatty and that they talk too much. However, this supposition is not supported by neither empirical nor normative research methodology. In their book, Language Myths: Women Talk Too Much, Bauer & Trudgill vehemently refute the hypothesis that women talk too much (Bauer & Trudgill, 1998, p.43). The dual are of the view that women do not dominate all discussions. Women dominate certain discussions depending on the social context at hand, and the comparative power that they possess in a given situation. As a way of discrediting the idea that woman talk too much compared to men, Janet Homes in her book Women, men, and politeness explains that different cultures have been biased to women in terms of relating language and gender. Table 1.1 below shows examples of some of the ways in which cultures have been biased towards women in terms of language.
Appendix 1.1: Table Showing the Biases of English Language towards Women
Introduction
There is widespread supposition that women are highly talkative. However, literature coverage and current research indicates otherwise. In a congregation of both men and women, research indicates that it is men who dominate the discussions in most cases. Deborah James and Janice Darkish, two renowned Canadian researchers have widely conducted qualitative and empirical research on the subject matter. Literature coverage indicates that these two researchers have conducted more than sixty research projects on the topic. All of these researches tries to establish whether women dominate talks in all contexts. However, all these researches established that men dominated almost all talks. There were only two studies that indicated otherwise. In any research there are always possibilities of outliers; therefore the distinct two studies are expected. Both James and Darkish explain that the domination of talk by men is something that begins early. According to the research conducted by these two researchers, studies conducted in the classroom environment should that boys are more likely to contribute more in the classroom environment compared to their female counterparts. This pattern was definite right from the lower levels of learning in Kindergarten, all the way to tertiary educational institutions. The two researchers argue that the assumptions that women speaker too much compared to men is not an objective reality but a stereotype and prejudice that have been formulated across different cultures.
The meta- question in this case is whether the cultural prejudices against women with regards to language has a basis. Considering that these prejudices resonate across different cultures there has to be the basis on which such supposition is based. Different researches have argued that different cultures do not go beyond the generalizations that are made by the cultural norms and values (Bull, 2002, p.28). Different occurrences such as the idea that boys are often unruly compared to their female counterparts. This means that different cultures have argued the common indiscipline related to boys and their spiritedness might be one of the reasons why some people are of the view that some boys might talk more than girls. However, as women mature and grow up they get more confidence and begin to dominate discussions and talks(Lakoff, 2005, p.61). This is not congruent to the different empirical researches that have been conducted because men continue to dominate discussions even when they are a bit older because of the self-confidence that they attain from the societal inclination towards masculinity. Therefore, they are no concrete evidence that women talk much than men. This means that biological explanations cannot be used to argue that women are born to talk too much. The social factors and social contexts are the factors that shape the talkativeness of both genders.
Language, gender & Social context
One of things that are worth noting is that discussions and talks serve different purposes in the contexts in which they are staged. There both formal and informal kinds of talks. Formal talks are put forward is used in the public sphere in holding negotiations. Negotiations in most cases are conducted in arenas such as in politics, lectures, and debates. All these type of formal talks are conducted in the public sphere, which has over the years been dominated by men. Women have traditionally been involved in the domestic sphere not the public sphere. Formal talks are more organized and illustrate a certain social status and power. In the context of formal talks, the participants seek to stamp authority and their social status. Under this context studies have established that men stamp their ability by making sure that they comprehensively utilize the time that is assigned to them in formal conferences and contexts. In a study conducted by Darkish in the classroom environment boys were found to use more of the pupil’s time compared to women. This illustrates that boys are more competitive in the formal environment. This is because they seek to compete and stamp their authority against their female counterparts. Taking the stand or the floor in a formal context is viewed as a sense of power and competition. Therefore, the more the domination asserted by the individual under such a context demonstrates the fact that the individual is more poised and confident. Therefore men are more likely to dominate such an arena.
On the contrary women are more confident in private contexts. Personal talks require more connection in terms of interpersonal relations, and emotions. Biologically women are more intimate compared to men and are therefore more likely to contribute to the private social context. Interestingly enough, some of the studies that have been conducted linking gender and social context have demonstrated that men still dominate informal social contexts. Women are typically less confident and less likely to talk much when they are under pressure (Holmes, 2006, p.57). Under pressure women are likely to leave the talking process to men. However, Deborah James and his Canadian counterpart have established that women are more willing to talk and contribute to discussion when the atmosphere is more relaxed. Women are more willing to develop social relationships in a relaxed context compared to their male counterparts. In order to prove this hypothesis researches have tried to look into the type of talk that both men and women engage in within a mixed context. In this scenario, it has been found out that men contribute more to the type of discussion that takes place. Men are the people who make the opinions about the topics of discussion while women in most cases are there to support and agree on the topic that is under discussion (Romaine, 1994, p.71). This behavioral dynamic by women is meant to support and accommodate other people into the discussion. Therefore, most of the talk that women engage in within a social context is meant to build personal relationships (Coates, 2008, p.65). This might at times be interpreted as being chatty. Therefore, men are informative and contributive in talks while women tend to predominantly play a facilitative role within discussions. This is the reason as to why women play a key supportive role within the family unit because they tend to be more focused in building personal connections and relationships which one of the facts that builds the cohesiveness of the family unit (Mills, 2003, p.22). Due to the ability of women to build interpersonal relationship women are more likely to do better in semi-formal context. This is because women are able to cooperate more within things such as interviewers thereby building a connection with the interviewers. Therefore, the success of women in semiformal contexts is not because women are more talkative than men, but it is because women are more able to build personal connections compared to their male counterparts (Meyerhoff, 2003, p.46).
In terms of self-confidence women were more likely to contribute in areas where they believed that they have more experience or expertize in. However, one of the differences that exist between men and women in this case is the idea that women are more likely to ask questions compared to their male counterparts. This means that during discussions for example in professional conferences women are more likely to facilitate the discussion using question and such like tools (Holmes, 1995, p.41). Men on the other hand are more likely to be informative and contributive to the discussion. Therefore, the kind and quality of contribution to such forums indicates that women are generally able to build interpersonal connections even at a professional level. Men on the other hand maintain their ability of contributing and informing the subject of debate. Through the ability of women to build interpersonal relationships, women are less likely to disagree on various topics because there are aware of the fact that there is always another way to look at things (Blum, 2009, p.38). Men on the other hand, have lesser capacity to build interpersonal skills and are therefore more likely to disagree within private conversations and professional forums.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the supposition that women talk too much compared to men is unfounded. Despite the bias in English language towards women, studies have indicated that men are more likely to dominate discussions compared to women. Women might be mistaken as talking too much but the fact that they are more supportive and facilitative in social contexts compared to men. However, under relaxed social context and within situations where women are discussing topics that are experienced on, women are more willing to talk and contribute to discussions.
References
Bauer, L., & Trudgill, P. (1998). Language myths. London: Penguin Books.
Blum, S. D. (2009). Making sense of language: readings in culture and communication. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bull, P. (2002). Communication under the microscope: the theory and practice of microanalysis. London: Routledge.
Coates, J. (2008). Women, men and language: a sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language (3. ed.). Harlow: Longman.
Holmes, J. (1995). Women, men, and politeness. London: Longman.
Holmes, J. (2006). Gendered talk at work: constructing gender identity through workplace discourse. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Meyerhoff, M. (2003). The handbook of language and gender. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Mills, S. (2003). Gender and politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, R. T. (2005). Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishers.
Romaine, S. (1994). Language in society: an introduction to sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
