Language And Gender Personal Philosophy

Language is, without a question, a powerful force. It has the ability to govern the way we perceive certain aspects of culture, to propel knowledge into the external world, and to reflect inner character. It is certainly obvious that language instincts are divided in more than one way, one being through gender. My overall reasoning on this topic is that in a way, females bring both genders together through an easily adaptable language and a natural tendency to influence men.

One way I can justify this reasoning is through an unexpected social setting, one that occurs early on in the stages of communication, a preschool. By using this setting, one can see that my philosophy on language and gender has roots that begin the moment humans learn how to communicate, but also even in simple and understandable circumstances. In a video entitled “Deborah Tannen: Gender-specific language rituals”, Tannen explains that while young boys try to top each other with their capabilities, girls work together to be at the same level. This leads to her inference that females focus on whether a conversation is making them closer or farther apart, and tend to bring their partner closer to them. (Tannen) I believe this study furthers a certain stereotype that men end up in more arguments and disagreements than women, and that educational systems may also force boys and girls to act different ways.

However, educational settings also contain gender differences between the learning processes themselves. It is quite evident that females have their own way of studying than males, but when students are separated to be surrounded by their own gender, the result is surprising. In an article entitled “Boys Are Not Defective” Ripley gives a thorough explanation of data and interview recollection to help form a theory that an all girls’ school is significantly more productive than an all boys’ school. She breaks down the information from Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and analyzes what girls do domestically and under the influence of their parents’ decisions for them. Furthermore, she analyzes tendencies in future plans for each gender, and determines what society sees as “acceptable” for each gender to engage in. But most of all, it is argued that the reason girls are more driven to their scholarly tasks than boys is simply because the male teachers are less devoted to their job and are teaching a less devoted set of students at an all-male school; Therefore, the gap between females and males in education increases. The solution seems to be that the genders should “converge to create a healthy-or toxic-brew. ” (Ripley, “Boys”) As a result when both genders are put together in an educational setting, the males are less violent and therefore more passionate about their interests, closing the wide gap. A female’s natural tendency to be orderly and focused seems to impact the way males perform.

So far, I have only talked about gender differences in an educational setting, but these same instances of females influencing men can occur in adult conversations as well. As a person develops in their communication abilities, they start to notice their partner’s individual way of speaking and how they are backing up their thoughts and opinions. In a study done by Adrienne Hancock and Benjamin Rubin, the overall find was that when speaking with women, both genders used more dependent clauses and were guilty of interruption, which are common characteristics of female language. (Robb, “Women”). Because men modify their own language in order to speak with women, it is true that a women can work with their partner so that they are both identical, as mentioned earlier. And because a woman can influence the way a man acts, the man is more likely to want to work with the female to be at the same level as well. This theory can almost be related to a genetic Punnett Square; No matter what the female’s surroundings are or who they are paired with, they seem to overpower, or dominate, so that only their characteristics shine through.

With all of that said, in all levels of communication, one can notice instincts in specific surroundings.