Preface
Part
1: Language and Woman’s Place
1.
Introduction
It is indeed true that our
feelings about the world color our expression of our thoughts, then we can use
our linguistic behavior as a diagnostic of our hidden feelings about things. –
03-04
So a girl is damned if she does,
damned if she doesn’t. If she refuses to talk like a lady, she is ridiculed and
subjected to criticism as unfeminine, if she does learn, she is ridiculed as
unable to think clearly, unable to take part in a serious discussion: in some
sense, as less than fully human. – 06
2.
Talking Like a Lady
“Women’s language” shows up in
all levels of the grammar of English. We find differences in the choice and
frequency of lexical items; in the situations in which certain syntactic rules
are performed; in intonational and other suprasegmental patterns. – 08
Women, then, make for more
precise discriminations in naming colors than do men. – 08
We might ask why fine
discrimination of color is relevant for women, but not for men. A clue is
contained in the way many men in our society view other “unworldly” topics,
such as high culture and the church, as outside the world of men’s work,
relegated to women and men whose masculinity is not unquestionable. – 09
Another group that has, ostensibly
at least, taken itself out of the search for power and money is that of
academic men. They are frequently viewed by other groups as analogous in some
ways to women – they don’t really work, they are supported in their frivolous
pursuits of others, what they do doesn’t really count in the real world, and so
on. – 14
A tag, in its usage as well as in
its syntactic shape (in English) is mid-way between an outright statement and a
yes-no question: it is less assertive than the former, but more confident than
the latter. – 15
One aspect of politeness is as we
have just described leaving a decision open, not imposing your mind or views,
or claims on anyone else. – 18
3.
Talking about Women
When a word acquires a bad
connotation by association with something unpleasant or embarrassing, people
may search for substitutes that do not have the uncomfortable effect – that is,
euphemisms. – 19
4.
Conclusion
Part
2: Why Women Are Ladies
1.
Introduction
2.
Forms of Politeness
The
rules (of politeness) are as follows: 1. Formality: keep aloof, 2. Deference:
give options, 3. Comaraderie: show sympathy – 65
A
system of rules by which factual information my best be conveyed has been proposed
by H.P. Grice in his paper “The Logic of Conversation”. In this work, Grice
proposes four basic rules of conversation, which we can summarize as follows:
1. Quality.
Say only what is true.
2.
Quantity. Say only as much, and just as much, as is necessary.
3.
Relevance. Be relevant.
4.
Manner. Be perspicuous. Don’t be ambiguous. Don’t be obscure. Be succinct. – 71
Stereotypes
are not to be ignored: first, because for a stereotype to exist, it must be an
exaggeration of something that is in fact in existence and able to be recognized;
and second, because one measures oneself, for better or worse, according to how
well or poorly one conforms to use the stereotype one is supposed to conform
to. – 73
3.
Women and Politeness
4.
Conclusion
