Keywords: gender differences in verbal communication Cross-gender cultural communication
Fund Project: Supported by Youth Fund of North China Electric Power University in 2008 (No.:20082 1006)
I. Introduction
The language differences between men and women have always been one of the topics of great interest to literary scientists. As a social variant of a language, the language difference between men and women may be the oldest form of human language difference. The physiological differences between men and women and the acquisition of different gender cultures in the process of socialization lead to different communication modes. On the basis of previous research results, this paper will study gender differences in verbal communication under the framework of cross-gender cultural communication.
Second, the gender differences in verbal communication
The development of language and gender studies in recent years shows that the focus of this study has shifted from paying attention to the asymmetry of gender markers and gender variation at all levels of language use to the speech style in communication, showing obvious dynamics. The so-called speech style of the two sexes is precisely the different characteristics formed by the different choices and combined use of language means between the two sexes. Linguists' investigation of discourse in social communication shows that there are different degrees of differences between men and women in topic selection, discourse quantity and discourse control, which will be discussed in this paper.
(1) theme
Different interests between men and women lead to different topics. Researchers have found that men talk about sports, news, work and so on. While women love to talk about personal thoughts and feelings, family and relationships with others.
One of the results of the differences between men and women in conversation topics is a major communication failure between the two sexes, that is, sympathy and settlement. Everyone will encounter problems. The difference lies in how we respond when others tell us their problems. When women hear other people's problems, they often tell others their own problems, which shows that they understand each other's situation and show sympathy for each other. On the contrary, men are more inclined to regard problems as asking for help from others. So whether it is feasible or not, he will propose a solution. (Deborah Tannan, 1990)
The researcher conducted a questionnaire survey among 200 junior students in university of strathclyde. These students come from different countries and different majors, including boys 100 and girls 100. Subjects imagine their opposite sex friends complaining about their roommates' problems on the phone, and they choose possible answers from the given options. For example, a friend of the opposite sex complained on the phone, "My roommate is really announcing me. They never wash their lives! "
Response:
Why don't you call an in-house meeting to discuss the problem? (suggested)
I know what that is. I have the same problem. (sympathy)
C: That's too bad. Why don't you tell them to do it? (both)
Oh, what do you think? (Neither)
The use of option A why not structure shows that solutions and suggestions are put forward. Option b shows the speaker's sympathy. C option has both, and D option is neutral.
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As can be seen from the above table, more men than women choose A to propose solutions, and more women than men choose B to express sympathy. This result is consistent with Tannen's conclusion. However, 32% of men and 28% of women chose sympathy and solution. This shows that with the development of society, the differences between male and female discourse styles are gradually narrowing.
(B) the amount of discourse
For a long time, it is generally believed that women talk more than men. The following proverbs reflect this age-old stereotype. England: A woman's tongue wags like a lamb's tail. France: foxes are all tails, and women are all tongues.
However, linguists' research shows that women are actually not very talkative. Swark (1976) made an analysis of the recording of speeches at academic conferences. He found that 40.7% of academic papers were submitted by 42% of female participants, but only 27.4% of them took the initiative to speak. Men tend to be more eloquent in public or public context, but they will fall silent or talk to themselves in intimate situations. Women tend to be more talkative in intimate circles, but they are silent in larger formal occasions or public places.
(C) Discourse control
Interrupt means that the previous speaker hasn't finished speaking, and the next speaker can't wait to start speaking. This violates the most basic principle of conversation-coherence. It violates the principle of turn-taking in communication, destroys the normal conversation mode, makes the previous speaker unable to continue to communicate, seriously threatens the speaker's face, and may lead to the interruption of the speaker's cooperation and the failure of the conversation, so it is impolite. West and Zimmerman (1983) have investigated the behavior of people of different sexes interrupting each other's conversation, and found that 75% of men interrupt others' conversation, while only 25% of women interrupt others' conversation. It is not difficult to see that men are far more accustomed to interrupting other people's conversations than women. In English class, the researcher asked students to discuss 65,438+05 kinds of life pressures (such as divorce, family death, unemployment, etc.). ) group and rank according to the impact on life. The following is an audio clip:
("/"stands for pause. The words after the square brackets "["represent what both sides of the conversation started to say at the same time. )
Wang (male) interrupts Li (female)
Li: Are you still thinking/[I don't like the death of my family … yeah.
Wang: Yes [you will feel depressed, but not that serious, but not like you/you have cancer or something]
In the above conversation, the girl expressed the pressure brought by the death of her family. The boy not only interrupted her, but also put forward a different point of view from the girl: the greater pressure came from her cancer.
Psychologists and sociologists believe that interrupting the conversation shows power and dominance, and the person who interrupts the conversation gains the control of the conversation. In sexual conversation, men always interrupt women. Generally, when the conversation is interrupted by others, men are more likely to feel dissatisfied than women, and they are more likely to take countermeasures, because women communicate on the basis of mutual maintenance, and they have less desire to control the topic and are more cooperative with each other.
Thirdly, analyze the causes of gender differences in verbal communication.
Linguists have given different explanations for these differences. West (Zimmerman and West 1975) believes that the controlling position of men in speech acts is consistent with their rights in society. Often interrupting each other and controlling the topic is a manifestation of male power. Fishman (1978) thinks that although social rights have certain influence on verbal communication between men and women, it is the different gender roles of men and women that play a decisive role. Because society requires different gender roles to assume different social responsibilities, men and women are used to adopting different modes in discourse communication. Susan Harding (1975) found that men and women in Spain have different growth experiences, and formed gender language corresponding to gender culture while acquiring different gender cultures.
When studying cross-cultural communication, people often pay attention to the inter-group or interpersonal relationship under the pan-cultural background. But as far as the cultural structure itself is concerned, there are many sub-cultural groups besides the generalized culture. The group based on gender analysis is a gender subculture group. Subculture not only has the basic characteristics of the whole culture, such as language and behavior patterns, but also has its own unique group characteristics (Guan Shijie, 1995). The communication activities of men and women from different sub-cultural groups belong to the category of cross-gender cultural communication. Influenced by different subcultures, men and women acquire different verbal communication patterns.
If we can't correctly understand and treat the gender differences in verbal communication, it will lead to the failure of cross-cultural communication. To carry out effective cross-gender cultural communication, we must first understand the differences and face them squarely. In verbal communication, only by being familiar with the communication style and conversation intention of oneself and the other party can we achieve the best communication effect. But at the same time, we should also eliminate gender stereotypes. Gender differences are essentially given to individuals by social culture. With the development of social culture, the traditional gender cultural characteristics are tending to fade. Therefore, we should face the differences between gender subjects with an open-minded attitude and a developmental vision and conduct effective cross-gender cultural exchanges.
References:
1 Deborah Tanner. 1990. You just don't understand: women and men in conversation. New york: William Marlow.
2 Swacker Marjorie。 1976. Speech acts of women at academic and professional conferences. In Betty Lou Dubois & Isabel Crouch (editor. Sociology of American women's language. San Antonio: Trinity University. pp 155- 160。
West Candice and Don Zimmerman. 1983. Little insult: A study on the interruption of transgender dialogue between strangers. In the bar Thorne, Cheris Kramarae, Nancy Henry (editor. ) language, gender, society. Raleigh, Massachusetts M: newbury Press. pp 103- 1 17。
4 West Candice and Don Zimmerman. 1975. Gender roles, interruption and silence in dialogue. Barry Thorne & Nancy Henry (Editor. ) Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance. Raleigh, Massachusetts M: newbury Press.
Fisherman, P. 1978. Interaction: the work that women do. J. social issues, April 25, pp. 397-406.
6 Susan Harding. 1975. Women and characters in a Spanish village. In R. Reiter (editor. ) towards female anthropology. M. new york: Monthly Review Press.
7 Guan Shijie. 1995. Cross-cultural communication-knowledge to improve foreign communication ability. M. Beijing: Peking University Publishing House.