남성과 여성의 의사소통방식 - 레이코프(Lakoff)의 재조명

Gender and Communicative Styles: Lakoff revisited

  Do women and men talk differently? What linguistic practices and ideologies are associated with women"s speech? This article is an attempt to examine the observations made by Lakoff (1975) that women use language in a way that reinforces their subordinate status. Based on a large body of research, this article examines the gender differences in communicative styles with special reference to several linguistic features that have been characterized as women"s speech, which include use of tag questions, hedges, asking questions and backchanneling signals. The overview suggests that we should reevaluate aspects of what is called "woman"s language", which indexes women"s sensitivity to interpersonal aspects of talk. Women tend to focus on rapport and the affective, supportive function of conversation while men focus on report rather than rapport. Conversations for men can be highly competitive since conversations are about imparting information, talking for a purpose, demonstrating expertise. It is shown that consideration of the feeling of others has been the hallmark of every aspect of women"s verbal behavior which has been examined.