Gender Differences in Pragmatic Awareness
LIN 486 Annotated Bibliography
Gender Differences in Second Language Pragmatics
University of Toronto Mississauga
Gender Differences in Second Language Pragmatics
It goes without saying, that learning a second language is not just black and white. Besides a large amount of exposure and learning experience, many other interrelated factors, such as age, personality, culture, and gender also affect ones talent to attain native-like proficiency of a second language. T he least known of all these factors may perhaps be one of the most subtle explanations possible. Kasper and Rose (1982) surfaced this possible factor in one of their many intriguing questions–“Do sex and gender play a role [in second language pragmatics]?”
Gender is defined as a cultural and societal construct and is identified as the difference between masculine and feminine identities (Gender, Oxford Dictionary). These gender differences account for language style variation for both first language and second language use.1Even though, sex-based differences in language are both naturally inherit (le vs. la) and socially constructed (miss vs. mister.), this particular report shifts away from the linguistic properties of language and investigates more on the pragmatic differences of language and gender. Salient differences indicate men and women do not speak or communicate the same, which pragmalingists also account for by measuring speech act distinctions. This paper posits that universal gender differences exist and differ depending on cultural norms. This essay also addresses the questions: Do women use more polite strategies using compliments and requests? Do men and women have the same pragmatic awareness? And, does first language pragmatics transfer over to second language pragmatics? Three cross-cultural studies were selected to identify possible answers to these questions. The first article by Bulut (2007) selected a gender-stratified educational system
Gender Differences in Second Language Pragmatics
University of Toronto Mississauga
Gender Differences in Second Language Pragmatics
It goes without saying, that learning a second language is not just black and white. Besides a large amount of exposure and learning experience, many other interrelated factors, such as age, personality, culture, and gender also affect ones talent to attain native-like proficiency of a second language. T he least known of all these factors may perhaps be one of the most subtle explanations possible. Kasper and Rose (1982) surfaced this possible factor in one of their many intriguing questions–“Do sex and gender play a role [in second language pragmatics]?”
Gender is defined as a cultural and societal construct and is identified as the difference between masculine and feminine identities (Gender, Oxford Dictionary). These gender differences account for language style variation for both first language and second language use.1Even though, sex-based differences in language are both naturally inherit (le vs. la) and socially constructed (miss vs. mister.), this particular report shifts away from the linguistic properties of language and investigates more on the pragmatic differences of language and gender. Salient differences indicate men and women do not speak or communicate the same, which pragmalingists also account for by measuring speech act distinctions. This paper posits that universal gender differences exist and differ depending on cultural norms. This essay also addresses the questions: Do women use more polite strategies using compliments and requests? Do men and women have the same pragmatic awareness? And, does first language pragmatics transfer over to second language pragmatics? Three cross-cultural studies were selected to identify possible answers to these questions. The first article by Bulut (2007) selected a gender-stratified educational system
Bibliography: “Pragmatic Awareness of a Foreign Language in a Gender-Segregated Society” (Bulut, 2007)