Gender roles in language acquisition
Is there a gender divide in children 's language acquisition? Does any such divide continue into language use? Are society 's gender stereotypes reinforced by how children are taught language?
Exploring gender stereotyping in language acquisition and the potential ....
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We reprimand our daughters for being "bossy" and praise our son 's for showing such assertiveness. These were the sentiments expressed during Sheryl Sandburg book promotion tour in early 2013. Mrs Sandberg is largely accepted as one of the most successful female businessperson in modern society. During her many lectures and academic interviews she essentially cited her success as the result of 'going against the gender norm ' for women. Although specifically referring to the business world, does Sheryl have a point? Are we reinforcing gender roles in the words we promote and discourage our children to use?
It is largely accepted across both linguistic and psychology fields that girls develop their language skill in: understands, quantity, quality and range of vocabulary acquired at an earlier age and faster rate than their male counterparts.
A very recent study by Rikard Bauman in 2010 (Stockholm University Press) explored vocabulary growth and language production in pre-school children. It is suggested that at 22 months girls have a more extensive vocabulary than boys due to capacity differences; however, at 34 months such a pattern cannot be found. Furthermore it is suggested that gender affects language production in the sense that male and female speakers will prefer to produce words that are associated with their culture’s definition of masculinity and femininity. The study on vocabulary growth is based on the assumption that TTR (type/token ratio) reflects vocabulary size and it proves that, at 22 months, girls have a more extensive vocabulary than boys; however, at 34 months such a pattern is less obvious, if any conclusion
Exploring gender stereotyping in language acquisition and the potential ....
____________________________________________
We reprimand our daughters for being "bossy" and praise our son 's for showing such assertiveness. These were the sentiments expressed during Sheryl Sandburg book promotion tour in early 2013. Mrs Sandberg is largely accepted as one of the most successful female businessperson in modern society. During her many lectures and academic interviews she essentially cited her success as the result of 'going against the gender norm ' for women. Although specifically referring to the business world, does Sheryl have a point? Are we reinforcing gender roles in the words we promote and discourage our children to use?
It is largely accepted across both linguistic and psychology fields that girls develop their language skill in: understands, quantity, quality and range of vocabulary acquired at an earlier age and faster rate than their male counterparts.
A very recent study by Rikard Bauman in 2010 (Stockholm University Press) explored vocabulary growth and language production in pre-school children. It is suggested that at 22 months girls have a more extensive vocabulary than boys due to capacity differences; however, at 34 months such a pattern cannot be found. Furthermore it is suggested that gender affects language production in the sense that male and female speakers will prefer to produce words that are associated with their culture’s definition of masculinity and femininity. The study on vocabulary growth is based on the assumption that TTR (type/token ratio) reflects vocabulary size and it proves that, at 22 months, girls have a more extensive vocabulary than boys; however, at 34 months such a pattern is less obvious, if any conclusion
References: Burman is primary author of "Sex Differences in Neural Processing of Language Among Children." Co-authored by James R. Booth (Northwestern University) and Tali Bitan (University of Haifa). Jorden, Eleanor Harz; Noda, Mari (1987). Japanese: The Spoken Language. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03834-7. Siegal, Meryl; Okamoto, Shigeko (2003). "Toward reconceptualizing the teaching and learning of gendered speech styles in Japanese as a Foreign Language". Japanese Language and Literature 37 (1): 49–66. Retrieved 2013-4-26. Kazuko, Ashizawa (1998). Mangajin 's Basic Japanese Through Comics. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0452-2. Reynolds, Katsue Akiba (1990). "Female Speakers of Japanese in Transition". Aspects of Japanese Women 's Language (Tokyo: Kurosio). Tanaka, Lidia (2004). Gender, Language and Culture: A Study of Japanese Television Interview Discourse. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-3079-9. Sreetharan, Cindi Sturtz (2004). "Students, sarariiman (pl.), and seniors: Japanese men 's use of ′manly′ speech register". Language in Society 33 (01). doi:10.1017/S0047404504031045. ISSN 0047-4045. ^ Itakura, Hiroko; Tsui, Amy B. M. (2004). "Gender and conversational dominance in Japanese conversation". Language in Society 33 (02). doi:10.1017/S0047404504332033. ISSN 0047-4045.