Sex Differences
Tam Pham
Julie Herskovitz
English 0711
23 Sep. 2014
Ronald Macaulay: Sex Differences Nowadays, sex differences have become a controversial issue, especially when it comes to language. It has raised many concerns about how it is different between men and women when they talk to each other on a daily basis. In “Sex Differences,” Macaulay addresses the notion that differences in the manner and frequency in which men and women talk are nonsense. Ronald Macaulay proves that such stereotypes should not be used in language because differences in language usage, personalities and social environments are to be considered the most distinguish points of the language usage between men and women. The way a language is used by a person to speak to one another is all that matters; they pick out their ways for a specific activity or purpose. For instance, Macaulay states that “Both men and woman will use the forms if language, registers, and styles appropriate to the activities in which they are engaged” (309). Notably, women at their natural state are straight forward to the point which they want to express; they talk in a simple manner and in some cases, they raise their voice in order to convince someone effectively. In contrast, men have a creative mind in their language usage. They always seek for new things to apply in their speech, and their manner goes along with toughness (solid voice) as in the example “Adult males on average have deeper voices than adult females because the vibrating part of the vocal cords is about a third longer in men” (Macaulay, 311). Depending on different activities, a person of either gender has to pick out an effective language usage which best suits the situation that they find themselves involving in. Otherwise, people will criticize the way you talk, whether it is professional or not. Subsequently, personalities play an important role in determining the actual distinctions between the two genders. Different personalities bring
Julie Herskovitz
English 0711
23 Sep. 2014
Ronald Macaulay: Sex Differences Nowadays, sex differences have become a controversial issue, especially when it comes to language. It has raised many concerns about how it is different between men and women when they talk to each other on a daily basis. In “Sex Differences,” Macaulay addresses the notion that differences in the manner and frequency in which men and women talk are nonsense. Ronald Macaulay proves that such stereotypes should not be used in language because differences in language usage, personalities and social environments are to be considered the most distinguish points of the language usage between men and women. The way a language is used by a person to speak to one another is all that matters; they pick out their ways for a specific activity or purpose. For instance, Macaulay states that “Both men and woman will use the forms if language, registers, and styles appropriate to the activities in which they are engaged” (309). Notably, women at their natural state are straight forward to the point which they want to express; they talk in a simple manner and in some cases, they raise their voice in order to convince someone effectively. In contrast, men have a creative mind in their language usage. They always seek for new things to apply in their speech, and their manner goes along with toughness (solid voice) as in the example “Adult males on average have deeper voices than adult females because the vibrating part of the vocal cords is about a third longer in men” (Macaulay, 311). Depending on different activities, a person of either gender has to pick out an effective language usage which best suits the situation that they find themselves involving in. Otherwise, people will criticize the way you talk, whether it is professional or not. Subsequently, personalities play an important role in determining the actual distinctions between the two genders. Different personalities bring
Cited: Page Macaulay, Ronald. "Sex Differences." Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. 11th ed. New York: Longman, 2007. Print.