Stereotypical Interaction Styles - Assignment Example

Task One: Critical Dis Analysis Number/extract Category (choose one of the seven categories above) They = pronoun to refer to the 2 turncoat LibDems = post-modified noun phrase 3 demonstrators = collective nouns, rather than naming individuals 4 fought = active construction 5 charged = active construction 6 were arrested = passive construction 7 the floor with a brace on his neck = post-modified noun phrase 8 Barriers were passed over heads = post-modified noun phrase 9 make-shift bonfires = post-modified noun phrase 10 The mob = collective nouns, rather than individuals 11 were trapped by = passive construction 12 the ring of steel = post-modified noun phrase 13 officers = collective nouns, rather than naming individuals 14 workers on their way home = post-modified noun phrase 15 their = pronoun to refer to the students 16 anger at the coalitions unfair plans = pre-modified noun phrase 17 elegant mansion = pre-modified noun phrase 18 we = pronoun to refer to the students 19 they = pronoun to refer to the police 20 our = pronoun to refer to the police Task 2: Critical Discourse Analysis 1. The writer used passive/active sentences, pronouns, pre/post modification, idiomatic expressions and audience in creating this article. By using pre/post modification, the author was able to give a more specific image of the personalities involved in the article. Some examples include “ranting Hamza”, “hook-handed hate cleric Abu Hamza” and “Hamza…in shackles”. By using pronouns, the writer was able to clearly distinguish between the different personalities for the readers’ convenience. An example would be the following sentence - They said they were ‘wholly unconvinced’ by Hamza’s claims he was not mentally fit enough to plead in a US court. (Hughes, 2012) “They” referred to the judges in High Court mentioned in the preceding sentence while “he” referred to Hamza. By using passive/active sentences and idiomatic expressions, the writer was able to clearly tell the events that took place. These also gave the story a more detailed description of what happened. 2. Even if the event revolved around capturing a terrorist and a legal battle for Hamza, the expressions and words in the article were easy enough to understand by civilians. The linguistic choices the writer used were only appropriate for readers of a newspaper, mostly civilians, which is the type of publication the article appeared in. 3. With his linguistic choices, the writer was able to give a clear picture of how terrorism is viewed as a serious social problem. In fact, the reaction to a possible terrorist threat is so great that Hamza was ordered to leave the country. Moreover, the writer was able to show that even if the problem is a social one, the justice system will be tapped to handle the situation thereby involving the political arena. Task 3: Multiple Choice Questions and Short Answer Questions Q1: B Q2: transition relevance place Q3: A Q4: C Q5: Conversation Analysis. Task 4: Conversation Analysis a) For Lines 2/3, the overlap is inadvertent. It can be deemed from studying the first couple of lines that Line 2 is an explanation of Line 1. Also, Speaker A ended his first statement with the phrase “you know”. So, upon hearing the phrase again, Speaker B assumed that Speaker A was finished sharing information. b) For Lines 4/5, the overlap violates turn-taking rules. Line 5 can be considered an interruption by Speaker A. An analysis of Line 4 will show that ending the statement with the word ‘everything’ would not relay the real meaning of Speaker B’s message. Moreover, Line 5 does not really respond to the meaning of Line 4 if Speaker B was not interrupted. c) For Lines 11/12, the overlap also violates turn-taking rules because Speaker A made another interruption. A quick scan of Extract One reveals there are three persons in the conversation. Just as Speaker C started to say something when Speaker B finished his or her statement, Speaker A made a response to Speaker B, not Speaker C who is responsible for Line 11. d) For Lines 19/20, the overlap is inadvertent. When Speaker A said ‘you couldn’t’, the statement was complete because it was in relation to Speaker C’s thought of shooting a dog. Also, Line 20 was an appropriate response to the lines preceding it. e) For Lines 29/30, the overlap is a violation of turn-taking rules. Since Speaker A stated an opinion before the meaning of Speaker C’s message was complete. Moreover, Line 30 is actually an explanation of Line 28 which came from Speaker A s well and is not the appropriate response to Line 29. Task 5: The Guardian Article 1. There are three main criticisms of Louann Brizendine’s claim that women speak more than men. Experts in the field of education do not agree with the author saying that the numbers the author had included in her book were untrue and probably guesswork, that the notes which make up almost a third of the 280-page book do not really support Brizendine’s claim and that the men and women do not really differ in how they use language in their lives. Mark Liberman, a phonetics professor, states that he had reviewed the notes Brizendine included in her book. He was expecting to find proof of Brizendine’s claim but was actually disappointed to find a bevy of self-help books. He maintains that the idea of women talking more than men is just an urban myth, derived from the many self-help books out there. The book’s publisher has reasoned that the endnotes were placed as suggestions for further reading. Brizendine, on the other hand, said that the numbers would be removed in the next publication of her book. However, she maintains that women still talk more than men in certain circumstances as she has observed. Deborah Cameron, a professor of language and communication at Oxford University, disagrees that men and women have different ways of using language. She says that people are only afraid of discovering men and women are more similar than society would like to accept. Also, she adds that women are scared of discovering that they may not measure up to other women when they start comparing themselves. When women try to find the difference between them and the other sex, they are also likely to compare themselves with each other and this is another dilemma. Like Liberman, Cameron claims there is no hard evidence that women talk more than men. There are only self-help books which encourage this concept. 2. In trying to figure out if there is any truth in Brizendine’s conclusion that women talked more than men, the Guardian team conducted a study involving one man and one woman. In this particular research, the Guardian team asked the pair to wear microphones daily so everything they say will be recorded. These utterances were then tallied and compared against each other. The results showed a difference of about 1,050 words with the woman subject having more expressions on record. This is an insignificant difference, according to Guardian linguist Jane Sunderland. (Moss, 2007) The results of the experiment showed that difference between how much women and men talk is can be explained more by profession and word count than gender. In their daily recordings, the two subjects talked almost about similar things like work, family life and personal errands. What probably made the female subject talk more than the male one was the location where the recordings were made. The male subject was often at home when he recorded his conversation whereas the woman was at work. Also, the woman had utterances like “er” and “um” which may have been counted by some people are words but not by others. Another point to consider is that the male subject has explicitly confessed to being a man of few words while the woman shared that she feels comfortable being the instigator in conversations. This shows that personalities may also be a reason. Ultimately, the experiment showed that Brizendine’s idea of women speaking 20,000 words to men’s 7,000 is unreal. The difference of the number of words between the two subjects did not reflect such a big discrepancy. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the context where the conversations from men and women take place can be a factor like Brizendine proposed. Task 6: Definition & Examples of Terms 1) Essentialism, as psychologist Linda Gallahan explains, is the belief that the difference in how males and females behave is due to biological differences so that “an individual’s core personality, which determines such behaviors, is separable from the individual’s social and cultural contexts.” (Bolich, 2007) Simply put, it is the essentialist’s opinion that men and women perform functions particular to each gender because their bodies are built in a way. Examples of the essentialist’s point of view are very common in society. One obvious example is that of motherhood. A woman’s body has a uterus but a man does not. The uterus is an essential organ because this is where a baby is conceived and formed. For an essentialist, this particular difference in the two gender’s bodies is the reason why women typically assume the role of a mother. In contrast, men typically have a bigger body structure than women. For an essentialist, this bulkier body frame is the reason why more men are involved in activities that need brute strength like heavy vehicle driving, mining, logging, etc. 2) Androcentrism is the belief that how males behave and their experiences should be the standard of how everyone in society should behave. (Basow, 2002) Because of this, experiences and behaviors of women are considered the contradiction of the norm. Basically, men are the central figure in an androcentric society. Again, examples of this concept are evident in very common things present in today’s society. One manifestation is when a person says “Hey, guys!” to greet a group even if there are females present. Although the word ‘guy’ is an informal term meaning boy or man, (Dictionary.com, 2013) this expression is often used and people understand it to mean guys and girls. A glimpse in world history will also show how males dominated society. In all the wars, there were only male soldiers. In Asia, especially the Philippines and China, the family’s world used to revolve around the male child. Having a son was more celebrated than having a daughter. Moreover, it was just several years ago that women entered the political scene, having positions such as that of President and Prime Minister. 3) Double-Bind for Female Authorities In a society where females have strived to gain the recognition they deserve as women, the double-bind dilemma most often burdens those who are in a position of authority. Double-bind situations are those circumstances where women are torn in making decisions because they would be put in an unfavorable light regardless of their choices. These dilemmas include being too soft or too tough, facing higher standards but getting lower rewards than men and perceived as either competent or likable. (Catalyst, 2007) Although society has appeared to be more acceptable of the fact that women leaders do have outstanding skills, in some groups, women leaders are still subject to the double-bind dilemma especially when the working environment is very patriarchal. One example is that of a law firm. A typical law firm is characterized by young associates aspiring to be partners. A scenario frequently depicted in media is that of a female associate trying hard to prove her worth to the partners because whatever she does is not enough to gain the partners’ approval. Another example is when, in awarding promotions, a female boss chooses a male subordinate over a female employee. If both employees have equal qualifications for the promotion, the female boss would most likely be subject to gossip involving her decision. Task 7: Gendered Discourses Dream Wedding In the article A Dream Wedding by Gayle Rouncivell, the author seemed to imply that dream weddings are made more to satisfy the women in the relationship than the men. The word ‘couple’ is mentioned a few times. Although in this context the term most probably denotes a man and a woman, the word ‘bride’ is specifically mentioned yet the word ‘bridegroom’ is nowhere to be found. At Leighton Hall, the bride would have her fairytale dream wedding and she has the choice between two rooms to have the said wedding. It would seem that this important decision only falls on the female’s shoulder. Moreover, the last part of the article tells how, if the bride should choose to get married in the main hall, she would make an amazing entrance. This idea again turns the focus on the female as all the guests would have their eyes on her, entering the hall. The bridegroom is not mentioned here, seemingly unimportant. In this gendered discourse, it would appear that weddings are mostly important for women, not men. Everything about a wedding, starting with the venue, should appeal to the woman. Since weddings symbolize marriage, it would be safe to assume that women find marriage to be a very important institution because of all the intricacies that women go through just to have their dream wedding. Compulsory Heterosexuality In the same article, the gendered discourse on compulsory heterosexuality can be deemed from the terms the writer used. Since the word ‘bride’ is often associated with ‘bridegroom’, the article implies that it is a heterosexual female marrying a heterosexual male because those words are used to call the principal parties of a wedding ceremony. With this line of reasoning then, it is assumed that the term ‘couple’ as used in the article is to mean a heterosexual male and female and not the widely accepted gays and lesbians. Indeed, even in today’s society where some places accept the union of two men or two women in matrimony, the article seems to say that an ideal wedding or a dream wedding can only happen between a man and a woman. Similar to the gendered discourse on dream weddings, the writer’s use of the word ‘bride’ leads to the discussion of real women deciding on details of their dream weddings. As such, should women who are attracted to other women plan a similar event, this would not be a dream wedding. Consequently, in relating to fairytale discourses, the heterosexual couple would be live happily ever after like in fairytales. Task Eight: Stereotypical Interaction Styles The individual reading an extract from a speech by politician Oona King (2013) in the House of Commons will see that despite the progress in women’s rights, society still favors men more than women. In the work environment, for example, it is not unusual to have gender issues especially if people believe in the stereotypical interactional styles females and males are supposed to manifest. In gender roles and gendered professions, these stereotypes may cause problems for a female authority with more male employees, for example. Aggressiveness is supposedly a typical male behavior. As such, whenever a male boss speaks his mind in a meeting, effectively quieting whoever is speaking, the audience does not think he is being rude. The audience accepts this behavior because men are supposed to be aggressive beings. (Tannen) On the other hand, if a female boss does the same thing, she will be called names behind her back and will be thought of as rude. The audience will be taken aback by the sudden outburst because women are supposed to just give supportive feedback. Even in the age of feminism, some people believe women should not speak their minds and are only capable of being a support system to the males. Because of the stereotypical features of the male and female interactional styles, a worker may have an altered idea of oneself, limiting his or her potential to grow as a person and as an employee. Should a male employee be more indirect or collaborative in the dealing with his co-workers, it may be pointed out to him that those are feminine traits. If so, this male employee would then have self-doubts about his personality and sexuality. This male employee, if initially industrious and eager to work, may become withdrawn and uneasy in his interactions with people while he tries to understand himself. As can be inferred from the previous paragraph, the opinions of other people also influence the interactional styles of men and women. Research has shown that women who showed assertiveness were regarded knowledgeable if compared to timid women. (Carli) However, they were disliked by other women as well as majority of their male counterparts. This may be due in part to the common belief that men are the assertive beings. Thus, it is not surprising to see that every country has more male leaders than females, especially for important positions such as that of president and prime minister. For females, and maybe some males, who do not conform to the stereotypical features of interactional styles, the double-blind dilemma usually happens. A damned-if-you-do, doomed-if-you-don’t situation, career women are often faced with the question of trying to please everyone else or herself. While some would say it would be easier for everyone if the female executive just went with the flow, many independent and strong-willed women would be unwilling to shortchange themselves just to make others like them. After all, they would argue, should they not do what is expected of them, the very same people would call them incompetent and undeserving of the position they are in. Reference: Basow, S.A., 2002. Androcentrism. In J.Worell, ed. 2002. Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender. San Diego: Academic Press. Bolich, G. G., 2007. Conversing on Gender. Raleigh: Psyche’s Press. Carli, L., 1990. Gender, language and influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(5), pp. 941-51. Catalyst., 2007. The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership. New York: Catalyst. Dictionary.com, 2013. Dictionary.com. [online]. Available through [Accessed 05 June 2013]. Hughes, S., 2012. Hook off! After eight years, ranting Hamza finally lands in America to face terror trial. The Sun, [online]. Available at http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/1318249/Sling-your-hook.html [Accessed 07 June 2013] Moss, S., 2007. Do Women Really Talk More? Guardian News and Media Limited. [online]. Available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/27/familyandrelationships [Accessed 07 June 2013] Tannen, D., 1994. Talking from 9-5: men and women in the workplace: Language; sex and power. New York: Avon (name of your lecturer), 2013. An extract from a speech by Oona King MP in a House of Commons debate on the findings of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. CML3106 Language and Power at Work. (your university name), unpublished. Read More