Comparing men and women, there are differences in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and in the body stances and movements that accompany speech . In phonology, American women tend to pronounce their vowels more peripherally (“rant,” “rint” when saying the word “rent”), whereas men tend to pronounce theirs more centrally (“runt”). In public contexts, Japanese women tend to adopt an artificially high voice, for the sake of politeness, according to their traditional culture. Women tend to be more careful about uneducated speech. This trend shows up in both the United States and England. Men may adopt working-class speech because they associate it with masculinity. Perhaps women pay more attention to the media, in which standard dialects are employed.
According to Robin Lakoff (2004), the use of certain types of words and expressions has been associated with women’s traditional lesser power in American society . For example, Oh dear, Oh fudge, and Goodness! are less forceful than Hell and Damn. Watch the lips of a disgruntled athlete in a televised competition, such as a football game. What’s the likelihood he’s saying “Phooey on you”? Women, by contrast, are more likely to use such adjectives as adorable, charming, sweet, cute, lovely, and divine than men are.
Let’s return to sports and color terminology for additional illustration of differences in lexical (vocabulary) distinctions that men and women make. Men typically know more terms related to sports, make more distinctions among them (e.g., runs versus points), and try to use the terms more precisely than women do. Correspondingly, influenced more by the fashion and cosmetics industries than men are, women use more color terms and attempt to use them more specifically than men do. Thus, when I lecture on sociolinguistics, and to make this point, I bring an off purple shirt to class. Holding it up, I first ask women to say aloud what color the shirt is. The women rarely answer with a uniform voice, as they try to distinguish the actual shade (mauve, lavender, lilac, violet, or some other purplish hue). Then I ask the men, who consistently answer as one, “PURPLE.” Rare is the man who on the spur of the moment can imagine the difference between fuchsia and magenta.
Differences in the linguistic strategies and behavior of men and women are examined in several books by the well-known sociolinguist Deborah Tannen (1990; ed. 1993). Tannen uses the terms “rapport” and “report” to contrast women’s and men’s overall linguistic styles. Women, says Tannen, typically use language and the body movements that accompany it to build rapport, social connections with others.
Men, on the other hand, tend to make reports, reciting information that serves to establish a place for themselves in a hierarchy, as they also attempt to determine the relative ranks of their conversation mates.