Are Women Held Back by Language?

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investigates the notion that women are shafted by language. The English language is continually changing in order to meet the needs of the people using it. The ever-changing culture we live in affects the way language develops and the way it is used by different people in society. The ideology of a society is reflected in its use of language, and because children learn their values, assumptions and expectations from their parents and the words that they have to learn, this ideology is passed down from generation to generation. For centuries we have lived in a male-dominated society where language has been biased towards men. Men are viewed as being the superior sex and this is reinforced by the use of biased generic terms such as ‘mankind’, which in fact refers to the whole human race. Bias towards men is very often unconscious, thus demonstrating that sexist attitudes are fundamentally integrated into our way of thinking. This archaic view of the world is still rife nowadays. The grammarian Otto Jespersen stated that women have a lesser command of language and vocabulary and he maintains that men’s language has vigour, imagination that women’s language lacks. However, I feel that female authors such as JK Rowling and Danielle Steel can dispel this line of thought. The thought that women’s language differs from male language was explored further by feminist Robin Lakoff in her book, Language and Woman’s Place. She put forward idea that there is a distinct other ‘women’s language.’ She means by this the difference in language used by women and about them. There are several different ways in which female use of language s notable for uncertainty, weakness and excessive politeness. There are several different linguistic features that she uses to make her point. Two of these are the use of so-called ‘affective adjectives’, and ‘intensifiers’. Affective

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