THE DEFICIT MODEL | ROBIN LAKOFF

In 1975 Robin Lakoff published 'Language on women's place', a study of the female language.
Her work is based on data recorded in a white - middle class context: she recorded some conversations between students of a university and the she analyzed them.

Lakoff's work has some issues: women's speeches might have changed because of the time passing for instance. 
Moreover, Robin has considered just a small sample of the American population, it might be not representative of all the women in the US and in the world.
Because of that her theory can be challenged.

The Deficit Model conclusions are:

• Women use hedging (sort of, kind of, it seems like...)

• Women use (super)polite forms (would you mind, if you don't mind...)

• Women use tag questions (isn't it?...)

• Women speak in italics (giving emphasis on adverbs like 'very')

• Women use empty adjectives (divine, adorable, lovely...)

• Women use hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation

• Women use direct quotations (she was like: "...")

• Women have a special lexicon (more wide vocabulary)

• Women use question intonation in declarative sentences, expressing uncertainty

• Women use 'wh' imperatives (why don't you open the door?...)

• Women speak less frequently

• Women overuse qualifiers (I think that...)

• Women apologize more (I'm sorry, but I think that...)

• Women use modal constructions (can, would, should...)

• Women avoid coarse language

• Women use indirect commands

• Women use more intensifier (I'm so glad...)

• Women have a lack of a sense of humor

Some observations:
Lakoff says that women use super-polite forms. It could be right in 1975, but now it happens less frequently.
Nowadays women tend to choose some language features that are more likely to by used by men. It is possibly due to the females' genuine need to be equal in power and in consideration as males.

Because of that women use more frequently a more direct language, that can include swears, shouting etc. This goes against another Principles of the deficit Model.

 

Let's consider an example: the actress Jennifer Lawrence posted an observation on Facebook (13 October). In her text, she swears, she uses empty adjectives as a parody of what a woman should act like, showing a great use of sarcasm and sense of humor.
It's evident from there that the Lakoff's model is weak today.

LANGUAGE AND GENDER: ANALYSIS OF JENNIFER LAWRENCE'S POST ON FACEBOOK

Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?

Complete post: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLawrence/post/10153012783811793:0

On the 13th October, Jennifer Lawrence posted on her Facebook page a text with the purpose of inform the aspiring female stars that the show-business is men-dominated.

She poured out her emotions, criticizing the currently jet set and the Sony company.

Her post is full of linguistic features typically used by women, but she actually uses even male ones.

The actress uses words like 'adorable', or 'likable', that immediately make us think that who is speaking is a female.

'I'm over trying to find the "adorable" way to state my opinion and still be likable'.

In this sentence, it's evident the use of sarcasm: the word adorable, written with the inverted commas, make the audience think that she is criticizing the way that her collaborators are considering her opinion (and the other female-stars ones).

Jennifer states her point of view using linguistic features with the purpose of make her seem really direct and honest and confident with the audience. These are mainly used by males.

'I'm even the asshole who didn't do anything about the ice-bucket challenge', 'I should have written a check, but I fucking forgot, okay?', 'I want to be honest and open and, fingers crossed, not piss anyone off'', 'A few weeks ago at work, I spoke my mind and gave my opinion in a clear and no-bullshit way', 'When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks', 'Fuck that!'.

All these phrases make the reader focus on what Jennifer is saying, because she express herself using dysphemisms, blunt and socially unacceptable words or sentences. As a consequence, the audience is more likely to remember the concepts expressed very directly and with swears.

Generally speaking, men tend to use a language enriched with dysphemisms, because they are usually more direct, avoiding details, and get the point immediately.

On the other hand,one of the stereotypes linked to the female gender is that women are generally rambling, because they take care a lot about details and secondary information.

LANGUAGE AND POWER

There is no actual 'Language and power' question on paper 2.
However, this terminology/theory is useful for analysing a text considering gender, occupation and social class. It is also potentially useful for paper 1.

 

What is power?
We agree that it is authority over someone, depending on context. Power is also a dynamic factor.
It can derive from education, beliefs, politics, social class, faith, popularity, aesthetic and personality.
Power can also be written. We can find some form of control even online.

Why is an individual allowed power in that context?
The physical environment is really important and useful here.
A teacher, for instance, have the power over his students due to the school setting. Outside the school his role doesn't include any form of control over the student.

Basic terms:

• Power in discourse - the ways in which power is manifested through language.
• Power behind discourse - the contextual reasons for the power happening (mainly in discourse). E.g. a teacher has the power on the class because he has more knowledge, the physical environment as said, he is an authority, he is older, he has control due to his profession, his linguistic register, the tone of his voice, he usually asks questions, he uses the subject specific lexis, he uses re-casting.
• Instrumental power - power used to mantain and enforce authority (media, police-army, teachers, queen, parents).
• Influential power - power used to persuade or influence others (media, politicians, church-religion in general, teachers, queen, brands and companies, parents, doctors).

According to Wareing (1999), there are three different types of power:

• Political power - power held by politicians, law and police.
• Social grup power - power held by people as result of social variables such as social class, age, ethnicity.
• Personal power - power held by people as a result of their profession (e.g. teachers).

Language strategies used to assert power:

• Oppressive discourse strategy (shouting, swearing...)
• Repressive discourse strategy, a subtle way of asserting power (questions, specific lexis...)