Female Speech Research Articles

Breathiness in normal female speech: Inefficiency versus desirability

Breathiness in normal female speech: Inefficiency versus desirability

Some experimental findings about the question of politeness and women's speech (Research note)

A particular factor in linguistic variation which has often been connected to female speech is politeness, as first described by Lakoff (1973a, 1973b), manifested not only by means of intonation, but also through the use of particular formulae of courtesy, through the use of tag questions at the end of interrogatives, and the use of longer, less direct and peremptory sentences.

Female Speech in Latin Comedy

Evidence has been accumulating from many languages for the existence of distinctive forms of female speech. A consistently observed characteristic of women is that they are more likely than men of the same social class and age to favour usages which belong to an accepted standard or are of high prestige. Women seem to be more conservative than men. They are also widely believed to be more given to polite linguistic forms. It has, for example, been suggested that men use plain imperatives more often than women; women favour modifiers to soften the impact of an order. Numerous other female traits have been found in different languages. In English certain intonation patterns are said to be typical of women. Other pronunciation differences have been noted in various languages, such as the omission or substitution by one sex of a sound used by the other sex. Women have also been shown to differ from men in their use of such words as particles, personal pronouns, titles and kinship terms.

Female Speech in Menander

In recent years the place (or plight) of women in ancient society has attracted much attention. Their legal position, the attitudes towards them on the part of men, the characterization of women in drama, the personality of known and spectacular individuals like Sappho and many other topics have been studied at considerable length from various points of view. It is on the surface, then, somewhat surprising that scarcely any attention has been paid to a topic which in another discipline, linguistics, has proved very popular of late, the question of women’s speech. Sixty years ago the idea that women exhibit a distinctive form of speech was already current; Jespersen devoted a chapter of his Language: its Nature, Development and Origin to ‘The Woman’. Since then with the growth of interest on the part of linguists in sociolinguistic questions an impressive body of literature relating to this topic has accumulated.

Stereotypes of male and female speech: A British study

(1983). Stereotypes of male and female speech: A British study. Central States Speech Journal: Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 255-256.

Toward a Reflective Feminist Theory

The essay begins with a statement of what is necessary in order to develop a logic of social explanation which can account for the creation of female identity, public and private: explore female speech and language; redescribe social reality in a manner that allows for, and sustains, critical reflection: conceptualize plausible alternatives to the prescnt; and avoid repetition of the compulsions of the past. One strong example of a feminist analysis that articulates a discourse for, by, and about women, and a second that ignores the vantage point of the female subject in speaking of or down-ro her from an abstract distance are brought forward and assayed. For the analyst who incorporates the self-understanding of social participants into her explanatory framework, one contenlporary social movement, and one mode of militant reaffirmation of a traditional female identity, both explicitly or implicitly anti-feminist, are offered as challenges to the theoretical imagination. The argument is made and exemplifi...

On Male and Female Speech in the Pueblo Southwest

On Male and Female Speech in the Pueblo Southwest

Role Playing and the Real Thing: Socialization and Standard Speech in Norway

The relationship of social roles to speech patterns is dynamic and intimately dependent on varying interaction contexts. The present study documents differences between female and male speech as a contextualized phenomenon, and shows that using "proper" speech is a female strategy for producing socially effective speech while conforming to a gender identity devaluing direct verbal assertiveness. Tape recordings of natural conversation, interview and test data, and social network diaries are utilized in the analysis. Rural Norwegian females frequently adopt standard language at home as a covert strategy for increasing the forcefulness of their speech when familial roles call for social control of others, despite gender identity constraints discouraging overt verbal assertiveness. Females act as linguistic innovators in the speech community by conforming to gender expectations which discourage direct verbal assertiveness.

The Status of Female Speech Pathologists in Australia: Staff Position and Journal Publication Rate

Low status of women in professions is attributed to social pressures and selection bias favouring males in both male and female dominated professions. The effect of these factors on Australian speech pathologists where 97% of the registrants of the Australian Association of Speech and Hearing (AASH) are women is analysed by publication rate of journal articles (a measure of competence) and staff female to male ratios. Whilst women published 88.5% of the journal articles authored by Australian speech pathologists in the Australian Journal of Human Communication Disorders (1973–1979) and comprise 83.9% of the speech pathology staff in Australia, proportionate representation by sex cannot be accurately assessed: An unknown number of speech pathologists were found not to be registered. Further, the estimate of publication rate by women is confounded by contributions to overseas journals.

Sexe-Invloeden Bij De Beoordeling Van Stem En Uitspraak

In an attempt to develop a standardized instrument to measure subjective voice and pronunciation quality a sample op 35 bipolar seven-point scales was selected and tested for reliability among raters by a preliminary pencil-and-paper investigation. Different groups of subjects were asked to rate the ideal male voice, the ideal female voice, and their own voice on each of the 35 items. The contribution of different subject factors to the variance in the ratings of each concept on each scale separately was established. One of those factors was sex of the rater. For practical reasons, we want this nascent instrument to be equally applicable for male and female speakers. We therefore studied the differences between mean ratings for ideal male speaker and ideal female speaker on each of the scales as well. The results show (1) many significant differences between perceived ideal male and ideal female voice, which qualitatively are rather inde-pendent of the sex of the informant; quantitatively female raters show a tendency to make smaller differences between male and female ideal speaker on the rating scales; (2) male and female raters often differ significantly in their judgment of ideal male voice alone or of ideal female voice alone; where this is the case, the mean judgment of the female raters practically always stands on a more 'extreme' point of the rating scale; (3) male and female raters often differ significantly in the ratings of their own voice; in general, the differences between own voice ratings by males and females on the 35 rating scales are qualitatively the same as those between ratings of male and female ideal voice respectively. These results were compared with Kramer's (1977) study on perceptions of (typical) male and female speech. It is concluded that the same stereo-types play a part in our subject's ideal and self ratings as in the 'typical speech' ratings of Kramer's subjects.

Sex-related variation in the production of predicate types in Japanese

This paper deals with sex-related syntactic differences in Japanese speech. Examined specifically is the claim that there is a marked sex-specificity in the use of predicates, with men tending to use verbs and women more often employing adjectives, the difference being attributed to the more ‘emotional’ and ‘subjective’ nature of female speech. The data used consists of large samples of everyday, informal speech obtained from five male white-collar workers and five middle-class housewives, groups considered to be the most representative or typical in Japanese society. An analysis of the data reveals little, if any, support for the claim that the use of verbal or adjectival sentences is related to the sex of the speaker. The reasons given for expecting women to use adjectival sentences are also examined in some detail.

Attitudes toward male and female speech: Experiments on the effects of sex‐typical language

Two experiments were conducted to test the effects of messages containing sex‐based language distinctions on subjects’ evaluations of the speaker, attitudes toward the message, and attributions of sex‐role characteristics to the speaker. Results of Experiment I indicated that evaluation of the source‐anonymous female speaker differed significantly from evaluation of the source‐anonymous male speaker on the dimensions of sex, command, self‐orientation, and compliance. Results of Experiment II indicated that source‐anonymous sex‐typical speakers were differentially evaluated on the dimensions of command, accomodation, plausibility, and sex. Differential evaluations occurring as a consequence of sex‐based linguistic features has implications for further research on sex effects in communication.

Supervisory Relationships and the Growth in Clinical Effectiveness and Professional Self-Esteem of Undergraduate Student Clinicians during a School-Based Practicum

This study examined the relationship between student clinicians' and supervisors' perceptions of interpersonal conditions offered by supervisors and estimates of professional growth of the student clinicians. Thirty-one female undergraduate speech pathology majors received daily supervision from 31 speech-language pathologists (cooperating teachers) employed in various school districts. Student clinicians and supervisors completed an interpersonal relationship inventory and a rating of clinical effectiveness at the beginning and end of a 12 week daily school-based practicum. The student clinicians also completed a professional self-esteem inventory. Both student clinicians and supervisors perceived a positive supervisory relationship as well as growth in the student clinicians' clinical effectiveness during the practicum experience. In addition, student clinicians perceived that their professional self-concepts had become more similar to their ideal concepts.

Perceptions of communication competence: What's good for the goose is not good for the gander

A Language Stereotype Questionnaire consisting of 36 bi-polar items linked stereo typically to either female speech or male speech was used to elicit college students' perceptions of socially desirable or effective speech and language characteristics in two related experiments. Results from Experiment 1, in which participants gave ratings for socially desirable language traits, indicated that female-linked traits were seen as more desirable than male-linked traits. In Experiment 2 participants gave ratings for either an effective female, effective male, or effective adult, sex-unspecified, speaker. Findings indicated that: (1) perceptions of communication competence for an adult, sex-unspecified, more closely resembled that for an adult woman than for an adult man, and (2) stereotypic female language characteristics were preferred over stereotypic male characteristics for competent female and adult communicators. These results suggest the need for a greater delineation of the specific situations under which these language differences might occur and their possible impact on the outcomes of communication.

Sex roles and dirty word usage: A review of the literature and a reply to Haas.

Haas reported on sex differences in male and female speech, noting that little evidence exists to distinguish between males' and females' use of dirty words. A careful review of the literature reveals numerous empirical studies of the comparative use of dirty words. Profanity and obscenity, although somewhat difficult to control, have been and can be submitted to laboratory study. Documentation of this phenomenon requires a contextual approach, wherein various sociolinguistic factors (speaker-listener characteristics, social-physical setting, and the intent of the message) should be accounted for in both laboratory and field studies. A comparison of laboratory and field data is certainly in order for convergent validation of the process.

Female Speech in Greek and Latin

Female Speech in Greek and Latin

Three-channel time-domain pitch detector using different non-linear digital filters

Nonlinear distortion is an adequate means to enhance the first harmonic of speech signals for time-domain pitch determination. To evaluate the usefulness of nonlinear functions (NLFs) in pitch extractors, 16 NLFs were investigated: odd functions including linear processing, even functions (e.g., full-wave rectification), “mixed” functions (e.g., half-wave rectification), and rectified single sideband (SSB) modulation. These functions were applied to three categories of signals; undistorted male speech, band-limited male speech, and high-pitched female speech. No single NLF was found to perform well for all signal categories. Simultaneous application of three NLFs (odd, even, and SSB) with equal amplitude characteristics, however, gives good results. Using these NLFs, a three-channel time-domain pitch extractor is implemented. After application of the NLFs, the partial signals in the individual channels are linearly filtered by a crude approximation of the inverse filter, and preliminary period boundaries (markers) are derived by threshold analysis. At least in one channel a strong first harmonic and thus a correct marker sequence can be expected. The algorithm finally selects this channel by checking the regularity of the obtained markers.

Male and female spoken language differences: Stereotypes and evidence.

Male speech and female speech have been observed to differ in their form, topic, content, and use. Early writers were largely introspective in their analyses; more recent work has begun to provide empirical evidence. Men may be more loquacious and directive; they use more nonstandard forms, talk more about sports, money, and business, and more frequently refer to time, space, quantity, destructive action, perceptual attributes, physical movements, and objects. Women are often more supportive, polite, and expressive, talk more about home and family, and use more words implying feeling, evaluation, interpretation, and psychological state. A comprehensive theory of "genderlect" must include information about linguistic features under a multiplicity of conditions.

Women's and men's ratings of their own and ideal speech

A study (involving 466 high school and college students) comparing women's and men's ratings of their own and ideal speech showed that a greater number of speech characteristics of males differed from the speech characteristics of the ideal speaker. The results of the study combined with material from the writings of women who have made a conscious effort to change their language indicate that before women continue to try to alter their speech by such means as assertiveness training they should consider the desirable characteristics associated with female speech.

A Comparison of Some Characteristics of Male and Female Speech

A Comparison of Some Characteristics of Male and Female Speech