es of women «s speech, relating mostly to vocabulary, but also to syntactic structures. Until then, few outside hallowed linguistic circles had even heard of the tag-question or had any idea what it was. The following are examples of tag questions:. G. John is here, isn »t he?. G. They will be arriving shortly, won «t they? Then, there has been furious debate about whether women use more tag-questions than men and if so, what it means. Various women »s magazines offer advice on how to rid oneself of this and other female forms of speech, with the result that a further set of stereotypes has emerged, this time based on the research of linguists. The following is part of the most recent list provided by Lakoff:
· Women «s intonational contours display more variety than men» s.
· Women use diminutives and euphemisms more than men.
· Women make more use of expressive forms (adjectives, not nouns or verbs and in that category, those expressing emotional rather than intellectual evaluation) more than men: lovely, divine.
· Women use hedges of all kinds more than men.
· Women use intonation patterns that resemble questions, indicating uncertainty or need for approval.
· Women «s voices are breathier than men» s.
· Women are more indirect and polite than men.
· In conversation, women are more likely to be interrupted, less likely to introduce successful topics.
· Women's communicative style tends to be collaborative rather than competitive.
· More of women «s communication is expressed non verbally (by gesture and intonation) than men» s.
· Women are more careful to be «correct» when they speak, using better grammar and fewer colloquialisms than men. [Lakoff R, 1990]
Debate currently rages about most of the features mentioned above. Much work has been done on pitch, intonation, hedges, politeness and `correctness«. Sociolinguists such as Peter Trudgill and William Labove have consistently shown that, on average, women speak a form of language more approaching the standard (ie more `correct») than men of a similar social background. [Labov W., 1972]. Again, the problem is, how should this be interpreted? Does it mean that women are linguistically more conservative than men? Attempting to answer such questions is another day «s work.Let us turn to the area that has received most attention in recent times, that of» communicative styles « or »strategies«. Initially research was carried out on private conversation but more recently attention has focused on women »s linguistic behaviour in the workplace and whether, at least in part, it can be blamed for the existence of the« Glass Ceiling ». Tannen «s work has excited considerable controversy among linguists. Her views can be summarised as follows: men tend to employ »contest« strategies and women »community« strategies. [Tanner D., 1994]. If we accept such a dichotomy, it provides an easy explanation for women »s lack of advancement in the workplace: women are too busy establishing« community » or «rapport» instead of climbing the ladder by engaging in the «contest» strategies which are more successful in organisations founded on hierarchy. Of course, it is not as si...
