Language Gender & Sex- Essay 1200 Words   The literature on language and gender identifies several conversational features which are said to exhibit differences in male/female use

Language Gender & Sex- Essay 1200 Words

The literature on language and gender identifies several conversational features which are said to exhibit differences in male/female use.  (These include interruption and simultaneous speech, fillers and backchannels (minimal responses), hedges, silence, euphemism (circumlocution), directness, indirectness, politeness strategies, code switching etc.).  Select any two of these features for which there are many examples in your data, and write an essay explaining:

a)      how the feature is defined in the literature; (cite two sources of your definition);                4marks                                        

b)      the importance of gender in the use of the feature in conversation, as explained by  two sources; 8 marks  

c)      2 main functions for which the feature is used in your recording, each illustrated by appropriate examples transcribed from your recording [1] and inserted in your essay text.  For each example, you must explain who uses the feature (gender and role), the response of the other interlocutors; AND the differences from / similarities to the literature discussed in b) above (with reasons).   28 marks 

TOTAL    40 marks                               

                                    (Converted to 20% of course grade)

Please cite sources, using an accepted citation style in the text (MLA) and in your list of references at the end of your essay.  Up to 10 / 40 marks will be deducted for errors in mechanics – including absent or poor citations, grammatical mistakes - and non-academic discourse style.