Sociolinguistics

Introduction & Background

Jim Beggs once said, “What we say is important…for most cases the mouth speaks when the heart is full.” The way we talk is tightly connected to social norms that motivate our choices. As humans we reflect upon the community we surround ourselves to. A lot of research has shown connections to cognitive differences with speech fluctuations. Interestingly enough, the Social Affective Neuroscience and Development (SAND) Lab at UCLA shows that adopted adolescents seem to show the highest level of cognitive variances and therefore are a vital group to conduct a study on. While a stressed-induced situation may vary, for the purposes of this paper a stressful situation is defined as the adoption of children. This experience has been proven to show markers that indicate adopted children deal with more trauma in their childhood and therefore have more fluctuations in the way they speak (Silvers et. Al, 2017). With this in mind, this paper identifies linguistic differences within these groups of children by looking at their volume of speech and word usage. Beyond this, gender may play a role in the interactions of male and female adopted and non-adopted children as topic of conversation may vary and volume of voice can be lower for females than males.

As seen from Eckert, construction of an identity is based on obligations and rights that one has, and based upon the expectation they have within a society (Eckert et.al, 2013). As human beings we are subjugated to indexicality ¹ as we are constantly constructing to build new personas based on the experiences that occur around us. Gender can have different responses and the context that individual places themselves in will allow one to make choices and choose which face they want to display. The environment we are in shapes us and the outcome is the communicative style we put forward. In other words, people use different performative displays to communicate aspects of their moment-to-moment identities (Butler, 1990).

In considering speech differences between genders, Debora Tannen’s viewpoint on gender is that men portray their speech behavior as hierarchical, meaning that they are actively trying to assert dominance, whereas women are seen as more supportive and less demeaning (Tannen, 1990). In simpler terms a man is deemed in society to be more assertive, whereas women are not. This study demonstrates how adolescents’ use of volume and word choice become stylistic resources to convey momentary identity displays consistent with gender expectations as a response to authority.

Methods

For this paper, language differences are being analyzed from a YouTube series called, “The Cut”. These short six-minute videos adequately provide interactions that happen between adopted children and their parents as well as biological kids and their parents. The set-up of the conversation involves answering questions from a deck of cards (Figure 1), and those questions that go unanswered elicits the individual taking a shot of alcohol.

This behavior can act as a type of identity display, for sake of understanding it deems to see whether the act of taking alcohol, i.e. not answering the question, is a nature seen in one group of kids over the other. The reason this behavior is of importance is because the individual forgoes from talking and therefore indicates a level of deviance from a normal conversation that should occur. On top of linguistic differences in speech orientation, it seeks to answer whether this identity display of taking a shot of alcohol is seen more heavily between adopted kids or not, or if this behavior is more often associated with males or females which would highlight important differences between gender. These videos also deem to answer and compare occurrences of behavior that may be expected by society when in reality there could be occurrences that may not adhere to an anticipated outcome.

Results

This is one example of a conversation between an adopted daughter and her father. This analysis is unique because it highlights an occurrence of negative face ² when the daughter answers no to adopting any children, which in itself shows a response unlikely to be perceived as a decent one in any community. As seen in line 3 of the transcription above, there are some serious differences in both language and body behavior (Figure 2) when the father asks his adopted daughter the question and the response he gets from her. Even more so, the adopted child seems more alert when answering this question and answers it quite thoroughly without any hesitancy to show some remorse or compassion. This interaction seems very deviant because the adopted child then seems to go on about her real parents in which the father seems to have a reaction to, as he starts to shift in his chair and becomes unsure on how to respond. The daughter displays a face threatening act as she is critiquing her father. We believe that adopted children seem to avoid this subject but this participant also uses a higher pitch which is a behavior more associated with a biological child. Indexicality in this example is outwardly defiant as the daughter displays herself as someone who is unable to be affected by her past, and goes to the extent in which she seems disapproving of her dads choice in adopting children.

One other example, that seems more cohesive and supportive of the hypothesis is an interaction between an adopted daughter and her mother. In this example, the daughter is extremely hesitant to ask her mother a question, as seen in line 3, whereas biological children in the other interactions in the same videos had no problem in doing so. Her shyness comes off as peculiar as the question, although personal, is not anything to be hesitant from. This highlights an identity face that could have been developed due to strenuous conditions from her childhood that makes this child unsure of her actions. As Tannen also proclaimed, women tend to be less assertive as compared to men so a gender difference could be in effect in this example as well. However, that is not to say that all adopted children act in one way as there are some cases where the adolescents are actually more geared to raise their volume and use proactive language to purposefully exhibit bad behavior. Children are often times a tricky group to study as their development can be easily altered by what they face and respond by displaying different indexicalities (Umberson et. al, 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion, differences in behavior can be well associated with how the world perceives certain people to behave. Even though this paper points out various examples of behavior that elicit differences in gender and language, there is no guarantee that this is a product of how these young children believe that they should behave versus the way they truly want to. Both word usage and speech volume showcase a wide variety of implications that can still vary by situation. Adopted children are faced with an early childhood adversity and the way they behave can be the product of their hardships (Juffer et. al, 2011). Kids are often times neglected, especially adopted children, so they develop to pick up on cues around them which they are seldom aware of and this leads to speech and gender differences which coincidently arise from their identity displays they have inherently adapted (Silvers et.al, 2017).

 

Useful YouTube links

A Crash Course on Language and Meaning

Politeness Theory

 

Academic references

Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.

Eckert, P., & McConnel–Ginet, S. (2013). Speech situations, events, and activities. Language and gender (2nd edition).

Juffer, F., Palacios, J., Le Mare, L., Sonuga-Barke, E., Tieman, W., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M., Verhulst, F. (2011). II. Development Of Adopted Children With Histories Of Early    Adversity. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 76(4), 31-61. Retrieved February 25, 2020, from  www.jstor.org/stable/41408756

Silvers, J.A., Goff, B., Gabard-Durnam, L., Gee, D.G., Fareri, D.S., Caldera, C., & Tottenham,    N. (2017). Vigilance, the amygdala, and anxiety in youth with a history of institutional care. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 2, 493-501.

Umberson, D., Williams, K., Thomas, P., Liu, H., & Thomeer, M. (2014). Race, Gender, and Chains of Disadvantage: Childhood Adversity, Social Relationships, and Health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 55(1), 20-38. Retrieved February 25, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/43186878

Tannen, D. (1990). You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York, NY: Morrow.

YouTube Videos

Cut. (2019, March 7). Adopted Kids & Their Parents (Frederick & Marisa)|Truth or Drink [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1m8CU70E0&t=83s

Cut. (2019, March 14). My Adopted Daughter & I Play Truth or Drink (Cynthia & Tabitha |Truth or Drink [Video].YouTube.             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z6gznGsfBM&t=98s

 

Introduction/Background

One context in which gender roles and masculinity often play a significant role is dyadic interactions. Although much research has been done on mixed-sex interactions, research on same-sex interactions, specifically focusing Asian American males, is lacking. The current literature on same-sex interactions between Asian American males involves studies on father-son relationships, but there has not been extensive research on how the degree to which a male identifies with his Asian heritage affects his use of language. Looking at the linguistic units of profanity, interruptions, and speaking volume, this study explores how an Asian American male’s perceived connectedness to his cultural identity manifests itself in the form of aggressive behavior through language. By doing so, this study posits that within a competitive game setting, aggressive displays such as speaking at a higher volume and using both more profanity and non-supportive interruptions at a greater frequency during male-male interactions, are indices of sociocultural expectations that Asian American males who are strongly connected to their heritage might feel pressured to conform to. While this correlation may exist in certain settings such as in a competitive game setting, this hyper masculine behavior may, instead, be a product of a male’s relational proximity or perceived closeness to his audience, or a way for a him to demonstrate camaraderie by maintaining in-group norms.

Methods

Target population

Participants included four Asian American males and one, non-Asian male who were all part of the same friend group. All of the participants were college students, also known as emerging adults, with ages ranging from 18 to 22 years. Likewise, homosexual males were excluded from this study because sexual orientation was a potential confounding variable. Participation in this study was voluntary. 

Data collection

Data collection involved collecting audio recordings of participants playing the competitive board game, Taboo, where partners were tasked with describing and guessing words. In each round, the non-Asian friend was tasked with being the guesser while the describer would rotate amongst the Asian American friends until all had participated. At the end of the rounds, the Asian American participants were asked to complete an exit survey to be kept and used for later analysis. The recordings were then compiled and analyzed for each pairing using an online software, and then subsequently transcribed for further analysis.

Linguistic units

This study focused specifically on the linguistic features of interruption, profanity, and volume as units for analysis. In the study, interruptions were defined as either cooperative/supportive or competitive/non-supportive. Cooperative interruptions, as described in Yang (1996) involves interruptions that are more supportive of a speaker’s hold of the floor and serve to draw focus on the speaker’s claims or statement. Likewise, Yang (1996) characterizes competitive interruptions as interruptions that attempt to take the floor away from a main speaker when another speaker feels that their ideas are more valuable. Additionally, profanity was categorized as mild, medium, or strong, with mild profanity being words that one could use in everyday conversations without much offense or words that are acceptable on nationally broadcasted media, strong profanity being words that most individuals would not use in a school setting without some sort of disciplinary consequence, and medium falling roughly between the two. Lastly, volume in this study was differentiated into categories of normal, loud, and soft. Normal volume was defined as a speaking volume appropriate in a café, soft volume was defined as the speaking volume appropriate in a library, and loud volume was defined as the speaking volume appropriate in a noisy environment.

Results

The data collected was comprised of both qualitative and quantitative data. In four different conversations, the frequency of interruptions, profanity, and speaking volume were recorded to assess displays of aggression. The results on interruptions and profanity were further stratified, with interruptions separated between the categories of supportive and non-supportive, and profanity separated between strong, medium, and mild. These results were then compared with results from the exit survey on the participants’ perceived level of connectedness with their Asian heritage to determine if there was a correlation between each of the two variables. A 5 on the survey would indicate a strong connection to a one’s Asian heritage and a 1 on the survey would indicate little to no connection to one’s Asian heritage.

 

 

As indicated in Figure 1, there is no clear difference between the overall use of profanity between males with varying levels of connectedness to his Asian heritage. The average use of profanity in each of the four scenarios was around 3.5 times per the 1.5-minute span of the conversation. However, when stratifying the data to differentiate between the 3 levels of profanity: strong, medium, and mild (Figure 2), there is a clear contrast between each of the participants. Excluding the outlier DAN, it seems like there is a positive correlation between the variables of strong profanity use and perceived connectedness to one’s Asian heritage.

 

 

Likewise, in Figure 3, there is also no clear difference between the overall number of interruptions between males with varying levels of connectedness to his Asian heritage. The average number of interruptions in each of the four scenarios was around 2.5 times per the 1.5-minute span of the conversation. However, when stratifying the data to differentiate between the supportive and non-supportive interruptions (Figure 4) there is a clear contrast between each of the participants. Excluding the outlier DAN, it also seems like there is a positive correlation between the frequency of non-supportive interruptions and perceived connectedness to one’s Asian heritage.

Discussion & Conclusions

Examining the results from the surveys and recordings, there were discrepancies between an Asian American male’s perceived connectedness to his own culture and his expected display of aggression through language during male-male interactions. In some instances, it seemed as if the degree to which a male identified with his Asian heritage was a strong predictor of his displays of aggression. However, this correlation was not applicable to every scenario in the study. What is important to note is that all of the conversations occurred within the parameters of a competitive game amongst a group of friends. As such, regardless of the degree to which an Asian American male identifies with his heritage, this does not mean that this is an identity that is static or present in every situation. The in-group solidarity that Kiesling (1998) calls “camaraderie” could ultimately be the underlying/confounding factor that could also inform the observed results. By constructing their identity within the constraints of heteronormative masculinity, males are pressured to perform in a way that expresses or exerts dominance with others. Yet amongst other males, this shared experience is what ultimately fosters community relationships, something that may have played a role in each of the conversations.

There were several limitations to this study. One of these limitations involved sample size, which was quite small for this study. Likewise, although having a non-Asian male assume the position of a guesser for each round did control for the variable of familiarity to the describer, it may have been more conducive to have participants play multiple rounds of Taboo and then take the average of the results. Additionally, although the study did define the various operational variables, it would have been better if they were defined quantitatively as opposed to qualitatively. Future studies could possibly benefit from taking a look at the effect of racial identity of a partner in a conversational dyad on the level of aggression displayed in language used by Asian American men.

The main takeaway of this study was that, although there seems to be somewhat of a positive correlation between an Asian American male’s feelings of connectedness to his culture and the level of aggression he displays in his language, this does not hold true for all Asian American males. There are likely a multitude of factors which could possibly contribute to such an observation, one of which could be due to the desire for such males to maintain in-group norms by performing hyper masculine acts such as displaying aggressive behavior.

 

Other Informative Works    

How Men Talk (an opinion piece on Medium)

Male Friendships Are Just Bullying (a YouTube episode by CollegeHumor)

The Comedians Challenging Stereotypes About Asian-American Masculinity (The New York Times article)

 

 

References

Kiesling, S. F. (1998). Men’s identities and sociolinguistic variation: The case of fraternity men. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2(1), 69-99.

Yang, L. C. (1996, October). Interruptions and intonation. In Proceeding of Fourth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing. ICSLP’96 (Vol. 3, pp. 1872-1875). IEEE.

Introduction and Background

Often, common vocabulary is marked for one specific gender but is continually used as the default word, allowing for gendered language to exist. The gradual shift to include gender-neutral words involves altering words like “fireman” to a more inclusive term, “firefighter”. However, because the word “fireman” originated to specifically describe men that put out fires for a living, and has been in constant circulation since, it is typical to use the gendered word regularly, without even realizing it. Another side effect relies on the implicit associations that brains make when hearing the word “firefighter”, a traditionally male occupation. Although the gender-inclusive word is being used, because of its institution, it is common for it to directly index a male firefighter.

Within this research experiment, the focus is surrounded upon whether shifting to gender-inclusive language reduces implicit associations and removes mental assumptions. In doing so, two experimental groups were composed of multiple groups of UCLA students and their responses and reactions to gender neutral language were recorded. Because the participants share a common concern for gender equality, as do most people, they will learn how to promote gender equality better as they interact regularly.

Through the introduction of gender inclusive language in conversation, understanding the impact of making illogical, implicit associations is revealed and correction of language is made. Demonstrated through implicit bias tests, the phenomenon of those who understood their gendered mistake showed less automatic association towards a specific gender regarding professions was created. Thus, due to the prior exchange, adopting gender neutral language into one’s vocabulary helped intentionally shape others’ implicit associations.

Methods

Multiple groups of UCLA students were randomly sampled from the specific population of the track and field team. They were given the task of formulating a story about the images placed in front of them. The set of images included: a house on fire, a person on the phone, a fire truck, a firefighter with a hose, a firefighter carrying a person to safety, an EMT using a defibrillator, and a person thanking a firefighter. The first set of groups (3) will be asked to formulate a story about the sequence of images and then asked to complete an implicit bias test centered around gendered professions. The purpose of the implicit test is to evaluate attitudes or beliefs that are not normally exposed or reported willingly. For this experiment, participants will be tested on the speed and accuracy of their associations when pairing words like children and business with either men or women, as directed.

Within the next set of groups (3), participants were asked to formulate a story about the same sequence of images, however, a “secret agent” was selected to participate within all the different groups. The secret agent was tasked with the objective of only using gender-neutral language when formulating the story. The other conversationalists were recorded to see if they followed suit with the gender-neutral language and if they applied certain gendered words or pronouns to the person they were describing. Shortly after, the participants were asked to complete the same implicit bias test as described above. The results were focused towards how many more women/men show implicit bias over men/women, and how many people exposed to the gender-neutral conversation completed the test with less or no bias over those who were not. My hypothesis is as follows, the use of gender-neutral language will promote the increased cognitive involvement of women which, in turn, will remove male bias in mental associations. By coming to this conclusion, or one similar, the importance (if any) of adopting gender neutral language into common vocabulary can be understood.

Results and Analysis

Throughout all groups, male implicit bias was assessed through the gender and career Implicit Association Test (IAT). Out of 14 people, half men and half women, males showed more automatic preference toward male and career than did females (Figure 1, Figure 2). As in Experiment 1, male implicit bias was assessed through the IAT after recording a previous exchange about the sequence of images while solely using gendered language. Compared to Experiment 2, where participants took the IAT test after having been exposed to gender-neutral language through the secret agent. As illustrated in Figure 3, people exposed to the gender-neutral language (Experiment 2) demonstrated less male implicit bias than those in Experiment 1.

This example is an excerpt from a group in Experiment 2 after being presented with the images and asked to formulate a story. One member is asked to be the secret agent and is privately told to only use gender-neutral language when telling the story and to correct those who automatically associate a certain person with a certain gender. All members of the group are friends and are comfortable interacting with each other.

The initial person, Cameron, immediately assumes and assigns the gender of the figure he is looking at in the picture to male (line 1).  Jade interrupts him (line 3), presumably because she disagrees with how the story is supposed to begin. The secret agent agrees with Jade and prompts the continuation of her storytelling. Again, the gender of the figure is assumed and assigned male. The secret agent initiates repair, which indicates that the word used was problematic. The secret agent questions Jade about her reasoning behind referring to the person as a “guy”. The question does not signify a lack of understanding between the two conversationalists nor does it ask for clarification, instead the question is a means of conveying that using the term “guy” is problematic. Afterwards due to the silence, Jade understands that she may have mislabeled the figure’s gender, realizing that there are no significant distinguishing marks that allow her to label the figure a man. The secret agent has therefore created a conversation in which the terms that are considered problematic are avoided. The act of simply conveying issue with the use of gendered terms, prompts the other person to understand the problematic feature of their choice of words and correct any of their supplementary language. Because of the secret agent’s stance, Jade continues to solely use gender-neutral terms (lines 9-16) to describe the rest of the people involved in the story. Because the secret agent initiates repair about using the term “guy”, and Jade’s subsequent language avoids using gendered terms, a phenomenon is created that is effective in reducing male associations.

Discussion and Conclusions

Within discourse and conversation, people may be completely unaware of the implicit male bias they possess, especially when asked to draw their own conclusions about a nondescript person or thing. For many, it is an instinct to attribute certain words or images with a certain gender. But with the incorporation of gender-neutral speech styles, there can be a decrease in implicit male bias and thus an increase in the cognitive awareness of women. Along with the introduction of gender-neutral language, the recognition of a person’s own incorrect, automatic association reduces further male bias. As shown in Experiment 2, each member of the group begins with automatically assigning the male gender to the person in the sequence of images, but when their claim is disputed, each person recognizes their false assumption and changes their approach. From then on, most people were recorded to continue telling the story but now with the adoption of gender-neutral speech. So, with the understanding of their careless, implicit male bias, people open their minds to allow the possibility that both genders could suffice as the “person” or “firefighter”. Shortly after having been exposed to gender-neutral language within the conversation, those that followed suit performed better on the implicit bias test afterwards. Because of this, the importance of adopting gender neutral language into our common vocabulary becomes evident.

 

References

Gauhar, Z., Anderson, J., Li, S., & Fox, S. P. (n.d.). Why gender-inclusive language is important. Retrieved from https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2016/09/why- gender- inclusive-language-is-important

Gender-Inclusive Language. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/gender-inclusive-language/

Harris, C. A., Blencowe, N., & Telem, D. A. (2017, December). What is in a Pronoun?: Why Gender-fair Language Matters. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5774006/

Jennifer, L, A., Ali, Bhardwaj, S., Burgh, G., Glen, … Portilla, L. (2014, January 16). BU Research: A Riddle Reveals Depth of Gender Bias: BU Today. Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/articles/2014/bu-research-riddle-reveals-the-depth-of-gender-bias/

Lingquivst, A (2019, July 15). Reducing a Male Bias in Language? Establishing the Efficiency of Three Different Gender-Fair Language Strategies. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-018-0974-9

Rogers, A. (2019, August 15). Actually, Gender-Neutral Pronouns Can Change a Culture. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/actually-gender-neutral-pronouns-can-change-a-culture/

Tavits, M., & Pérez, E. O. (2019, August 20). Language influences mass opinion toward gender and LGBT equality. Retrieved from https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16781

 

Appendix

 

The implicit bias test administered to the participants:

Gender and Career: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

 

The sequence of images for the formulation of the story:

Introduction and Background

According to Parsons (1964), male and female have often been viewed as two clearly defined and opposite identities and their separate roles maintain a sense of balance in society. This belief leads to the dominance model which states that the differences observed in women and men’s speech are established because of male’s natural dominance over women. As a result the dominance model persists to keep women subordinate to men (Penelope, 1990).

To learn more about the dominance model as well as Robin Lakoff’s Women language theory, check out this YouTube Video! 

Interruptions is the focus of this blog analysis because this linguistic feature can reveal a lot about where the speaker is coming from in terms of his social behaviors and norms that he is influenced by. Interruptions often serve as a way to take over from the initial speaker’s point by asserting the interrupter’s own statements. For the purposes of this research, interruptions were defined as a statement, comment, or recommendation made by subject two during subject one’s statement, comment, or recommendation to undermine subject one’s thoughts and/or take the floor from subject one.

It is a common belief that men carry out interruptions more than women and women get interrupted more than men; however, previous studies have shown interruptions between men and women may be more related to a power dynamic rather than gender. For instance an article by James and Clarke (1993) state that there were not any significant genders patterns during interpretations.

Interruptions can also be a result of a power dynamic or hierarchy that is set in place. It is less of a social deviance for one who possesses a superior standing due to position determined by society, finances, education, seniority, and/or profession to carry out more interruptions. Lastly interruptions may be the result of a combination of those two or other factors.

Check out this app that counts how many times men interrupt women! 

This blog specifically analyzed these linguistic features in the popular American medical drama television series, Grey’s Anatomy, which started in 2005 and is still airing today! The series focuses on the journey of surgical interns into surgical residents at Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The two characters analyzed were Alex Karev and Meredith Grey. The purpose of this study was to observe whether scripted media showed the dominance model, a power dynamic, or a combination of both or other factors by specifically analyzing the interruptions made by surgical residents of different genders.

Through analyzing conversations in one Grey’s Anatomy episode, the results showed that the male surgical resident interrupted primarily because of his professional status, which he closely identified with. He only interrupted his subordinates but never his superiors or bosses, which reinforces the hospital’s professional hierarchy. The female surgical resident on the other hand mainly interrupted her superiors but only when she had an advantage over her recipient. This was to preserve her professional standing and her socially perceived character.

Methods

The methods for this study involved a conversation-analytic (CA) approach, which is a fancy term for analyzing conversations. This blog analyzed conversations between superiors/subordinates and the two focused characters to describe how the interruptions occur. I transcribed the excerpt of conversations that involve interruptions by Karev and Grey in an episode from season four.

Season four narrates the daily lives and struggles of the main characters as they embark on their journey as first year residents. As residents they now are responsible for teaching their own interns, but also have to report to their superiors who include the attending, fellows, and chief of surgery. I analyzed the context in which the interruptions took place (i.e. in surgery, in the ICU, outside the hospital, etc) and with whom (i.e. their subordinates, superiors, or colleagues). I also focused on the means in which the interruptions were carried out such as with the uses of pauses, increase in volume, politeness, etc.

Check out Chase Wesley Raymond’s article about gender and sexuality in “Family Guy” using conversation analysis.  

Results and Discussion

The first example is from season four episode five of Grey’s Anatomy which narrates the characters first day as new residents. The following transcript is a conversation between first year resident Meredith Grey and her neurosurgeon attending boyfriend, and therefore her superior, Derek Shepherd.

The first interruption by Grey took place in line five and it is accompanied by an emphasis on the word “that.” The emphasis on “that” along with her rapid speech in line three displays her attempt to share her thoughts and justify her behavior of carrying her mother’s ashes, which Shepherd perceives as abnormal, as conveyed through the lengthening of his word in line four.

Her need to justify this action can be explained by how women define their status. According to Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2013), men justify and define their status based on their accomplishments, possessions, or institutional position while women justify and define theirs on the basis of their overall character. Grey may perceive the action of carrying her mother’s ashes around as a threat to her character which could affect how the people around her view her. As a result this could negatively affect a potential advancement in her career professionally and/or socially. Therefore in an effort to preserve not only her professional image but also her personal character, she quickly interrupts her superior before he could make any comments that may negatively impact her reputation.

This conclusion is further supported when Grey interrupts a second time as seen in line nine. Shepherd was about to share his thoughts on Grey’s behavior in line eight when she interrupted in line nine by saying that her behavior is highlighting her efforts to evolve, most likely in her character. This comment is significant because it shows her pursuit to evolve as a person and therefore improve her image which validates the odd behavior of carrying around her mother’s ashes in the hospital. In other words, Grey interrupts as a mean to save face and to be perceived highly in the workplace even if the person she is interrupting is her boss.

The following example is another instance of an interruption; however it displays a conversation between first year resident Alex Karev and his intern Norman Shale whom Karev is responsible for teaching and getting acquainted to the work flow of the hospital.

The increased volume when stating the number of hours in surgery and emphasis on key words, both seen in line one, highlights Karev’s assertiveness and power over his intern as he lectures him. After a short pause, Shale tries to clarify his symptoms. However Karev pays no attention to his statement when he gets distracted by another patient and interrupts him in line three by further directing his intern to do something else.

The display of power as seen in the raised voice and the short lecture from Karev to Shale places Karev as professionally dominant over Shale. The professionally hierarchy is already established by the culture and protocol of hospitals, however Karev uses that structure as a means to interrupt and disregard Shale’s comment even though Karev’s responsibility is towards caring for Shale and his education.

In addition, the lecture in line one shows how proudly Karev identifies with his profession as a surgeon, which further exemplifies Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2013) argument that a man finds is personal worth mainly in goods, status, and power in the marketplace. Using increased volume and emphasizing key words, he states the amount of hours a surgeon stands in surgery without food or breaks as defining characteristics and strengths of a surgeon and therefore deserves awe and respect. From this example Karev carries out interruptions with his subordinates as a result of his pride in his profession along with his power from his professional status. This is significant because it reflects where men may extract their credibility to exert their dominance through interruptions.

A final example from season four episode five is a conversation between Grey and the general chief of surgery, Richard Webber, where Grey asks for approval for a pro bono surgery for a young boy without the external structure of an ear in his office.

The norm of society concerning interruptions is that superiors have an acceptable right to interrupt their subordinates. However the excerpt shows Grey interrupting the chief of surgery who is her superior, therefore deeming this example as a deviant, or out of the ordinary, case. She carries this out in linguistic manners by pausing before key words that may evoke an emotional response from Webber, as seen in line one where there is a pause before “earless boy.” She also brings into the conversation and emphasizes other superior figures, Sloan an attending plastic surgeon in line three, with a pause. The introduction of another superior and male figure into the conversation who also agrees with Grey’s course of action gives her request more credibility.

However her first attempt fails when Webber, in line four, interrupts Grey to logically explain why the pro bono surgery cannot take place. Grey counters with her own interruption as she mentions her mother followed by a pause in line eight, since Webber had a professional and romantic relationship with her mother. Since the first strategy of appealing to Webber’s emotions and referencing other male superiors was not a success, Grey approaches the situation differently by resorting to introducing her mother into the conversation.

This approach showcases that Grey will interrupt her superiors when she has an personal advantage over her recipient and their emotions rather than an advantage based on merit or her professional status as a surgeon. These interruptions by Grey are significant because it shows how female may need to resort to other methods of appeal rather than solely relaying on their own merits and authority for a successful appeal.  

Conclusions

These transcriptions show that the context in which a male surgical resident and a female surgical resident interrupt their subordinate and superiors differ in the show Grey’s Anatomy and are not just limited to the dominance or power model.

In the episode analyzed, Karev only interrupted his subordinate, such as his intern, but did not carry out interruptions with his superiors. The justification for his interruptions involved asserting his dominance and power through the predetermined professional hierarchy of the hospital. This was also further strengthened by his personal self worth and identity in his profession. Grey primarily interrupted her superiors, but only when she had an emotional advantage over her recipient to preserve and highlight positive aspects of her reputation.

Although there is not enough information to conclude that female surgical residents on the show are more concerned with saving face and the males are not or males closely identify with their dominant profession and females do not, the analysis does show that interruptions involve a variety of factors.

Despite the limitation that script media has on the extent to which the conclusions drawn from this show can be applied to real-life interactions, these conclusions are still significant because it reveals how the show producers and writers perceive the operations that take place in a hospital and how language highlights gender differences in the profession. It also displays what they define as social and behavioral norms in a medical setting and how that affects patient care and workplace relationships. This affects the viewers by playing a role in how they define and accept the social and behavioral norms they see on television and by possibly distorting their expectations what they to expect in a real-life hospital setting.

 

References

an ABC Studios production; Shondaland; created by Shonda Rhimes. (2013). Grey’s anatomy. Season four episode five. Burbank, Calif. :Distributed by Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Eckert, P., McConnell-Ginet, S. 2013. Language and Gender. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

James, Deborah and Clarke, Sandra. 1993. Women, men and interruptions: a critical review. In   Tannen 1993, 231–280.

Parsons, Talcott. 1964. The Social System. New York: Free Press.

Penelope, Julia. 1990. Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies of the Fathers’ Tongues. New York: Pergamon Press.

Tannen, Deborah. 1994. The relativity of linguistic strategies: rethinking power and solidarity in gender and dominance. In Gender and Discourse, ed. by Deborah Tannen, 19–52. Oxford University Press.

Introduction and Background

Intrusive interruptions have been associated with dominance, suggesting that in conversation, the participant who makes more interruptions would be more dominant. One study found that in pairs of mixed-sex conversation participants, the individual that identified themselves as the more “dominant” personality showed a higher frequency of interruptions, regardless of their gender (Kollock, Blumstein, & Schwartz, 1985). Another study found that parents were more likely to interrupt their children than vice versa (West & Zimmerman, 1977). These results support the notion that interruptions are related to dominance, but not implicitly tied to gender.

However, if one gender has an overall tendency to be more dominant, one would observe more interruptions in the more dominant gender. Robin Lakoff’s proposed dominance model of communication maintains that men are dominant and women are subordinate, and that this asymmetry is reflected and maintained by language (Eckert & McConnel-Ginet, 2013, p. 39), which suggests that we would observe a higher frequency of interruptions from males than from females in mixed-sex conversation, and no such inequality between participants in same-sex conversation. There are many situations that have found this to be the case, like in public university conversations (Zimmerman & West, 1975), or in supreme court arguments (Feldman & Gill, 2019).

There are also conversation contexts in which other power dynamics overshadow Lakoff’s proposed gender power dynamic, like the parent-child example (West & Zimmerman, 1977), or in the Bachelor franchise. This is explained by Judith Butler’s performativity model, which maintains that gender is “performed,” meaning people make individual choices on how to act in certain contexts to best maintain and perpetuate their gender identity (Eckert & McConnel-Ginet, 2013). This phenomenon was exemplified in this study once the contexts of the conversations analyzed from the Bachelor franchise were explored.

Methods

Twenty-two confrontational or high stress conversations that revolved around a romantic relationship were chosen and transcribed from video clips in various episodes of shows from the Bachelor franchise. These conversations, which each had only two participants, were categorized into same-sex (male-male or female-female) and mixed-sex. The number of conversation “turns” and successful intrusive interruptions were tallied for each participant. Frequency of interruptions was calculated by dividing the number of successful interruptions by the number of total turns.

Results

The three main findings of this study were that (1) females interrupted males more than males interrupted females in mixed sex conversations; (2) males interrupted other males more than they would females; and (3) females interrupted other females just as much as they would males.

Across all twenty-two conversations, males and females made successful interruptions at the same frequency (Table 1a and Figure 1a). This suggested that any inequality observed was not in total volume of interruptions, but in how each gender distributed their interruptions across genders. In fact, females interrupted other females at the same frequency that they would interrupt males. However, males interrupted other males much more than they would interrupt females (Table 1b-c and Figure 1b-c), showing that the asymmetry seen was because men acted differently in mixed-sex versus same-sex conversations. This resulted in the observation that females were more “dominant” in the mixed-sex conversations than the males were (Figure 2).

 

An alternate way to interpret the data is provided in Tables and Figures 3 and 4. Females interrupted each gender at the same frequency while males interrupted males more than they interrupted females. This was consistent both when the frequencies were obtained by counting total interruptions across one gender (fragment) and when the frequencies were obtained by counting interruptions of an individual and finding the average across one gender (individual).

 

Discussion

Earlier, we showed that the asymmetry observed was due to males acting differently in different conversational contexts (since females showed no difference between mixed versus same-sex conversations). So, why did males interrupt each other more than they interrupted females?

This question can be answered by examining the content of mixed-sex and same-sex conversations. Unintentionally, all mixed-sex conversations analyzed were about intimate feelings and all same-sex conversations were explosive arguments. This makes sense, considering these are competitive shows that highlight heterosexual relationships.

Prior research has shown that men show resistance to communicating intimate feelings (Jansz, 2000), and express anger more than women do (Brody & Hall, 2008). Women have also been shown to be more emotionally expressive about their feelings than men (Kring & Gordon, 1998). This offers an explanation as to why males interrupted more successfully in same-sex conversations, which in this study were usually aggressive, than they did in mixed-sex conversation, which in this study were usually about intimate feelings. Males were less inclined to participate in conversations involving intimate feelings, so women dominated more simply because men dominated less. However, males were more expressive in anger-driven conversations than women were, so they showed an increased amount of interruption in same-sex conversation, which was not observed in female same-sex interruption. Males’ ability to switch from being more dominant in certain contexts and less dominant in other contexts, with both actions upholding the male identity, supports Judith Butler’s idea that gender is performed.

Conclusion

The findings of this study provide an example of Judith Butler’s performativity model by showing that males can modify their behavior in different contexts to maintain their masculinity. Being more dominant in conversations involving anger is associated with the male identity, but being less dominant in conversations involving emotions and feelings is also associated with the male identity. However, just because males can be less dominant in certain situations does not mean that Robin Lakoff’s dominance model of communication has been disproved, because in general there are likely more contexts in which females are subjugated and males are dominant.

Lastly, the observations made in this study reveal a lot about the types of conversation that television show producers expect to be most entertaining. The abundance of aggressive arguments in same-sex conversations shows that these may be the types of dynamics that are received well by reality television fans. They also aired a lot of feelings-based mixed-sex conversations, increasing the “dramatic-ness” of the show. Ultimately, the Bachelor franchise producers successfully created a very entertaining platform for the study of unique gender-dynamics.

 

References

Brody, L. R. & Hall, J. A. (2008). “Gender and emotion in context”. Handbook of Emotions, 3, 395–408.

Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and Gender (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Feldman, A., & Gill, R. D. (2019). Power Dynamics in Supreme Court Oral Arguments: The Relationship between Gender and Justice-to-Justice Interruptions. Justice System Journal, 40(3), 173-195.

Fleiss, M., Hilton, M., Woods, N.,Gale, E. & Warner, T. (Producers). (2014-2019). Bachelor in Paradise [Television series]. Mexico: Warner Bros. Television.

Fleiss, M. (Producer). (2002-2020). The Bachelor [Television series]. Warner Bros. Television.

Gale, E. (Producer). (2003-2019). The Bachelorette [Television series]. Warner Bros. Television.

Jansz, J (2000). Masculine identity and restrictive emotionality. Gender and Emotion: Social Psychological Perspectives. pp. 166–186.

Kollock, Peter, Philip Blumstein & Pepper Schwartz (1985). Sex and power in interaction: Conversational privileges and duties. American sociological review, 50, 34-46.

Kring, A. M.; Gordon, A. H. (1998). Sex differences in emotion: expression, experience, and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 74 (3): 686–703.

West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1977). Women’s place in everyday talk: Reflections on parent-child interaction. Social Problems, 24(5), 521–529.

Zimmerman, D. and West, C. (1975). Sex Roles, Interruptions and Silences in Conversation. In B. Thorne & N. Henley (Eds.), Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance, pp. 105-129. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Introduction

The Learning Assistant Program at UCLA was established as part of an initiative to facilitate active and collaborative learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,  Mathematics) courses by teaching undergraduates how to instruct future cohorts of various lower-division courses. The program significantly and positively impacted students: on exam questions requiring higher-order cognitive skills, students with LA exposure performed significantly higher than students without LAs in their classrooms, and students of minority groups especially benefited from LA support (Sellami et al., 2017). While the program is comprehensive in many aspects and does a great job of helping student pass on the gift of teaching and education onto their peers, the topic of educational gender bias has been neglected. Therefore, gendered linguistic choices may reveal if the academic playing field is truly level.

Research has indicated that male and female teachers teach differently, so this study explored specifically how both genders exercise wait time, interruptions, and praise differently with their male and female students (Lacey et al., 1998). Wait times (the time between asking a question and speaking again), connect to West and Zimmerman’s claims about silences and interruptions. According to them, men utilize interruptions to dominate women in conversation and limit silences in an effort to gain conversational power; my study expands specifically on how males in classrooms exert dominance over females, especially male instructors (1983). Also, teachers’ interruptions and shorter wait-times are associated with obstruction of student participation and overall learning effectiveness (Yataganbaba & Yildirim, 2016). Yet another vital tool employed by teachers to motivate students that is influenced by gender is praise, with Wilkinson and Marrett finding that female educators are more complimentary (1985, p.122). Equally important is how this praise is earned; praise based on effort (process praise) motivates students more effectively than praise based on accuracy (person phrase) (Corpus & Lepper, 2007). The majority of this research was performed in primary school classrooms, but my research extends this literature to college students. By exploring these aspects as utilized by undergraduate instructors, we may be able to reveal underlying issues and biases in the educational system, which would require immediate attention and rectification.

Methods

As a part of the program, LAs record footage of them interacting with students during class to track their own progress. Nine LAs volunteered 67 minutes of male LA-led interactions and 71 minutes of female LA-led conversations, and these conversations were categorized as follows: Male LA-Male Student (M/M), Male LA-Female Student (M/F), Female LA-Male Student (F/M), and Female LA-Female Student (F/F). Three aspects were then recorded and analyzed in this study─ (1) Wait times, (2) Interruptions, and (3) Praise.

First, wait times were defined as silences exceeding three seconds between an LA asking a question and either the student answering it or the LA following up. Next, interruptions were outlined as instances where the original speaker was disrupted by another individual; they were classified as successful if the interrupter then took a turn in the conversation to finish their thought, or as unsuccessful if the interrupted subsequently regained control of the conversation. Lastly, praise was characterized as any verbal encouragement from the LA to the student. Person praise referred to comments that complimented the student’s abilities or the accuracy of their answers (e.g., “You got the right answer!”) and process praise emphasized the student’s efforts (e.g., “I liked your logic.”) All data was recorded and analyzed by computing averages (for wait time) and tallies of instances (for interruptions and praise).

Results and Analysis

The results of the study suggest evidence of a gender bias perpetuated by Learning Assistants across all three different aspects I examined. The magnitude of difference between genders did vary, but most of the hypotheses discussed were confirmed to some degree.

1. Wait Time

Generally, male LAs used wait time much less than female LAs and for shorter periods; the lowest wait time averages and instances were observed out of four M/M Student interactions. However, the highest average wait time was found with F/M interactions. A strikingly large difference between LAs was found in F/F conversations, with a total of 13 instances of wait time versus 3 occurrences in M/M interactions. Table 1 summarizes the length and number of wait time incidences in the four different categories previously mentioned.

In most conversations, male students filled silences with filler words and phrases like “Well…” and “Hmm” while female students would wait until they had formulated a cohesive reply. Males’ tendency to reply quickly is consistent with demonstrating that they have mastered the knowledge required to answer the question as an effort to preserve positive face. Brown and Levinson defined the concept as a component of an individual’s public self-image that requires approval from others to establish self-esteem, and studentsIn most conversations, male students filled silences with filler words and phrases like “Well…” and “Hmm” while female students would wait until they had formulated a cohesive reply. Males’ tendency to reply quickly is consistent with demonstrating that they have mastered the knowledge required to answer the question as an effort to preserve positive face. Brown and Levinson defined the concept as a component of an individual’s public self-image that requires approval from others to establish self-esteem, and students’ positive faces become threatened if they fail to adequately impress the LA and their peers (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2013, p.122). On average, female LAs created more wait time than male LAs, but gave male students a significantly longer time to think than females. This discrepancy suggests male students do not need to save face with female instructors as much as with male LAs due to a gender asymmetry, or that female LAs boost males’ self-esteem by unconsciously subjugating themselves and allowing men to dominate through language usage. This suggests male students unconsciously allow themselves to take more time because their intelligence and self-confidence cannot be undermined by a female, even if she is in “power” due to her knowledge and status as an LA.

2. Interruptions

Men also interrupt more, with male LAs being the worst offenders at twice the rate of female LAs (Table 2). This can be attributed to the fact that male LAs are ultimately dominant through the combination of their gender and teaching role; their more frequent interruptions are a show of power and dominance in order to gain conversational control. Female LAs interrupt the least due to their hesitance to threaten their students’ positive faces, since interrupting can be seen as a challenge to the thoughts of the original speaker. Conversely, female students forgo politeness to assert that they are just as knowledgeable as their peers, and interrupt frequently to avoid being seen as less confident or competent if they lose control of the discussion.

Both genders are fairly equal in the success of interruptions (Table 3); this is most likely due to the fact that if the interrupted individual thinks the interjection is valid, they will let the interrupter finish their thought. In conclusion, male LAs use their power to dominate all students, but female students will combat that by fighting to control the discussion as well.

3. Praise 

When analyzing praise from LAs, evidence of a gender asymmetry was less significant. Males offered slightly less praise than females but complimented other males only 21% of the time (Table 4). In contrast, the highest amount of praise seen was in F/F interactions. The hesitance for male LAs to flatter other males is suggestive of traditional ideals of heterosexual masculinity; acting too complimentary to another male may be misinterpreted as non-professional or could be potentially humiliating. However, females are not subjected to the same risk of being perceived as homosexual, and in a society that frequently preaches for women to stop being “pit against” other women, the data suggests that women are doing exactly that.

Additionally, as seen in Table 5, both genders overwhelmingly focused on person praise, but women used person and process praise more evenly. This aligns with previous research that claimed that women are more complimentary, but the few occurrences of male LAs using process praise can originate from the fact that men use language more abstractly than women; men tend to speak about the “bigger picture” while women utilize specific language (Joshi et al., 2020). Prior research also found that power differences play a part as well, since an individual in a dominant role was more likely to speak abstractly. This suggests that power and gender are intimately connected in ways that cannot be distinctly separated with current research, but future studies should endeavor to delineate how exactly all these mechanisms intertwine.

Conclusion

This study found several indications that gender and power asymmetries exist in the academic field, specifically between teachers and students in STEM courses. Obviously, it would be difficult to believe that LAs intentionally set out to treat their students differently according to their gender, but the fact is that despite best intentions, the imbalance still exists. Unfortunately, research proves that these disparities may have long term effects on the success of students; through analyzing strategies such as wait time, interruptions and praise, male teachers assert power over students more overtly than female instructors. They allow students less time to think, interrupt more often, and praise less often and more vaguely. Still, they are judged to be just as effective as their female counterparts, despite identical performance, personality, and appearance (Mitchell & Martin, 2018). This points to a looming issue within the academic community: if these differences are not being recognized in the first place, how will their effects be addressed?

However, this study was limited: a small sample size of nine LAs was examined due to the voluntary aspect of data collection, and while the recordings were intended to be as representative as possible, some students or LAs may have acted differently in the moment. Future directions for research that could expand upon the current investigation could include: analyzing non-STEM courses to explore whether stereotypes of certain genders excelling in particular subjects may play a role; considering alternative characteristics such as sexual orientation, cultural background, or experience level as an LA to isolate the effects of gender; and exploring if the same trends exist with Graduate Teaching Assistants.

This paper is by no means a conclusive or exhaustive analysis, but it does provide enough evidence to suggest that the LA Program may benefit from expanding its curriculum to expose LAs to the potential of unconscious gender bias in order to ensure a more equitable academic experience for all. This recommendation is further substantiated by this TED Talk by Elizabeth Wolfson, founder of the first all-female school in Denver, discussing the implications of a gender-based education and how it can alter students’ futures. The STEM field is currently one of the largest and fastest-growing industries, but women still only make up 35.5% of the population earning bachelor’s degrees in STEM (Catalyst, 2019). However, while women are attempting to close the gender gap by increasing these numbers, will they ever succeed? Small changes can start in classrooms, and it is up to all of us to guarantee no one gets left behind.

 

References

Catalyst. (2019, June 14). Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Quick Take. https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem/

Corpus, J. H., & Lepper, M. R. (2007). The effects of person versus performance praise on children’s motivation: Gender and age as moderating factors. Educational Psychology, 27(4), 487–508. doi: 10.1080/01443410601159852

Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and gender. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Joshi, P. D., Wakslak, C. J., Appel, G., & Huang, L. (2020). Gender differences in communicative abstraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(3), 417–435. doi: 10.1037/pspa0000177

Lacey, C. H., Saleh, A., & Gorman, R. (1998). Teaching nine to five: A study of the teaching styles of male and female professors.

Mitchell, K. M. W., & Martin, J. (2018). Gender Bias in Student Evaluations. PS: Political Science & Politics, 51(03), 648–652. doi: 10.1017/s104909651800001x

Sellami, N., Shaked, S., Laski, F. A., Eagan, K. M., & Sanders, E. R. (2017). Implementation of a learning assistant program improves student performance on higher-order assessments. CBE life sciences education, 16(4), ar62. doi:10.1187/cbe.16-12-0341

West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1983). Small insults: A study of interruptions in cross-sex conversations between unacquainted persons. In B. Thorne, C. Kramarae, & N. Henley (Eds.), Language, gender and society (pp. 102-117). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Wilkinson, L. C., & Marrett, C. B. (1985). Gender influences in classroom interaction. Orlando: Academic Press.

Yataganbaba, E., & Yildirim, R. (2016). Teacher interruptions and limited wait time in EFL young learner classrooms. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 232, 689–695. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.10.094

Introduction

Walt Disney movies play a crucial role in the lives of some children. They provide a source of entertainment while promoting life lessons. However, Disney movies are notorious for highlighting differences between genders and promoting certain gender standards. Although most recently, new Disney movies have tried to depart from upholding gender standards and differences, the classic Disney movies still uphold these differences and have an immense influence in our culture. It is important to analyze how gender is depicted in Disney movies as their targeted audience are children from the age of four to the age of twelve. During this age, children are developing gender comprehension and watching gendered movies can contribute to the establishment of gender differentiating attitudes and the stereotypes they develop. This study will focus on investigating whether the classic Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, includes a culture of gender differences by using forms of “women’s language”, the use of tag questions, avoidance of interruptions, use of hedges and use of super-polite forms (Lakoff, 1973).

I theorize that the mixed-gender conversations in this movie will show a higher ratio of deep interruptions, and talking time from male characters which results in a higher ratio of politeness, supportive interruptions, and hedges from female characters. In addition, the types of hedges, interruptions and polite forms used by a character are different which can create a culture where women are expected to talk a certain way.

Methods

This study focused on the mix-gender conversations between Belle and Gaston, and Belle and the Beast. The linguistic units that were analyzed revolved around what Lakoff (1973) considers “women’s language”. The main linguistic features of women’s language that were investigated are:

• Hedges: a word/phrase used to lower the impact of a remark, avoid answering a question or making a direct statement.
• Interruptions: an overlap in speech in which a person is disrupted before they have finished their line. There two different types of interruptions: supportive (back-channel), and deep (non-supportive) interruptions.
• Polite forms: the use of words/phrases to demonstrate regards for others.

Throughout each conversation, the types of hedges, interruptions, and polite forms were analyzed based on the impact it had on the conversation. A count of the number of hedges used, the number of interruptions, the number of polite forms, and the number of seconds each character talked during the conversation was conducted.

Results and Discussion

Belle and Gaston

One of the most interesting conversation between Belle and Gaston occurred when Gaston had planned a wedding with Belle. Gaston had gathered the town and states that everything is ready for the wedding, he just first needs to go ask Belle to marry him. He then goes to Belle’s house and begins to ask Belle to marry him:

In the lines before 17 and 18, Gaston is discussing the life he pictures with Belle which lead to her using hedges to avoid saying that she will not like that life.  Belle also uses politeness to avoid Gaston feeling abruptly rejected which helps prevent a conflict between them. In the first line, Belle uses the word pleasant to be polite even though she did not believe it was a good surprise for Gaston to be at her house. She then uses to polite phrases, line 20 and 21, to reject Gaston’s offer of marriage. The polite forms used impact the conversation as they further exchange between Belle and Gaston where she must explain the reason she is rejecting his offer.

In this conversation, Gaston interrupts Belle twice. The first interruption occurs in line 12 when Belle suggest something that is far from what he was trying to say in his previous remarks. This deep interruption helps create a perception in which Belle is seen as unintelligent as she needs to be corrected even before she finishes talking. The second interruption occurs in line 16 when Gaston abruptly mentions that Belle is the little wife he has been talking about. These interruptions had an impact of on the conversation as it suggests Gaston frustration with Belle because she is trying to avoid his references and ultimately his marriage proposal.

Belle and the Beast

The first conversation between Belle and the Beast occurred after Belle traded places with her father. In this scene, the beast is walking Belle to the room in the castle she will be living in:

This conversation contains two interruptions, line 3 and line 11. In both occasions, the Beast deeply interrupts Belle to avoid providing an explanation of his actions. In the first interruption, the Beast is avoids giving a reason to why he is moving her to another room, and in the second interruption, the Beast avoids describing the secret the lies in the castle’s west wing. This helps create a difference in power between the Beast and Belle. Through these interruptions, the Beast is able to take control of the conversation by preventing Belle from questioning his decisions and establishes her inferiority.

Towards the end of the conversation, there is a switch in politeness from the Beast. In line 12, he politely talks to Belle about how his servants will attend her if she needs anything. However, in the middle of line 13, he begins to demand Belle to join him for dinner. By not including polite forms, such as please, the Beast further demonstrates his power over Belle since he does not have to ask politely to get something he wants.

Quantitative Data

Amount of Time Spent Talking: From the five conversations quantitatively analyzed, on average the female character in the conversations spent 12.406 seconds talking while the male character spent 23.862 seconds talking. This significant difference demonstrates the male dominance. By the male character talking during most of the conversation, they take full control of the conversation and decide when the other person should start to talk.  

Number of Interruptions: From the five conversations analyzed, deep interruptions were present in conversation 2 and 3. There is a positive correlation between the number of interruptions and the number of seconds the male character talks. For example, the two conversations that show the highest difference are the ones that contain interruptions. This correlation demonstrates that male dominance in a conversation can be established with interruptions (Octigan & Niederman, 1979, p. 51). In all conversations, Belle does not interrupt. This can be related to Lakoff’s (1973) idea that women will avoid using interruptions.

Amount of Politeness: In most of the conversations analyzed, Belle uses more polite words than either Gaston or the Beast (see Figure 2). This can demonstrate women’s language as women are expected to be more polite in conversations than men. Conversation 3 is the only exception as the Beast is the one who uses politeness in the conversation. This could have been the case because it was the shortest conversation, Belle talked the least, and it had deep interruptions. These different aspects of the conversation could have prevented Belle from having time to use polite forms on communication.

Number of Hedges: Hedges were present in conversation 1,2, and 5, and were used by the female character. This can demonstrate a woman’s insecurity in the conversation. For example, a hedge is able to lessen the remark of a statement which can indicate that the person using this feature does not feel confident enough to engage in an argument.

Conclusion

Based on this study’s findings, it can be concluded that some aspects of women’s language is present in the mix-gender conversations in Beauty and the Beast. Throughout the film Belle’s rhetoric was submissive towards both Gaston and the Beast. She only spoke in a certain manner while being careful not to interrupt them or offend them in any way. Furthermore, the Beast and Gaston constantly interrupted Belle while she was speaking. This creates a visual picture of women being inferior to men. The findings suggest that movie creators should pay more attention on how they are presenting gender to children as it can install stereotypes on how women and men should communicate with each other. Beauty and the Beast is a movie that is viewed by all different ages; however, being an animated film is caters towards children. Children often learn and copy what they see, and this helps reinforce inequality between males and females. Rather than teaching children that men and women can act and speak in the same manner, it teaches them that there is a specific way women should speak, and that is acceptable for men to interrupt women.

References

Agarwal, Vivek & Dhanasekaran, Saranya. (2012). Harmful effects of media on children and adolescents. Journal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 8.        38-45.

Atkinson, J. M. & Heritage, J. (1984). Transcript notation. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action (pp. ix – xvi). Cambridge University Press.

Eckert, P., McConnell-Ginet, S. (2013). Language and Gender. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Janks, H. (1997). Critical discourse analysis as a research tool. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 18(3), 329–342.

Lakoff, R. (1973). Language and Woman’s Place. Language in Society, 2(1), 45-80. Retrieved February 25, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/4166707

Octigan, M., & Niederman, S. (1979). Male Dominance in Conversations. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 4(1), 50-54. doi:10.2307/3346669

Raymond, C. W. (2019). Category accounts: Identity and normativity in sequences of action. Language in Society, 48(4), 585–606.

Raymond, C. W. (2013). Gender and sexuality in animated television sitcom interaction. Discourse & Communication, 7(2), 199–220. doi:            10.1177/1750481312472971

Rubinstein, E. (1978). Television and the Young Viewer: The pervasive social influence of television on children is being increasingly documented, but has yet to be translated into a continuing and effective social policy. American Scientist, 66(6), 685-693. Retrieved February 25, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/27848957

Yokoyama, O. T. (1999). Gender linguistic analysis of Russian children’s literature. In M. H. Mills (ed.), Slavic Gender Linguistics, (pp. 57–84). Amsterdam/Philadelphia. John   Benjamins.

Introduction

Overall, up to this point in time, the research on gender-based differences in use of interruptions has not been definitive. While Deborah James and Sandra Clarke (1993) found a non-significant effect of speaker gender on interruption rates, Zimmerman and West (1975) found evidence to the contrary, mainly that in mixed-sex conversations, men engage in dominant interactive styles, ultimately resulting in more male-initiated interruptions. What is even more unclear is whether such phenomena can be seen in the world of sports, a traditionally male-dominated field. As mentioned before, this study analyzed the usage of interruptions by both men and women in two-person conversational style sports interviews. A prevailing societal stereotype is that men tend to be interrupters of conversation so I put that to the test. After conducting analysis on the relevant interviews, it was found that interviewers, by poking fun and teasing, threatened the negative faces of the interviewees, prompting a response by the interviewee intended to lessen the blow of the teasing.  

Methods

Two YouTube videos (one being an interview of LeBron James by Rachel Nichols in May 2018 and one being an interview of Serena Williams by Andy Roddick in September 2013) were viewed. Transcripts were then created for relevant dialogue across the two videos and then analyzed using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach, primarily keying in on turn-taking moments. Standard transcript guidelines were followed.

Results

In the following conversation, Rachel Nichols and LeBron James discuss LeBron’s 9^th trip to the NBA Finals shortly after LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference. The first interruption happens when Rachel pokes fun at LeBron’s teenage fashion choices:

Towards the end of her turn, Rachel playfully bringing up LeBron’s decision to wear a vest in lines 5-6, at which point LeBron begins speaking, leading to temporarily overlapping talk which ends when Rachel cedes talking while LeBron continues to do so. Because LeBron broke in at a point in the conversation that cannot possibly be taken as an appropriate place for a transition (Sacks et al., 1974) and he increases the amplitude of his voice as he breaks into the conversation, this would be considered an interruption. In lines 8-9, LeBron seemingly backs himself up on why he wore a vest, pointing to the fact that he was a different person then than he is now. By interrupting, LeBron does not allow for Rachel to tease him anymore and further threaten his negative face, which is defined as a person’s desire for independence and freedom from imposition (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2018). Lines 8-9 in effect serve to lessen the blow of Rachel’s face-threatening act. The next example illustrates a productive overlap:

In contrast to the previous example, Rachel does not completely cede talking when LeBron begins to talk. She jumps right back into the conversation after a 0.8 second break that can be seen in line 4. Line 3 is thus a productive overlap coming at the end of a turn construction unit (TCU). It is intended to move the conversation forward and signify LeBron’s agreement with Rachel’s statements made in lines 1-2.

Going into the interview, both Rachel and LeBron know that it will be televised and broadcast globally. Consequently, face-threatening acts become magnified. A face-threatening act initiated by Rachel in this case undermines LeBron’s stature and social image on a larger scale, causing him to butt in as a defense mechanism to protect himself and his social image.

In the next conversation, Serena Williams is interviewed by Andy Roddick. Their discussion revolves around the U.S. Open:

In line 2, Serena interjects Roddick’s speech with a reassuring “Ya,” but Roddick then continues to talk, similar to the conversation documented in example 2. In line 4, Serena also interjects with a “Ya.” In both instances, as she speaks, Serena nods her head up and down and orients her body towards Roddick, illustrating the role that her body language plays in physically showing Roddick that she is comfortable in the conversation.

In the next excerpt, Serena and Roddick discuss Serena’s match-day style:

In line 2, after Roddick finishes talking, no one talks for 0.8 seconds, a momentary break in the conversation. Usually, gaps of around 200 ms are characteristic of the end of a turn and the beginning of a new one (Levinson & Torreira, 2015). As a result, Serena begins talking because Roddick seemingly ended his turn, eventually leading to overlapping talk. When Roddick says “unfortunate wardrobe choices” in line 2, jokingly making fun of Serena’s attire, Serena responds with a tilt of her head and opening of her mouth in surprise. Serena’s negative face is threatened. She then follows that by not backing down. Whereas LeBron went along with Rachel, Serena tries to give Roddick a chance to take back what he said by prompting him with a question in line 3. After she finishes talking in line 5, Serena tilts her head back to the right again, staring into space, a clear change in body language.

Discussion/Conclusion

CDA was inconclusive in proving whether or not there is a gendered difference in interruption usage. Interestingly, however, the manner in which the interviewees responded to the face-threatening acts significantly differed. While LeBron was agreeable, Serena remained steadfast, not giving an inch.

Overall, this study sheds light on the concepts of face-threatening acts, negative face, and social image. A face-threatening act doesn’t necessarily have to take the form of clearly hostile, aggressive words. As seen in both of the videos, it can also take the form of banter. Individuals expect their own face needs to be met and are then in return expected to meet the face needs of others (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2018). When these needs are not met, problems arise, which can hurt personal relationships.

Social image is basically society’s beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about us. When it comes to well-known public figures in the world of sports who are constantly seen in the media, their social images take on a larger than life form. Everything they do is put under a microscope, subject to scrutiny and the world of public opinion. Obviously, an individual wants to be seen in the most favorable light and therefore he/she will act accordingly to ensure this. Being the subject of the interviews, LeBron and Serena understand that it is in their best interest to be mindful of what they say.

References

Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2018). Language and gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

James, D., & Clarke, S. (1993). Women, men, and interruptions: A critical review. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Oxford studies in sociolinguistics. Gender and conversational interaction (pp. 231–280). Oxford University Press.

Levinson, S. C., & Torreira, F. (2015). Timing in turn-taking and its implications for processing models of language. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00731

Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking for Conversation. Language, 50(4), 696. doi: 10.2307/412243

Zimmerman, D. H., and West, C. (1975). Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversation Language and sex: Difference and dominance (pp. 105 – 129. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Introduction and Background

Have you ever counted the number of times your professor said “um” during a lecture? Has it ever bothered you, or do you feel that it is a sign of poor public speaking skills? If so, that’s totally okay. In some ways, filler words, which are the likes, uhs, and ums (2, 6, 7) that seem to slip through the cracks of speech, are indeed indicative of confidence level when speaking (12,14), but they can also mean so much more. In linguistics, filler words can serve as ways of holding the stage while speaking (5), as if to let the audience know that the speaker isn’t quite done yet. In applied linguistics, filler words can serve as markers for gendered language theories (14), which seek to explain the differences in male and female speech patterns and how it ties into gender dynamics.

This study is looking at the instances of filler words spoken by college student leaders of Asian Pacific Health Corps (APHC), a pre-health organization at UCLA led by ten directors who are Asian American college students majoring in the sciences. On this board, four identify as male and six identify as female. Two females and one male identify as bisexual while the others identify as straight. At board meetings, each director is in charge of a specific section of the club, so each director has a chance to be a leading speaker (who leads a discussion) while the others assume replying speaker roles (who simply provide feedback and follow the leading speaker’s topics).

Methods

An audio recording of an APHC board meeting was taken and transcribed (1) at various time points that best highlighted the usage of filler words or clearly indicated what position the speaker was in. The instances of filler word usage (like, uh, or um) for each example chosen for the study were counted and reported as a ratio of filler words to all other words spoken for ease of comparison. These transcriptions were analyzed for linguistic features using conversation analysis (8), and were then related to larger gendered language study theories and concepts.

Results

From linguistic analysis of the transcriptions, it became evident that females and bisexual males shared a trend in filler word usage that was different from the straight male usage when in the leading speaker role, but when in the replying speaker role, all individuals use fewer filler words overall.

Figure 1 shows that the straight female and bisexual male in the leading speaker role have a higher ratio of filler words than the straight male in the leading speaker role, while the replying speaker role shows a lower ratio overall. The deviant case is a straight male in the leading speaker role; it is an outlier due to other circumstances surrounding the example, such as supplemental linguistic features and social pressures.

The example in Figure 2 highlights the single deviant case that was found in this study where a straight male showed filler word usage similar to females and bisexual males. This case is noteworthy because it gives some insight into factors that can affect speakers more strongly than gender or identity performance. Here the speaker is admitting to a fault and comes off as trying to be reserved about it, and the frequency of pauses that supplement filler word usage that push his performative identity to be less dominant and less confident, which is somewhat opposite of what is expected from a straight male in the leading speaker position.

After reading the transcription it becomes apparent that the male in this case is leading conversation but is admitting to a few faults. Admitting to faults is often tough, so a linguistic tactic is to use politeness by reducing authority and assertiveness, which is something that the filler words used in this example are doing, along with the various pauses present in the speech.

Overall, the results suggest that there is some underlying difference in filler word usage between genders and sexualities depending on the speaker role, but what importance does this hold?

Discussion

In gendered sociolinguistics, the Difference Model is a theory postulated by Deborah Tannen that suggests that men and women have different cultures of speech entirely (think Spanish and Mandarin, for example) which ultimately explains why men’s speech will oftentimes dominate women’s speech (15). This then bleeds into the Performativity Model, as postulated by Judith Butler, which is applicable to the actual identity that each individual is perceived as by others (3). In the case of APHC, this study suggests that college organization student leaders indeed model differences in language according to gender and sexuality, and fit into both models in some ways. This study is a very suitable example of how men and women express themselves in different ways even when in the same environment under the same pressures (9), and how strongly sexual identity can play into the gendered “culture” that one aligns with (11, 13).

Beginning with the Difference model, the results suggest that straight males use fewer filler words than females and bisexual males in the examples studied from APHC. Filler words, as mentioned briefly before, can act as markers for lessening assertiveness when speaking, which is quite common for women as women’s speech will position them in the less assertive role simply because it is their “culture” to do so, according to the Difference model (9, 15). In Figures 3 and 4, examples of straight male speech and straight female speech in the leading speaker role from the APHC board meeting are compared, and it is evident that there are multiple linguistic features at play:

As seen in transcription in Figure 3, the usage of filler words is fewer and the assertiveness of getting the point across is more evident, as this individual simply jumps into saying what they need to say without too much hedging. The assertiveness is a common feature in male linguistic culture.

In example in Figure 4, filler word usage is higher than the previous example involving the straight male speaker. Filler words here are causing the speaker to be less assertive in getting her words across, and the pauses further push the speech to seem less dominating.

Most of the filler words used by the female in the example pictured in Figure 4 are like, which in this case serve as “approximative adverbs.” These words increase the flexibility of interpretation of the idea by not confining it to any solid concept (6, 13). This is different from the male speech example where he mostly cut straight to the point without approximations, which ultimately highlights the Difference model in play, showing that males and females have different speech methods, even when in the same role, that lead to males having a more dominant character (6, 9, 15).

Lastly, the Performative model comes into play when looking at the example with the bisexual male in the leading speaker role. The transcription is shown in Figure 5:

The ratio of filler words to all other words is similar to the ratio seen in the straight female example (0.11), suggesting a close relationship between these two examples from an applied linguistic standpoint.

Again, this example shows filler words accompanied by numerous pauses. Looks familiar, yes? In this case, the individual’s performative identity is more similar to the female in that there is far less assertiveness in this segment of speech, which is actually expected from this individual as bisexual and gay males tend to have performative identities comparable to females (11, 13). In this case, the linguistic features support such an idea because the same patterns of filler words and pauses are seen, and they serve the same purpose in reducing the assertiveness of the individual speaking.

Conclusion

In conclusion, filler words are actually quite important despite being overlooked so often. Their usage alone often is not very definitive of any purpose, but when combined with other linguistic features and thought of from an applied sociolinguistic standpoint, they suddenly become appreciably important in describing gender and sexuality identities of individuals through language.

 

References

1. Atkinson, J. M. & Heritage, J. (1984). Transcript notation. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action (pp. ix – xvi). CUP
2. Bortfield, H. et al. (2001). Disfluency Rates in Conversation: Effects of Age, Relationship, Topic, Role, and Gender. Language and Speech, 434 (23), 123–147.
3. Butler, J. P. (1993). Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. Routledge.
4. Christodoulides, G. (2016). Effects of Cognitive Load on Speech Production and Perception. PhD Thesis, Université catholique de Louvain.
5. Duvall, E. D., Robbins, A. S., Graham, T. R., & Divett, S. (2014). Exploring filler words and their impact. Schwa. Language & Linguistics, 11, 35-49.
6. Eckert, Penelope, and Sally McConnell-Ginet. (2013). Language and Gender. Cambridge University Press.
7. Fuller, J. M. (2003) The influence of speaker roles on discourse marker use. Journal of Pragmatics, 35, 23–45.
8. Hoey, E. M. & Kendrick, K. H. (2017). Conversation Analysis. Research Methods in Psycholinguistics and the Neurobiology of Language, 152-189.
9. Koike, D. A. (1986). Differences and Similarities in Mens and Womens Directives in Carioca Brazilian Portuguese. Hispania, 69(2), 387. doi: 10.2307/341699
10. Lakoff, R. (1975) Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper and Row.
11. Pennington, S. (2009). Bisexuals “Doing Gender” in Romantic Relationships. Journal of Bisexuality, 9(1), 33–69. doi: 10.1080/15299710802660029
12. Siegel, M. E. A. (2002). Like: The Discourse Particle and Semantics. Journal of Semantics, 19(1), 35–71. doi: 10.1093/jos/19.1.35
13. Smyth, R., Jacobs, G., & Rogers, H. (2003). Male voices and perceived sexual orientation: An experimental and theoretical approach. Language in Society, 32(3), 329–350. doi: 10.1017/s0047404503323024
14. Shriberg, E. (1996). Disfluencies In Switchboard. Proceedings of the International Conference on Spoken Language Processing.
15. Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation (p. 42). New York: Morrow.

Introduction

The stereotype that women are vulnerable, incompetent individuals that need the guidance of a man in order to move through life has existed for centuries, which comes hand in hand with the dismissal of women’s opinions. This article investigates the representation of women as vulnerable, incompetent beings as well as their contribution to general discourse in two American sitcoms, Cheers and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The difference in the eras these sitcoms were/are aired during is a key factor to this article since I am interested in the progress of such representation of women through time. As this article will show, Cheers perpetuates and reinforces the categorization of women as vulnerable, incompetent individuals and simultaneously dismisses their contributions to the discourse. On the other hand, Brooklyn Nine-Nine resists such categorization while validating the contributions of women.

Methods

In order to carry out this study, I looked into the first six seasons of Cheers and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. To make the comparison between these sitcoms as fair as possible, I specifically picked situations that were parallel or semi-parallel in both sitcoms. I then analyzed these scenes using conversational analysis with a focus on word choice, pauses, elongation, and emphasis to better understand the role language plays in such representation of women.

Before diving into the findings of my investigation, I will briefly talk about each of the linguistic units I chose to investigate to prevent any confusion throughout the article. When looking at the choice of words, whether it is intentional or not does not matter in my investigation not only because one cannot deduce the intentions of the characters/writers – not to mention the function of intention in scripted data is complex – but also because regardless of intention, the choice of words reflect certain ideologies whether intentionally or not. On the other hand, pauses, can be used to amplify the importance of certain statements as Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet discuss in their book Language and Gender (Eckert & Sally McConnell-Ginet, 2013). Lastly, from Robert E. Pittenger and Henry Lee Smith Jr, elongation, which indicates elongating certain parts of a word, and emphasis can be used to magnify the importance of certain parts of the conversation since they capture the audience’s attention (Pittenger & Smith, 1957).

Results and Discussion

To arrive at effective conclusions, I am comparing Cheers and Brooklyn Nine-Nine by studying two parallel situations. I am also studying a fan favorite scene from Brooklyn Nine-Nine to understand its limitation in resisting the aforementioned representation of women.

The first situation is a discussion regarding a female character by male characters, which take place in the pilot episodes of both sitcoms. In the pilot episode of Cheers, Sumner and his fiancé, Diane are at the bar, where Sam serves them drinks. Sumner is going to leave Diane alone at the bar while running an errand. Sumner asks Sam, a total stranger, to look after his fiancé during that time, clearly indicating that in his absence, the guidance of another man is needed. Sumner emphasizes the words “alone” and “bar” as well as elongate the word bar when he discusses with Sam how stupid of an idea it is to leave Diane there. Sumner’s exact words are shown in Figure 1. This further indicates Diane’s need of a man’s guidance.

On top of that, Sumner chooses imperative words such as “sit” and “chat”, when telling Diane what to do as he runs his errand. This indicates that he is not suggesting how Diane should spend her time, but rather giving her directions. This is further echoed by Sumner’s body language, which is shown in Figure 2, as Sumner guides Diane to the chair by holding her shoulders and directing/moving her towards the chair.   

Please note that Diane’s annoyed face at the first image in Figure 2 is not a reaction to Sumner’s words but a reaction to a snarky comment Sam made.

In the parallel scene in the pilot of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Sergeant Terry tells the new precinct’s captain about his detective squad. In his introduction, he uses word choice, emphasis, and elongation to portray one of the female detectives, Rosa, as a strong character. Terry uses words such as “tough”, “smart”, and “scary”, which portrays Rosa as anything but incompetent and vulnerable. Terry also adds the word “really” before scary elongating and emphasizing it, which indicates that Rosa is not only scary but terrifying. 

The second parallel situation is the discussion of the sexual harassment of a female character. In Cheers season 2 episode 3, Diane is upset about constantly being harassed by potential employers and complains about it. Even though Sam tries to be helpful, his choice of words is poor and reflects a lack of understanding regarding the severity of the situation. He uses phrases like “lighten up” and even cracks a joke while trying to be supportive as he says, “Sometimes I’m just ashamed to be a guy, but if I made the switch now I’d have to buy a whole new wardrobe.” He even laughs amusingly at his joke.

Sam’s lack of understanding and disregard to Diane’s feeling is further amplified by his sexual treatment of Diane. At a point in the conversation, Sam expressed some anger regarding Diane’s situation, but his use of emphasis illustrates that his anger is misdirected. His angry moment is shown in Figure 5.

Sam emphasizes the words “those”, “my”, and “sex object”. This emphasis indicates that he is angry that other men dare treat his women in a sexual way. His use of emphasis implies an anger relating to his ego and his sense of ownership over Diane rather than Diane’s mistreatment. Not to mention his use of the word “squeeze” when describing Diane sexualizes and objectifies her. In this way, Diane’s contributions, her complaints about her sexual harassment, is not being validated by Sam.

In Brooklyn Nine-Nine in season 6 episode 8, when Amy, a female detective, discusses her sexual harassment experience with her husband Jake, another detective, the response is quite different. The contrast is not only shown through the fact that no jokes whatsoever take place during this scene, unlike in Cheers, but it is also shown through the use of pauses and through Jake’s replies. Amy’s retelling of her experience was filled with long pauses, ones that exceeded one second. These pauses indicate two things. First, they elevate the importance of Amy’s statement. They allowed for the severity of the situation to sink in; for Amy’s thoughts to stay a little on the floor for the audience to subconsciously or consciously dissect them. Second, they highlight Jake’s support as he did not try to talk during these pauses even when he had more than enough time to talk. Not to mention, Jake only spoke two times during Amy’s retelling which is shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7.

His words themselves show extreme support as he treats Amy as a fellow human – unlike how Sam objectifies Diane in Cheers – even if he does not completely understand her suffering, but his support is shown in different ways as well. Jake even spoke in a low volume in both times, suggesting either an attempt to sound gentle at the news of such pain, uncertainty in what to say, or both. He even spoke quickly the second time which could suggest his frustration at the situation his wife has been through even if he doesn’t relate as well as his desire to not take too much time away from his wife. Jake’s support is emphasized by his facial expressions throughout the times he spoke – in Figure 6 and Figure 7 – as well as throughout the times Amy was speaking, which is shown in Figure 8.

Jake’s support through his silence and facial expressions and such reflects that while he may not understand what Amy is going through, he supports her and validates her contribution.

Last but not least, I will study a scene well loved by many fans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which takes place in season 5 episode 4. Before Jake proposes to Amy, he leaves her father a voicemail. This scene is shown in Figure 9.

This scene is well loved by many fans because it refutes the categorization of women as vulnerable, incompetent and in need of a man’s guidance. This is clear through Jake’s choice of words as he describes Amy as “strong” and “independent”. He even explicitly says that “she don’t need no man”. However, an important thing to note that lovers of this scene tend to forget is that Jake still felt the need to call Amy’s father. It was not in a way to inform the family either, because if it was he would not have highlighted the fact that he was not asking for permission. Not to mention, he would have called her mother as well, and there was no indication at all that he ever did. So, while this scene does in fact refutes the categorization of women as in need of a man’s guidance, it also reflects the fact that such categorization is not completely wiped out. In a way, this scene perpetuates such stereotypes as it highlights that even though Jake does not ask for permission, the idea still floats in his mind and he still is expected to inform Amy’s father. This ties back to Raymond’s idea that the representation of categories in scripted shows can in fact perpetuate stereotypes even when it tries to combat them (Raymond, 2013).  

In order to reach a conclusion confidently, I analyzed one other parallel situation, which was a marriage proposal in both sitcoms. To grasp the comparison between the two sitcoms in more depth and for more details, see the FULL PAPER which includes transcript and linguistic analysis of the interactions discussed in this article as well as the additional parallel situation.

Conclusion

While analyzing scripted data using conversational analysis, in this case Cheers and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, does not help us better understand human beings, Chase Raymond argues that applying conversational analysis on scripted data is fruitful since it helps us understand society’s interpretations and indexation of certain categories (Raymond, 2013). My findings in this article indicates that society’s view and interpretation of women has in fact changed from the eighties to today, at least in those two sitcoms. From the analysis of the two parallel situations above, we can see that language aids in the depiction of women as vulnerable, incompetent being that need a man in the older sitcom Cheers. Language is also used to dismiss the contributions of women in Cheers as analyzed above. This representation of women reflects a similar societal view of them as vulnerable, incompetent individuals whose contributions are not taken seriously. On the other hand, language helps women contribute to the general discourse in the more modern sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine as well as aids in refuting the stereotypes of women as vulnerable beings. Once again, this representation of women reflects a similar societal view of them as strong, competent individuals whose contributions are not only taken seriously but supported as well. It is important to note that while the representation of women has progressed, the progress is not as simple, as linear as saying that the more modern sitcoms tend to be resist all stereotypes and validate all women’s contribution. As analyzed in the fan-loved example, some attempts at resisting certain stereotypes comes hand in hand with perpetuating said stereotypes.

Lastly, while this article does not aim to make any statements regarding the effect of such representation on society, almost everyone in today’s society agrees that representation matters. The way someone’s categories are represented in the media including sitcoms affects their self-esteem as I know from experience and as I am sadly sure many others do as well. Hence, even though more studies are needed to make a firm conclusion, it is fair to assume that the representation of women could help encourage or discourage young women, and fortunately it seems like the representation of women in American sitcoms is moving in the right track even if it comes with limitations.

 

References

Angus, Kat. (2017, November 3). 21 Times Jake and Amy’s Love On “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” Made Us Melt. Buzzfeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/katangus/peralta-and-santiago-4eva

Eckert, P., & McConnel–Ginet, S. (2013). Language and gender (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press.

Raymond, C. W. (2013). Gender and Sexuality in animated sitcom interaction.    Discourse & Communication, 7(2), 199–220.

Robert, P.E.  & Smith Jr, H.L. (1957). A Basis for Some Contributions of Linguistics to Psychiatry. Psychiatry, 20(1), 61-78.