Robin Lakoff

Robin Lakoff

Hedge: Using phrases like 'sort of' and 'kind of'
(Super) polite forms: 'Would you mind'
Tag questions: 'You're going to dinner, aren't you?'
Speak in italics: Intentional emphasis- equal to underlining in text
Empty adjectives: Divine, lovely
Hyper correct grammar: English prestige grammar
Direct quotation: Men paraphrase more often
Special lexicon: Use more words for things such as colour
Lack a sense of humor: Don't tell jokes and don't always understand the punch line
'wh' imperatives: Hidden commands
Speak less: Wait for others to talk first
Apologize: Even though it may not be their fault
Model constructions: Can, would, should, ought
Avoid coarse language: less use of swearing and offensive language
Indirect commands: 'Its cold in here, isn't it?'
Intensifiers: Very, so, really

I personally agree with most of what Robin Lakoff says about the language features females use. However there a few language features she mentions which i don't totally agree. Such as females lacking a sense of humor and not always understanding the punch lines and also that females avoid the use of coarse language like swearing and offensive language. Robin Lakoffs data was collected in 1975 which was 40 years ago and to me i believe that things have changed a lot since then. I think that things have changed since then simply because of the language features i notice used by males and females everyday in different situations. Also the data she collected was quite a small amount and was only from white middle-class women in university.