ROBIN LAKOFF

'Robin Tolmach Lakoff' is a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Lakoff's writings have become the basis for much research on the subject of women's language. In a 1975 article, she published ten basic assumptions about what she felt constituted a special women's language. Much of what Lakoff proposed agreed with theories originally proposed in the 1920s by Otto Jespersen in Growth and Structure of the English Language.
Lakoff 's most famous work, ''Language and Woman's Place'', introduced to the field of sociolinguistics many ideas about women's language that are now commonplace. She proposed (Language and a Woman's Place) that women's speech can be distinguished from that of men in a number of ways, including:
# 'Hedges:' Phrases like "''sort of,''" "''kind of,''" "''it seems like''"
# 'Empty adjectives:' ''divine, adorable, gorgeous'', etc
# '(Super-)Polite forms:' "''Would you mind…''" "''Is it o.k if…?''" "''…if it’s not too much to ask''"
# 'Apologize more:' "''I'm sorry, but I think that…''"
# 'Speak less frequently'
# 'Avoid coarse language or expletives'
# 'Tag questions': "''You don't mind eating this, do you?''". Subsequent research has cast some doubt on this proposition
# 'Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation:' Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation
# 'Indirect requests:' "''Wow I'm so thirsty.''" – really asking for a drink
# 'Speak in italics:' Use tone to emphasis certain words, e.g., "''so''", "''very''", "''quite''".

Contents

Selected writings by Lakoff

External links

Selected writings by Lakoff

★ 1973 ''The logic of politeness; or, minding your P's and Q's.''

★ 1975 ''Language and Woman's Place''. ISBN 0195167570

★ 1985 ''When talk is not cheap''. With M. Aftel. Warner ISBN 0446300705

★ 1990 ''Talking Power''. Basic Books. ISBN 0465083587

★ 1993 ''Father knows best: the use and abuse of therapy in Freud's case of Dora''. With J. Coyne. Teachers College Press. ISBN 0807762660

★ 2000 ''The Language War''. University of California Press. ISBN 0520222962

External links

★ Lakoff's home page at UC Berkeley.

★ Gender and tags.

★ Language Log.