Essay On Gender And Politeness

Words: 861
Pages: 4

In her research Mills (2000) investigated the relationship between gender and impoliteness. She studied co-relation between politeness and femininity as well as impoliteness and masculinity. She stated that the community, not individuals, is responsible for the politeness or impoliteness of language. The sample of the study was a departmental party at university, male and female. The study showed that gender does not simply mean gender of the hearer or speaker in a communication and that male’s impoliteness is accepted by communities more than female’s. It is normal for the community to condone such behaviour taking into consideration that the participant is a man. Impoliteness on the part of a male is considered to fit in with a man’s …show more content…
The researcher used a test as a convenient tool so that he could collect a lot of information from male and female undergraduates, both British and Spanish at the age of nineteen and twenty-five. During analysis, the it was taken into consideration that such information just reflected the thoughts and perceptions of the participants, not considering the data as facts, about suitable linguistic behaviour in making requests in various interactions. That’s why this research is a practical and realistic attempt to justify the beliefs and perceptions of the participants about obligations, rights, positions and social roles that appear clearly in the behaviour and discourse of people. The study also assumes that gender and politeness are part and parcel of each other. Gender can never be separated from the factors that affect and even control the use of everyday language. Also, gender can never be taken into consideration alone as far as politeness in speech is concerned. Other factors ought to be considered at the same time. Finally, the study supposes that women have a peculiar style of speech and politeness, completely different from that of