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Difference Theory: Genderlect Theory of Deborah Tannen

Deborah Tannen developed genderlect theory, which asserts that men and women have different communication styles that can lead to miscommunication. She argues that men prioritize independence and status, using language more directly, while women prioritize intimacy and support, using more polite language. However, her theory is limited as it generalizes all people of a gender and does not account for diversity in experiences among minorities. The goal of her theory is to increase understanding between genders by acknowledging their different communication cultures.

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Aqib Shahzad
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697 views

Difference Theory: Genderlect Theory of Deborah Tannen

Deborah Tannen developed genderlect theory, which asserts that men and women have different communication styles that can lead to miscommunication. She argues that men prioritize independence and status, using language more directly, while women prioritize intimacy and support, using more polite language. However, her theory is limited as it generalizes all people of a gender and does not account for diversity in experiences among minorities. The goal of her theory is to increase understanding between genders by acknowledging their different communication cultures.

Uploaded by

Aqib Shahzad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Difference theory

Deborah Tannen, 1990, strongly believes that men and women have different ways of communicating,
different dialects and that the best way to describe communication between the genders is in a cross-
cultural format. She called this, Genderlect theory of Deborah Tannen.
This theory mostly focuses on how the two genders, male and female, are made of different things and
how both genders has contrasting styles, in terms of the way they communicate. She generalizes all men
and women, assuming that all of them are similar in their own gender, without mentioning about, what
Sandra Harding and Julia Wood said, the lives of different women either powerful or the poor, gays and
lesbians, and racial minorities.

Although Tannen’s theory is useful in understanding the other gender’s way of communicating preventing
miscommunication between gender and help to promote mutual respect by showing how people should
appreciate and the style of communication of both gender, it’s credibility is still lacking as it fails to
mention the minorities of both gender. It's goal was to acknowledge and accept the communicative culture
of the other.
Difference theory asserts that in general men favour independence, while women are more likely
to seek intimacy.

Examples

Difference theory as postulated by Tannen is generally summarised into six categories, each of
which pairs contrasting uses of language by males and females.
 Status v. support
Tannen states that, for men, the world is a competitive place in which conversation and speech
are used to build status, whereas for women the world is a network of connections, and that they
use language to seek and offer support. In demonstrating this, Tannen uses the example of her
husband and herself, who at one point had jobs in different cities. She remarks that whenever
someone commented on this, she interpreted it as being an offer of sympathy or support.
For example
Her husband, on the other hand, took such comments as being criticisms and attempts to put
him down. Tannen remarks that this displays the different approaches that women and men take
in terms of status and support. Furthermore, men are also more likely to interrupt to get their
point across and hence gain status
 Advice v. Understanding
Women seek comfort and sympathy for their problems, whilst men will seek a solution to the
problem.

 Information v. feelings
Tannen states that men's conversation is message-oriented,
i.e. based upon communicating information. For women, conversation is much more important
for building relationships and strengthening social links.

 Orders v. proposals
Men will use direct imperatives
For example
("close the door", "switch on the light") when speaking to others. Women encourage the use of
superpolite forms
For example
("let's", "would you mind if ...?").

Conflict v. compromise
Tannen asserts that most women avoid conflict in language at all costs, and instead attempt to
resolve disagreements without any direct confrontation, to maintain positive connection and
rapport. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to use confrontation as a way of resolving
differences and thereby negotiating status.
For example
Tannen supports this view by making reference to the work of Walter J. Ong, whose 1981
publication, Fighting for Life, asserts that "expressed adversativeness" is more an element of
male culture than female culture. Tannen stresses that both forms of communication are valid
ways of creating involvement and forming bonds

Independence v. intimacy
Difference theory asserts that in general men favour independence, while women are more likely
to seek intimacy. Tannen demonstrates this with the example of a husband making a decision

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