<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Larry H said:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>While we are able to use Chapter 7 of<BR>Wolfram & Schilling-Estes as
the principal reading for the gender<BR>lecture (along with "The New Pygmalion"
from Cameron's _Verbal<BR>Hygiene_), </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><<</FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>>></FONT><BR>Anyone else have suggestions? I'll be making up
my new syllabus in a<BR>couple of weeks for this fall's version of the dialects
course, so my<BR>and Mai's eyes will be equally peeled.*<BR><BR>larry<BR><FONT
face=Arial size=2><<</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Larry et al.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I cannot suggest readings for what follows, but may
I put to the list an observation, which may be discussed in the literature,
re what I see as a gender-related speech phenomenon.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some older (pre-teen and up) girls and women tend
to "whistle their Ss"; I do not know a phonetic term for this, but it seems to
involve pronunciation of S with the very tip of the tongue positioned dentally,
rather than back on the alveolar ridge. Of course, this very
characteristic of speech is used mockingly and jocularly in attempts to
mimic some gay speech, by comedians and the like, but I am not speaking of that
here, although the fact that THIS characteristic is commonly used in this
jocular way suggests the association of this phenomenon to female
speech. In any case, my further observation is that females who
have this speech characteristic seem to be more "traditional" in their use of
makeup and fashion -- that is, their use of makeup tends to be more
apparent, and their hair and dress more in tune with "conventional" female
fashion trends.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Clearly, this is a personal observation, not based
on formal study, but I wonder if others have noted this, or if there
is scholarship discussing it. Perhaps it could be part of class
discussions on gender speech differences?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Frank Abate</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dictionary & Reference Specialists
(DRS)<BR>Consulting & Lexicographic Services<BR>(860) 510-0100, ext
2311<BR><A
href="mailto:abatefr@earthlink.net">abatefr@earthlink.net</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>