gender and language

[Tom Delph-Janiurek]

Deborah Cameron (1995, 'Verbal Hygiene) claims that speech training and
elocution in Britain, designed to moderate or eliminate 'local' accents,
has mainly been aimed at women because non-standard Enlgish does not accord
with the prescriptions of dominant forms of 'femininity' and 'feminine'
voices. Apparently, to be 'correct' and 'ladylike', 'feminine' voices
should bear markers of higher social status - and perhaps a reason for what
seems to be a longstanding prescription might be that it would help women
to marry 'up' the social scale.

There may be connections to societal discourses concerning decorum,
gentitlity, bodily hygiene and perhaps ultimately sexual purity that shape
prescriptions for women's voices. This might explain why Cameron writes of
commentators in the past seeming to be more troubled by the 'coare accents
of flower girls... than those of barrow boys (p. 170).

In contrast, 'local' accent and dialectal forms seem to be able to
contribute to some 'masculine voices'.

I've written a bit more about this in (1999) 'Sounding Gender(ed): vocal
performances in English University teaching spaces' in the journal 'Gender,
Place and Culture' Vol 6(2) pp. 137-153.

I have a small number of off-prints of this left, if anyone would like one
sent.

Best,

Tom.







***************************************************************************
Tom Delph-Janiurek

Department of Geography,			Adran y Daearyddiaeth,
University of Wales, Lampeter,		Prifysgol Cymru,
Lampeter, Ceredigion,			Llanbedr Pont Steffan, Ceredigion,
UK. 					Cymru, UK.
SA48 7ED				SA48 7ED

         	Tel/Ffôn:	+44  (0)1570  424738 (Direct)
                	+44  (0)1570  424790 (Dept Office)

	Fax/Ffacs: +44  (0)1570  424714

 http://www.lamp.ac.uk/geog/

**************************************************************************