Philippine E-Journals

He Said. She Said: Exploring the Differences in the Language of Male and Female

JERALD U. SACULLES

 

Abstract:

John Gray, in his book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, explored the differences in the behaviors and languages of men and women by means of his eponymous metaphor that men and women are from distinct planets and that each gender is acclimated to its own planet’s society and customs, but not to those of the other. This metaphor is anchored on the Difference theory, popularized by Deborah Tannen, which examines the effect that gender has on language use. This study, therefore, is an attempt to explore differences in male and female language in English, Filipino, and Ilocos. It seeks to determine the linguistic features that characterize the language of the two groups represented by 100 students from LORMA Colleges. These include language preference; linguistic borrowing; dynamics of code-switching; use of adjectives in English Filipino, and Ilocos; and syntactic complexity. Language differences also cover topic preferences of men and women; topics considered not in good taste for conversation, taboo words and the euphemisms used to skirt them, the use of cathartic expressions, the use of cuss words, reasons for uttering cuss words, and the source of learning cuss words. Furthermore, this study also explores how men and women perceive each other’s language, and they’re own.