Genderlects
The word genderlect refers to the fact that men and women use language differently. Men and women differ in use of both sentence structure and word choice.
Sentence structure: When it comes to sentence structure, women are more likely to use long and polite sentences, whereas men use short and direct sentences. A woman would also be more likely to frame the sentence as a question. For example: “If you wouldn’t mind, could you please pass me the napkins?” versus “Please pass the napkins.”
Word choice: When using adjectives, women are more likely to use words such as adorable, charming and lovely, while men often prefer neat, terrific and great instead. Men are also more likely to use profanity (damn, hell), anger words, articles (the, a, an) and long words, while women use more words indicating tentativeness (would, should) and more words relating to positive emotions. Men were also more likely to use words referring to quantity, and more judgemental adjectives (good, dumb), while women used more intensive verbs (really, so) and more uncertainty verbs (seems to, maybe).
Commands: In one study by Hennessee and Nicholson, researchers analysed 1000 television commercials to see how language use varied based on gender. They found out that 90% of commands were produced by men. Lakoff too found out that men use more commands, while women use requests. The same has been found when analysing conversations between married couples.
Yanyuwa language: The previously mentioned differences are found among English speakers. Another language with even clearer gender differences is the Yanyuwa language in Australia. Yanyuwa uses one male dialect and one female dialect. The root or stem of the word is the same in both dialects, but different morphological endings and prefixes are used my male and female speakers. The following sentence illustrates the difference:
Male: buyi ardu ka-wingka waykaliya wulangindu kila-kala nyiku-baba.
Female: nya-buyi nya-ardu kiwa-wingka waykaliya wulangindu kanyilu-kala nyikunya-baba.
(In English: The little boy went down to the river and saw his brother).
Yanyuwa speakers do not have different names for the two dialects, nor are they able to give reasons for why there are separate dialects for men and women. Boys grow up using the female dialect, but after puberty and after they have gone through a ritual signifying their entrance into manhood, they are expected to use the male dialect.
Unfortunately, the Yanyuwa language is critically endangered. In 2006 there were only 130 native speakers left. In 2012, only 10 people used the language daily.
