This document discusses folk linguistics beliefs and gender differences in language usage. It provides background on folk linguistics and perceptual dialectology, which examines non-experts' perceptions of language variations. The document then discusses several historical perspectives on gender and language, including differences in access to literacy, views of women's writing abilities, and beliefs that men's language was superior. It notes perceived differences between male and female pronunciation and links women's speech to those of lower social classes. The document surveys early grammarians' advice to imitate educated male speech and concludes with Jesperson's observation of few modern pronunciation differences between sexes.

1. Language and Gender
Presentation on
Folk Linguistic Beliefs
Submitted to
Ma’am Ayeaha
Submitted by
Ayesha
Roll no 07
Dept # BS English
Semester # 8th

2. FOLK LINGUISTICS BELIEFS
• Folk Linguistics is the study of speakers’ opinions and beliefs about language
varieties and language usage.
• It is alao called perceptual dialectology.
• Perceptual dialectology is the study of how nonlinguists perceive variation
in language—where they believe it exists, where they believe it comes from,
and how they believe it functions.

3. CONTI.......
• Perceptual dialectology differs from standard dialectology in that it is
concerned not with formal linguistic differences among dialects, but rather
with how nonlinguists perceive them (which may or may not correlate with
scientific linguistic findings). Because it focuses on nonlinguists' views of
linguistic concepts, perceptual dialectology is considered a subset of the
study of folk linguistics, as well as part of the general field
of sociolinguistics.

4. • According to Preston (2011) the term folk linguistics refers to
all persons except academic linguists and do not just refer to
rural, marginalized less educated or romanticized groups but
he says that we all are folk when we step into the world of
traditional knowlege and ways of behaving.

5. Literacy
• Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create,
communicate and compute using printed and written material
asaociated with every context.
• “Literacy invovles a continuum of learning in enabling the
insividuals to achieve their goals to develop their knowledge
and potential and to participate fully in their community and
wider society” ( UNESCO. 2004; 2017).

6. Literacy
• There is no doubt that, untill the comming of state education for all
in the twentieth century, women had less access to literacy than
men.
• Before the nineteenth century only women of the middle class and
above were likely to be literate, and even then, when we say literate
we mean literate in the vernacular.
• The brothers and husband of these women were educated in the
classical language. Classical Latin and Greek were no longer used as
a mother tongue by anyone. Latin was confined only to the male
world of schools, Universities and churches.
• Latin had become ‘ sex- linked’ langaugae , a kind of badge of
masculine identity. (Ong 1967: 250).

7. CONTI.......
• When milton was asked whether he would teach his doughter
other languages, he replied: ‘ one tongue is sufficient for a
women.
• It is neccessary ro point out the importance of educating the
mothers of the nation’s children. Because it is that ‘ when you
educate a man you are educating an individual and when your
are educating a woman you are educating the whole society.
• Women’s writing (1724)was clearly the aubject of mockery;
moreover, women obviously received very little education.
Sweift makes the same point with typical exaggeration, in his A
Letter to a Young Lady on her Marriage (1724):

8. • It is little hard that no one Gentlemnen’s daughter in thousand
should be brought to read or understand her own natural
tongue, or be judge of the easiest Boiks that are written in it.
• In the Romantic age women are seen as inferior because their
writings lack pasaion. We can contrast this with Jesperson’s
claim that women prefer paratactic modes of expression a
claim which rests on the assertion that they are emotional while
men are grammatical.

9. • We are constantly hearing that men and women use language differently.
Women are the more verbal sex: they do more of the talking and are generally
better with words. Typically they use language in a collaborative and
supportive way: they are good at listening and creating rapport. Men are
more competitive, good at arguing their corner and asserting themselves.
They are also more direct communicators, who say what they mean, mean
what they say, and are often confused by women’s less direct approach.
• Linguistic research has revealed gender differences in pronunciation,
grammar, politeness and writing style – though the same patterns do not
appear in every community, and they are not usually clear-cut differences
between all men and all women.

10. PRONUNCIATION
• According to Mariam Wwbster dictionary: “the act or manner
of pronouncingsomething” is pronunciation.
• The rise of a standard variety of written English was foolwed by
the rise of a standard variety of spoken English. After the
development of a standard grammer and lexicon, the need was
felt for the Standard in pronunciation. The accent normally
associated with standard English is RP. RP is an accent which
differs from alk other English accents in that it no linger has
links with any particular geographical region.

11. • Elyot, in Tge Governor (1531) gives the following advice on the
subject of nurses and other women who look after noblemen’s
children when they are infants:
“they shall at the lest way...... Spoke non English but that which
is clean, polite, perfect and articulately pronounced, omitting no
letter or sillable , as folisshe women oftentimes do of a
wantonnesse , where by diverse noblemenand gentlemennes
chyldren have attained corrupte and foul pronunciation.
• The pronunciation of female speaker is compared with that of
male speakers and readers are urged to imitate educated men.
The following extract links the speech of women with that of low
status men:

12. “ in speech the custom of the learned is the first law. Writing
therefore is to be adjusted, not to that sound which herdsmen,
girls, and porters use; but to that which tge learned or cultivated
scholar use in speaking and recitation”.
• Jesperson inclides an excellent survey of male/ female
differences in pronunciation in his chapter on “ The women” , in
a section oddly entitled Phonetics and Grammar. He interprets
the comments of early grammarians as showing that women
had a moreadvanced pronunciation than men.
• Writing in 1922 Jesperson concludes with the statement:
In present day Englush there aresaid to be a few differences
in pronunciation between the two sexes.

13. •THANK YOU