“Here ya go uh like my pa”.
The words in Extract 3 are more complex than the words in the other extracts and contains more long complex sentences. There is less slang or shortened words in this extract than in others. The speakers’ registers are formal but the ministers are very formal. Extract 1 uses colloquial language as the two speakers already know each other for example “Oh uh sure”. Where as extract 2 uses simple language as it is mainly “Good morning” and 2good bye”. On the other hand extract 3 uses formal dignified language “I say this that if I can perform this service to get you to do honour honourable thing you know which is marriage”. In extract 1 the male speaker is constantly interrupting the female speaker and changes the subject almost immediately the male speaker does not seem interested in what the female is saying. In extract 2 the DJ is very patronising when he addresses the caller, in extract 3 the minister beginning with a topic shift as he starts on a TV programme and then changes onto the subject of the wedding. Tom continually interrupts the minister as he talks, all of these points prove the conclusions about language and gender that linguists have suggested.
Whilst studying the grammar and syntax of these three extracts I discovered that both the male and female in extract 1-use short sentences and the male always begins his sentence before the female has finished speaking. The sentences in extract 2 are very repetitive they all have “good morning” in them; this may be because this extract only shows the greeting and the farewell from a DJ on a radio show. Extract 3’s sentences are completely the opposite of the other two extracts, these sentences are long and more complex, and there is not much sentence overlapping. The men seem to say more than the woman in this extract.
The speakers in the 3rd extract make the most use of Standard English; this may be because of where the conversation is taking place, which may be inside the church. It could also be because of whom they are talking to, a minister is classed as an ‘upper class’ person, it may also be because of the subject that they are talking about, as a wedding is a very formal event. Extract 2 is less standard, this may be due to the fact that the DJ doesn’t know who he is talking to personally but he is trying to be as friendly as possible. “Good morning, sweetheart”. Extract 1 is, in my opinion, the most non-standard of all the extracts; this may be because the two speakers have already met or because they have the same level of register. The speaker in extract 1 who uses elisions is the male speaker “Hey ya’ got an extra cigarette?” None of the speakers in the other extracts uses elisions. This may be because the other two extracts are more formal in terms of register than the first extract. The male speaker in extract 1 also asks the most questions out of all the speakers in all three of the extracts. This may be due to the formal register. “Now is there any questions you’d like to bring to me”. These 3 extracts all prove that the language and gender conclusion that linguists suggested is correct, as it is the men which dominate the conversation every time, the women do not say as much as the men.
Whilst studying the pragmatics and discourse structures of these extracts I noticed that extract 1 begins with a question, “Hows your paper coming?” This question shows that the two speakers new each other previously. The conversation is formed around questions that the male speaker is asking. The male speaker continually interrupts the female speaker throughout the conversation, and then he finishes abruptly and leaves the female speaker before she could complete her sentence. In extract 2 the DJ begins the conversation with each caller in the same way, he uses the same greeting “good morning” every time he addresses the caller. I could not analyse the way the conversation developed as I was only given the beginning and the end of the conversations. I think this could be a part of convergence and trying to make the other speaker feel more comfortable.
In extract 1 the male speaker often tried to change the subject of the discourse. Where as the female is constantly attempting to change the subject back to what she was originally trying to discuss. She fails at every attempt to do this and as a result I got the impression the male was the dominant speaker out of the two. I believe that this may have made the female quite uncomfortable, as it appears that she was being undermined. In extract 2 and 3 I felt that the minister and the DJ were undermining the women speakers. They seem to constantly dominate the conversation.
In conclusion I think that in all the extracts the male feels that he has to dominate the conversation constantly. These extracts are highly gender biased.
