STOP WRITING HIM/HER AND LETS INVENT A GENDER-NEUTRAL SINGULAR PRONOUN

Although it has been in high demand for almost 150 years, we are still struggling to coin a gender-neutral singular pronoun. Many have tried yet failed, with attempts from Napoleon Bonaparte and the American literary critic Richard Grant White, which sadly resulted in no change. It seems as though it just can't be done. With feminism becoming an increasingly popular topic of conversation, the need for equality for all genders and gender-fluid/non-binary people is more than ever before. 

In recent months people have been stating their preferred pronouns in their social media biographies; but wouldn't it be easier if labeling wasn't necessary and people just referred to each other by a neutral pronoun? (unless told otherwise). To those people who don't conform to a set gender, pronouns are a big deal - and so they should be! A few people argue that pronouns aren't important and shouldn't have such a big deal made of them but imagine the frustration you would feel if you were constantly referred to as he/him if you were a cisgender female? Not fun; and this only one reason why pronouns are important. Non-binary people don't have it easy either as language is very black or white, you are either male or female and that's the end of it. If language were a person they'd corner you in a room and force you to give up a part of who you are just for convenience. Although within the LGBTQ community there is a plethora of terms by which people can identify themselves, this hasn't yet been integrated into today's wider society. 

Gender identity also plays an important role in spoken and written language. There are many stereotypes revolving around how females speak in comparison to males and theories in regard to this. Deborah Tannen's difference theory contains the idea that males and females use language with different intentions. According to Tannen, men use language to gain status, give advice and orders. Whereas women tend to compromise more, lend support to others through their language choices and strengthen relationships. Although this is true for a lot of characters in books, modern day men and women don't conform to every generalisation made about them in this theory and neither do non-binary people. Due to this shift in characteristics, language needs to catch up and perhaps alter these stereotypes. Although they may be abundant in some contexts, there are many TV shows, books and films that disprove 'typical' behaviour. 

Literature, novels and plays all use language to present characters to an audience but since it's the 21st century not every character is cisgender and this is hard to portray to an audience due to the lack of pronouns. Characters tend to conform to gender stereotypes to make it clear to the audience that they are 'typical' men or women, however novels containing non-conformist protagonists are very complex to write due to the constant repetition of names and ambiguity caused by the frequent use of they/them, him\her and he\she. Sphinx is a love story written by French author Anne Garréta but not once in the novel is a gender marker used to refer to either of the main characters. While this is the unique selling point of the narrative, other writers have said it's a monotonous task to find other ways of saying 'him/her' throughout an short story or 300 page book. Say we had a gender-neutral pronoun, it would change writing and make literature a lot easier to follow. Texts featuring androgynous robot-like characters won't be broken up by a superfluous number of forward slashes or the incorrect use of 'they/them' as a replacement for the pronoun we all desire. Isn't that the dream?

LANGUAGE AND THE INDIVIDUAL (MARCH MOCK EXAM)

Q1) Text A is an extract from a 'mums net' forum discussion between seven users. The theme of the discussion is prom and this topic is sustained throughout. The cohesion of the text is so consistent due to interrogatives featuring in many of the responses. These questions, such as: 'what sane parent would [...]?' and 'are they 11 or 16?', keep the conversation flowing as new users (whom can answer the questions) chip in. The conversation also sticks together due to users indirectly responding to one another. For example when MuckyCarpet says 'it's only one night they'll never forget. Don't be a grump!', this is indirectly addressing wollyideas as they are making a response to their post but without directly addressing them. 

Text A represents 'mumsnet' users as comfortable with each other and expressing their own opinions through their use of grammar, formality and colloquialisms. For example McHappyPants2012's post fails to feature capitalisation at he beginning of their sentences and features emoticons. This find into the way language was used online when this was posted. Online people tend not to follow standard English or the basic rules of grammar as it isn't about how you're saying things, it's about what you're saying. Especially in this context as users are seeking  help from each other, they aren't going to take knowledge of spelling mistakes or missed commas. Language is also used this way to maximise efficiency. Using emoticons conveys your mood quickly and in this text woolyideas' use of a raised eyebrow emoticon clearly connotes confusion and distaste. The use of all these techniques creates an informal register that mimics spoken language.

Discourse markers in this text also add to the text also add to the text being written like a spoken conversation. Phrases like 'okay', 'yep' and 'actually' are all discourse markers used to structure each point made but in the first post 'okay' features at the start. This is typical of spoken language as it indicates the speaker is thinking of what to say or how to phrase it. Techniques such as asyndetic listing are also used in the same way. Its primary purpose is to organise items in a list but also to make the list appear drawn out and emphasise it.

Q2) Text B is an article from the Mirror with informs the reader on the current shift in popularity regarding prom nights. The text features statistics such as 'teenage lads are spending 24% more than a year ago' and 'boys spend on average £385 compared to girls who blow £467.25'. These statistics infer that the Mirror knows a lot on the subject and should be trusted. They're also used to inform the audience, which is most likely parents. 

The audience for this text is most likely parents or adults looking for advice. We know this as the article features in the 'personal finance' section on the advice part of the site. In terms of graphology, the adverts featured down the right side of the article are regarding topics like energy bills, broadband and personal injury claims. It is unlikely that these adverts would feature if the intended audience was teenagers. The text also features ideas like discos which in the text are described as 'traditional'. This adjective connotes older times, so it's likely adults could relate to this.

Text B also discusses things that are 'typical' of one gender and how it's now the norm. For example it mentions boys 'heading to beauty salons' for various treatments such as 'eyebrow threading' and 'spray tans'. this links to contemporary society as gender roles are disappearing. The text also links to things in modern society through intertextuality. The text mentions David Beckham and James Bond and these references are used to explain the youth today.

Q3) Texts A and B are similar as they are both giving advice out to a similar audience, on the same topic. 'Mumsnet' features parents discussing tips for prom and the Mirror article is under the advice section of the site and is informing people of prom and what to expect. As 'mumsnet' is for parents, those posting are most likely to be mums, dads or guardians. It's unlikely children would be looking at the advice section on the Mirror and the adverts are aimed at adults too. Due to this similarity between consumer of the text, certain language is used. For example, both texts consider archaic themes such as 'traditional discos'. And although these things aren't really old, compare to the contemporary society they are they are the antithesis.

The texts are also similar due to their use of slang, abbreviations, and coinage. 'Mums net' (text A) features a range of abbreviations from ones specific to the site such as 'DD' to generic ones such as 'BTW' and 'OTT'. These are used mainly for efficiency. The Mirror article features new words like 'promzilla' but slang isn't used for the same reasons in each text. The use of colloquialisms in text B is simply to educate the adult audience and occasionally entertain them. These new phrases juxtapose the older phrases used to emphasise how much prom has changed over the years.

The users of 'mumsnet' in text A are a discourse community. They share a common goal to be good parents and to gain as well as share their knowledge. They also have their own lexical field which features abbreviations like 'DD' meaning 'darling daughter' and this features throughout the forum. Whereas, the Mirror text is an article therefore there's no group of people sharing an occupation featuring in the text. It could be pragmatically implied that the audience is parents and that they are a discourse community but there's no evidence.

The texts also vary in terms of how personal they are. Text A features anecdotes and references to abstract nouns like feelings as well as concrete nouns. However, text B focuses a lot more on the materialistic view of prom and doesn't mention personal experiences ad it only focuses on facts and statistics. This could have an impact on the type of parent that looks at each text. Those that go on 'mums net' are likely to be seeking out stories of personal experience and opinions, to be showered with a plethora of opposing or agreeing arguments. Whereas if you were to look for advice on the Mirror you'd find references to money, percentage increases and a few statements from professionals in that field. 

Grade : B

Mark: 51/70

AO1:    15/20    (75%)

AO3:    21/30    (70%)

AO4:   15/20    (75%)

Improvements:For Q1&2:

*Identify a greater number of techniques using terminology

*Identify and discuss more contextual factors

*Link techniques (identified using terminology) to context

*Explore affordances and constraints of technologically meditated texts

*Explore and evaluate the representations in the text

*Explore how values and attitudes are conveyed in context

*Analyse how the audience is positioned

For Q3:

*Be more concise

*Plan 2 points of comparison in more detail (rather than 4/5)

*Ensure both points of comparison are sufficiently different in focus (e.g. not two grammar points or two theory points)

*Explore the effects of context on language use, representations and meanings

POLITENESS THEORY

Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, two linguists that worked together on frameworks, came up with a theory that combines differing politeness strategies. The strategies they distinguish between are:

*Negative politeness strategies - strategies that are performed to avoid offense through deference.

*Positive politeness strategies - strategies that are performed to avoid offense by emphasising friendliness. 

'Face' is a term coined by sociologist Erving Goffman. In relation to the politness theory, face describes the wish of every member of a community to guard his or her face from possible damage through social interferences. There are two types of politeness 'faces':

*Negative face - the wish to be unimpeded by others in one's actions.

*Positive face - the wish/desire to gain approval of others.

Example:
Person A is reading quietly on a train and person B next to them turns their music on their phone up so much that person A can hear it and is unable to concentrate. Saying something is likely to threaten B's face needs so A as the following choices:
*Threaten face by directly addressing the problem and not caring about what B's reaction may be - 'Turn that music down!'
*Go for a positive politeness strategy that satisfies B's positive face needs. This could be a compliment for example - 'I love that album, it's great isn't it...'
*Use a different negative politeness strategy that will address B's negative face needs. For example, A could apologise before speaking then make the request. - 'Sorry to be a pain but... Could you just turn that down a little bit?'
*Or A could use an indirect request that infers what they want without being explicit, therefore minimising any threat to face. - 'This is an amazing book I'm reading at the minute'

GRICE'S MAXIMS

https://elevate.cambridge.org/elevate/Reader/viewer.aspx#book/151/Ch09/pos_36.42182592163994

In 1975, linguist and philosopher Paul Grice came up with 4 conversational maxims and used them as examples for communication being a cooperative enterprise between the listener and speaker.

*The maxim of quantity - where one tries to be as informative as one possibly can, and gives as much information as is needed, and no more.
Do not say too little or too much.

*The maxim of quality - where one tries to be truthful, and does not give information that is false or that is not supported by evidence.

Speak the truth

*The maxim of relation - where one tries to be relevant, and says things that are pertinent to the discussion.

Keep what is being discussed relevant to the topic in hand.

*The maxim of manner - when one tries to be as clear, as brief, and as orderly as one can in what one says, and where one avoids obscurity and ambiguity.
Be clear and avoid ambiguity.

Grice said that the maxims were often broken and were not to act as rigid rules. These gave rise to what he names 'implicatures' and 'implied meanings' that came from what the listener inferred from what the speaker was saying. 

                     

SWALES AND DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES

A discourse community is a large group of people who have a common interest and share the same beliefs and intentions regarding this interest.  Whether it's a formal occupation or a social group, all discourse communities follow a set of rules theorised by John Swales. 

The 6 characteristics of discourse communities are:

1. “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.”
Do all the members of the group have the same goal/s?


2. “A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.”
Can all the group members communicate through the same method? EG: face to face/written

3. “A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.”
Does the communication provide information and feedback?

4. “A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.”
Are there other genres related to the group? EG: recipe books, textbooks, medical journals?

5. “In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired a specific lexis.”
Is there subject-specific lexis?

6. “A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise”

Is there a hierarchy of members?

https://elevate.cambridge.org/elevate/Reader/viewer.aspx#book/151/Ch13_05

REPRESENTATION: 
Sometimes words and phrases are not the ideal method of communication due to impracticality, therefore logos are used. The Olympic logo for example represents the values it stands for like unity and the image represents this by the 5 most inhabited continents being depicted as linked rings. Words and phrases are different as they represent ideas but do not look like what they are describing. For example the word mountain gives no clues as to what a mountain actually looks like as it doesn't have the same physical features. Although we can clearly describe a setting to someone and have them envision it, there are many ways to say the same thing and this can make communication difficult.

EG:
Terrorist -                        has negative connotations
Freedom Fighter -           has positive connotations

Newspapers may feature these titles and dependent on which they choose they can influence their audience to share a negative opinion or a positive one. 

STEREOTYPES:
Stereotypes can take form in a number of ways; whether it's a colour scheme or a public figure stated as being representative of a whole population. We see stereotypes everywhere. For example when you go shopping for a birthday card the girls ones are typically pink, whereas the ones designed for boys are blue. Stereotypes can manifest themselves in the form of words but it is easier for audiences to understand images and examples.

Like representations, the media use stereotypes to make the job of consuming the text easier for the audience. By using stereotypical descriptions of people they immediately have an idea of the type of person or place being described. 

ANALYSIS OF TEXTS: LANGUAGE AND GENDER

Question 1:

Text 1 uses stereotypes and zoomorphism to depict women. The opening sentence to the extract says ‘women are programmed’. This objectifies them and disconnects any human qualities from them. This is also done later in the text when women are described as likely to have a ‘cat-fight’. Zoomorphism over-exaggerates any animal behaviour to display a clear image of the idea that the author is trying to put across. This is also done for comedy purposes and to lightly mock females; and since the audience is men between the ages of 18 and 30, it is likely they will find this entertaining and be able to relate to the opinions stated in the book.

The register of this text is fairly formal but also conversational at the same time. The mode of the text is written but the use of parenthesis to add comments contributes to a more relaxed and chatty tone. In relation to the audience and genre, the book is to give advice to young men and the informal comments give off the impression that the writer is friends with the reader and is just trying to give them advice man to man. This makes the reader have faith in the text as they find it relatable and trust that the author understands the situation they are in.

As well as representing women stereo-typically, the target audience of males are also portrayed as archetypal men who enjoy 'having a pint' and actively dislike shopping. We get this impression through the list of activities listed that men would rather do but also through the the structure of the text. The majority of this extract is written using short sentences featuring imperatives or declarative statements. For example 'be confident', 'you need to' and 'it takes men five minutes to make a decision on an item of clothing' all display imperatives or are written with the implication that it is a fact. This is done to give the author power in the situation and give the impression that they hold knowledge that must be obeyed; thus making the audience instantly 'do what they're told'.


The text disputes Deborah Tannen's difference theory on many occasions. Throughout the text women are described as the ones holding power and status over the men and the men appear to cower behind them and come to compromises to please them. This links to the conflict vs compromise aspect of the theory as in the situations described in the text the men are the antithesis of conflict creators and are coming up with ways to get out of shopping like 'enlisting a fellow couple'. This would entertain any female readers as they are being represented as powerful and you have to tiptoe around them in regards to shopping.


Overall, the text creates representations by using stereotypes mainly, although they dispute main gender theories.

Text 2:

Text 2 portrays women negatively by making them seem loud and only caring about men. This is evident in the narrative of the text as the women are distracted from what they were talking about when a young male walks past. The use of shock speech balloons also gives us this impression as they are typically used in conjunction with onomatopoeia to symbolise a loud noise. As this is an advert that seems to be geared more towards males the females acting in this way and being drawn like they are is a technique to attract men. This agrees with the male gaze theory that adverts show women in a way that will appeal to men to draw them in.

The dialogue in the next is written phonetically in the style of a Geordie accent. For example sounds such as ‘aye’, ‘eeh’ and phrases like ‘ah’d give me right arm for a stottie’ feature throughout the text. By featuring colloquialisms within the text it implies the target audience is younger as they are the ones coming up with new sayings and renaming things. As the advert is for a leisure complex in Newcastle, the consumers of this ad would be local people that would find this very entertaining. But it also appeals to those who don’t speak with that accent as it is interesting to see how it is phonetically written and when spoken aloud it sounds Geordie. 

 

In terms of meanings, the text works as an advert by representing those that are at the leisure complex as young and fun. They do this through how they are actually drawn physically but also through their use of slang. As mentioned previously, those featured in the cartoon are Geordie therefore they use Geordie slang but they are also young and it's known that typically young people use slang.