Gender Differences in Chinese Speech Communities PDF

Chapter 47 Gender Differences in Chinese Speech Communities Present by: Ng Sin Lam Shiu King Yiu Tsang Shing Him Wong Lai Hung Yiu Ho Wai  TABLE OF CONTENTS Sentence-final 01 Introduction 05 particles in Cantonese Kundulun 0...

Chapter 47 Gender Differences in Chinese Speech Communities Present by: Ng Sin Lam Shiu King Yiu Tsang Shing Him Wong Lai Hung Yiu Ho Wai  TABLE OF CONTENTS Sentence-final 01 Introduction 05 particles in Cantonese Kundulun 02 community 06 Conclusion Toa-gu-tiau 03 community 07 Reference 04 Nvguoyin 08 Q & A Session 01 Introduction  Introduction Definition of “gender” Gender differences and universal associations Development of gender differences  Definition of “GENDER” Refers to the psychological, social and cultural differences between male and female (e.g.,gender roles, stereotypes) -Socially constructed roles, actions, and characteristics that are deemed suitable for male/ female in a particular society -Effects on behavior, relationships, and self-perception -Gender perception varies among cultures (American Psychological Association, 2011) (American Psychological Association, 2013)  GENDER DIFFERENCES Men Women Conversational politeness Negative Positive Preferences of -more direct, factual, and -more tactful, vocal is communication styles action-oriented charged -appear strong and -establish and preserve independent relationships. Emotional expressions Less expressive More expressive  Universal associates with gender differences 1.Social status and authority: > Social hierarchies: men are typically seen as higher status than women (e.g., traditional Chinese thoughts) 2.Gender expectation and socialization: >SOCIALIZATION teaches certain behaviors, attitudes of being men/women (e.g.,women are tend to be more polite) ->Politeness differences between men and women  Development of gender differences 1.Assimilate with time: >Specific cultural contexts need to develop with time -Immigrants may hold traditional views on gender role-> need time to become native 2.Cultural background: >Origin of immigrants influence gender differences. - Cultural differences -> need to adapt into a new culture -E.g., immigrants women from high gender inequality countries faced challenges in adapting to more gender-equality societies, which impacted their social roles. (Kahn,2018) 02 The Kundulun Community Investigations  The Two Investigations in Kundulun(昆都侖) 1950 1970 1990 2010 First urban center formed 1956 First investigatioin 1987 Second investigation 2003 - 2006 - Adult generation was all migrants - Only 2 generations - 3 generations (2 native-born) - Wide range of Chinese dialects - Still many migrants - Still a relatively new town (subdialects of Mandarin)  First Investigation (1987) Second Investigation (2003 - 2006) Nasalization Nasalization Occupation Occupation Place of origin Place of origin Social network Social network Social Constraint Social Constraint Speech style Education Age *Gender  Nasalization in Gender Differences Often accompanying sajiao(撒嬌) is the sentence-final particle, ma 嘛 The entire sentence is uttered slowly and when ma is added, the syllable is nasalized and noticeably lengthened. Female Male Indirect and informal power in Low and deep, steady and calm, Chinese society. The more gives the impression of authority emphasizes on artificial feminine qualities, the more it lacks authority 03 Toa-gu-tiau community  Background Toa-gu-tiau（大牛牢 Tua-gû-tiâu）community A speech community in Taoyuan, Taiwan Hokkien dialect（閩南話）as their native language 6 linguistic variables due to different places of ancestry Gender effect was absent in almost all variables, only one showed gender-constraining effect  The exceptional variable → Devoicing Devoicing voiced plosives and affricates of Ancient Chinese is one of the features of Hakka dialect Brought by a huge group of Hakka women migrants married into the community (Proportion of intermarriage with Hakkas in 1988: 88%) Family rules of the Toa-gu-tiau community: Every Hakka women must learn the Hokkien dialect when entering the Toa- gu-tiau family and use it in daily life, as well as teach it to their children. → Integrated the feature of Hakka dialect → passed down to the next generation Conditions to develop gender differences/ constraints Large number of speakers agreeing on the constraints First investigation in Kundulun: Group size Huge group of migrants from various dialectical backgrounds No dominant group in the community (could not agree on the pattern of Cohesion variation) Lack of gender effect Conditions to develop gender differences/ constraints Large number of speakers agreeing on the constraints The case of Toa-gu-tiau: Group size Huge group of migrants from the same mature speech community Hakka women became the dominant local female group in the community Cohesion (could agree on the variation due to the same origin of migrants) Created gender effect Other examples: Gendered first person pronoun in Mandarin Originally a third person pronoun, means “they”. Often used by female speakers when it comes to first person pronoun. Renjia When it is used in first-person pronoun: （人家） 人家 需要 幫助 啦 Ren-jia xu-yao bang-zhu la I need help PRT “I need help” Indirect and soft Too shy to refer to themselves Embarrassing to say directly Put themselves in a lower position Associated with sajiao（撒嬌）: conveys a sense of vulnerability and a desire for care or affection Other examples: Gendered first person pronoun in Mandarin Cultural context: Agreed by the traditional Chinese society that Renjia （人家） Women being in a subordinate position Women has a recognition of a hierarchical Male speakers who use structure where male holds more power and this pronoun are quickly authority than women perceived as ‘womanish’ → Put themselves in a lower position 04 Nvguoyin  BACKGROUND 1.What is Nvguoyin (女國音)? -feminine Mandarin pronunciation -an accent in Beijing dialect -a linguistics variable of fronting (dental sibilant) - ‘j’, ‘q’ , ‘x’ to ‘z’, ‘c’, ‘s’ 2.History of Nvguoyin (Hu, 1987) -discovered by a linguist, Mr Lai, in 20th century (a report about the phenomenon of alveolar consonants among Beijing women secondary students) -raised by Beijing Opera？  Controversies about Nvguoyin Researchers Statements/results Explanation Hu (1991) 1.used only by some 1.Nvguoyin serves to convey a social meaning of “femininity,” young female students in Beijing 2.there was no motivation for Beijing students to imitate a southern dialectal pronunciation 2.no ‘Nvguoyin’ 3. Disagree with Cao’s idea (nvguoyin among young men) appeared among 12-33 -> the difference in hearing the wrong pronunciation year old men ->the ‘fronted sound’ not exactly same as the ‘dental sibilant’ ->those young men maybe just speaking in soft tone Cao (1987) occasionally also by 1. dialectal contact influence from a number of southern some young men (under Chinese dialects that have the fronted pronunciations as a 12 year-old) norm  Pronunciation of Nvguoyin -the main characteristics: ‘j, q, x’ to ‘z, c, s’ -fronted consonants instead of dorsal consonants the mouth is relatively more closed Examples: jqx zcs 加油 (jia you) 加油 (zia you) 剪刀 (jian dao) 剪刀 (zian dao) 籃球 (lan qiu) 籃球 (lan ciu) 笑容 (xiao rong) 笑容 (siao rong) 學校 (xue xiao) 學校 (sue siao)  How does Nvguoyin relate to gender difference? features Gender Stereotype the mouth is relatively Softer tone, and 1.Symbolize ‘fragility’ Men using more closed more polite (traditional cultural image of fronted Chinese woman) pronunciation: ‘womanish *Convey a social meaning of ‘femininity’* speech’ 2.associated with good manners in speaking for women 05 Sentence-final particles in Cantonese ❏ je.55 啫 and jek.5 唧 ❏ a.33 呀 ❏ la.33 喇 and la.55 啦 *Transcription here are all in Yale romanization je.55 啫 and jek.5 唧 Function: quantification 幾 本 書 啫。 Core meaning: just/ only Gei bun syu je.55。 A few CL book PRT ‘It’s just a few books.’ Function: Posing question (info- 你 幾時 返嚟 香港 唧？ seeking) Nei geisi faanlai heunggong jek.5? Tone: impatient, you when come back Hong Kong PRT displeasure ‘When will you come back to Hong Kong?’ (emotional) Social context: close relationship e.g. spouses  GENDER DIFFERENCES IN USAGE OF JE & JEK Female Male (total 1440) (total 2217) JE sentences 30 55 JEK sentence 66 55 Total 96 (6.67%) 110 (4.96%) TABLE 1: CHAN (1996) DATABASE: KALEIDOSCOPE CORPUS Total of JE and JEK sentence (=popular Guangdong television series 萬花筒 in the mid-1980s) Total sentence produced by female / male  GENDER DIFFERENCES IN USAGE OF JE & JEK Female Male authority? Declaratives Interrogatives Declaratives Interrogatives JE 27 3 43 12 sentences JEK 5 61 13 42 sentence Total 32 (33%) 64 (67%) 56 (51%) 54 (49%) TABLE 2: CHAN (1998) follow-up study DATABASE: KALEIDOSCOPE CORPUS Stereotype: female: indecisive, emotional Male: decisive, not talking much A.33 呀 我 唔 知 呀。 Ngo m ji a.33。 I NEG know PRT ‘I don’t know.’ Optional Can be added to declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives Usually added to soften the tone Greater politeness → softer tone and greater politeness are usually associate with female in social expectation.  GENDER DIFFERENCES IN USAGE OF A.33 Female Male Total A.33 sentences 75 51 126 60% 40% 100% TABLE 3: CHAN (1996) DATABASE: KALEIDOSCOPE CORPUS (=popular Guangdong television series 萬花筒 in the mid-1980s)  If you change it to la.55 啦, the tone will be softened. la.33喇 and la.55啦 唔好 再 講 喇， 再 講 佢 嬲 架 啦。 Mhou joi gong la.33，joi gong keui nau ga la.55。 NEG continue talk PRT continue talk he/she angry PRT PRT ‘Don’t talk about it anymore, if you keep talking about it, he/she will be angry.’ la.33 喇 Two meaning: 1) Finish 2) Order or request with very assertive tone la.55 啦 Two meaning: 1) Order or request 2) Permission or agreement  GENDER DIFFERENCES IN USAGE OF LA.33 & LA.55 Female Male LA.33 sentences 63 52 LA.55 sentence 22 36 Both gender used Total 85 88 la.33 more TABLE 4: CHAN (1996) Female used la.33 DATABASE: KALEIDOSCOPE CORPUS even more often (=popular Guangdong television series 萬花筒 in the mid-1980s) than male in ratio. bluffing?  Finding: Intonation pattern & gender expectation Patriarchal society Masculine = advantage & default more powerful, more assertive → male usually speaks with lower pitch → higher pitch SEPs usually associates with female (show higher politeness and soften tone) → both gender tend to use lower pitch SFPs to be more assertive in tone when making request/ order → surprisingly female used lower pitch SFPs even more often when making request/ order (might be bluffing?) 06 Conclusion To summarise: 1. Gender differences -Definitions, developments and universal associations 1. The Kundulun Community Investigations -History and nasalization in gender differences 1. The Toa-gu-tiau community -Conditions to develop gender differences, devoicing, similar cases(人家) 1. Nvguoyin - How it relates to gender differences, controversies and pronunciations 1. Sentence-final particles in Cantonese -Gender differences in SFPs, intonation patterns and gender expectations  References American Psychological Association. (2012a, July). 2011-report.pdf. ANNUAL REPORT Of The American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/2011-report.pdf American Psychological Association. (2012b, July). 2011-report.pdf. ANNUAL REPORT Of The American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/2011-report.pdf Ang, U.J. (2003). ‘The History and Development of Tuagutiau Dialect in Taoyuan, Taiwan: A Diachronic and Synchronic Study’, pp. 25-67. Chan, M. K. (2002). ‘Gender-related use of sentence-final particles in Cantonese’. In Hellinger, M. & Motschenbacher, H. (ed.) Gender Across Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 57- 72 Chan, M.K. (2002). GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE : A PRELIMINARY REPORT. Proceedings of the Ninth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL- 9), 2, 35-52.  References De Francisco, V. L. (1992). Deborah Tannen, You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1990. Pp. 330. Language in Society, 21(2), 319– 324. doi:10.1017/S0047404500015372 Sagart, L. (2002). Gan, Hakka and the formation of Chinese dialects. Dialect variations in Chinese, 129- 154. Women in leadership (quick take). Catalyst. (2024, October 13). https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-management/ Xu, D.M. (2015). ‘Gender differences in Chinese speech communities’. In Wang, W. S. Y., & Sun, C. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 626-635. Zhang, Sofi. "Research of Pronoun Renjia in Semantic and Rhetorical Function." Humaniora Binus, vol. 4, no. 1, 2013, pp. 11-16.  Q & A session (multiple choices) 1. Which factor in below is not related to gender differences in Chinese speech communities? A. Gender role expectations B. Social status C. Physiological differences D. Politeness Answer: C  Q & A session (multiple choices) 2. Which of the following statement(s)of Nvguoyin is/are incorrect? A. j,q,x to z,c,s A. Hu(1991) stated that Nvguoyin is only used by some young female workers in Beijing A. The feature of Nvguoyin is the mouth is relatively more closed A. Cao(1987) stated that some claims that Nvguoyin was rised by Beijing Opera Answers: B, D Q & A session (open question) 1. In addition to what we have presented in our presentation, can you give us one more example that also illustrates gender differences in any speech community? 1. Do you agree that gender differences also apply to online communication? If so, compared to reality, do you think the gender differences are increasing or decreasing nowadays? If not, why? Thank you for listening !