Genderlect Analysis Essay Example

Communication is very relevant to modern human beings as it enables harmonious living, due to the understanding of one another. However, numerous differences do exist in the style of communication used between males and females. These differences are visible in electronic interactions between friends, families or even strangers. Emails were analyzed in this paper both in content, topics covered, writing styles used, among other salient features that will be discussed (Rubin & Greene, 1992). Generally, intimacy and rapport are the main features which dominated the email contents of female friends, as they are more sensitive to those features than men. This paper aims to, therefore, discuss the differences in writing between males and females.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The first difference that I noticed from the electronic mails that I was receiving from both my female and male friends was the writing style used. Females, as mentioned earlier, tend to create intimacy and rapport between themselves and their friends and they are usually driven by connection maintenance, hence use an interactive writing style. On the other hand, men use writing methods that are used in establishing statuses and do not write with the purpose of connection or rapport maintenance. For example, my older acquaintance Sue describes her escapade with two children to a dentist. She sends a lengthy message full of emotions which are supposed to create a connection between the both of us. However, a message from my male friend Tanaka is short and precise and does not contain emotions. He describes to me what he found out about our "project plan." The message does not even include any greetings, and I have not seen him for almost two weeks now. Unlike women, men are always to the point, and there are no any instances of connection attempts from their messages.

The other difference which is visible from the electronic mails analysed in this paper is the choice of words in writing. Females can be seen to choose words which tend to appeal to personal relationships unlike men, who like using numbers more, determiners and adjectives. Men like using words like "that," "the" and "this," in their messages as they tend to care more on delivering a message accurately than women, who frequently use words like "for" and "with." For example, from the Appendix, Tim Brown proves this difference in his message when he was requesting me to send him a particular URL that contained some information he needed. He frequently used the determiners that made his writing short and precise. Aisha is also one of my female friends whose choice of words show the difference between men and women when it comes to writing.

The language used is the third significant difference between men and women when it comes to communication through writing - for instance, men like using slangs in communicating while women use complete words, mostly, to ensure that their connection is established. As such, they apply a relational approach while writing. Men, on the other hand, use an instrumental approach while writing their messages as it can be seen from the examples provided, as they like to get things done, showing their assertiveness. My friend Michiro, a female friend, expresses this by the level of care she explains on her lengthy text. However, males on the other hand use slangs and short messages to show assertiveness and deliver the intended message. For example, Williams is telling about a yucky chicken that he took but instead writes yucky as "Yuki". Other examples are also present from the provided email conversations used in formulating this paper.

Several past pieces of research support this argument. For instance, Ridder and Boyd found out that a computer program can even be used in showing texts that are from females and those that are from males (2003). They attributed these differences to the difference in sociology and psychology between the two genders. In addition, other factors which stimulate these differences include biological elements which comprise of different hormone levels such as testosterone and oestrogen. These hormones affect the way women and men communicate and behave. Several similarities have been found to occur between the conversations established between males and females, but of significance is code-switching. Various words from various languages might be incorporated in a conversation between two friends to make the discussions a bit ambiguous and more interesting, as per the research carried out by Nancy Naples, (2016).

Conclusion

Lastly, it is evident that communication styles used by both male and females especially in writing differ significantly. However, the differences might not be seen since people do not always give keen attention to how they communicate or write. The differences are vital in understanding both the genders and they can be used to establish peaceful relations between one another. Genderlect is a field which has become very popular and significant even in solving of cases that involve the exchange of messages. I found myself replying to my friends using slangs which were an observation I did not realize until I took a keen interest in viewing my emails and my messages. As such, the genderlect theory should be learned keenly to ensure that all of these differences are made aware and understood by people, to ensure that the overall communication process between the two distinct genders is known and comprehended.

References

Boyd, R. S., & Ridder, K. (2003, May). Gender shows up in writing. Retrieved from Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-05-28-0305280247-story.html

Naples, N. A. (2016). Genderlect. University of Granada, 4.

Rubin, D. L., & Greene, K. (1992). Typical Style in Written Language . Gender Journal Article , pp 7-40.