Much of the current scholarship on gender and language has attempted to explain gender differences. Nancy Chodorow (1978) hypothesized that, as a result of being parented primarily by a woman, men and women develop different gender identities. Through their early relationship with their mother, women develop a sense of self that is continuous with others. Men, on the other hand, develop a sense of self based on denial of this relationship. Thus, the female pseudonym is based on a basic sense of connectedness, whereas the male pseudonym is grounded in the belief in a separate self.
Building on Chodorow ( 1978) work, Gilligan ( 1982) proposed that women's epistemologies are grounded in an ethic of care and responsibility rather than an ethic of autonomy and justice. Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule ( 1986) grouped women's perspectives on knowing into five major epistemological stances: silence, received knowledge, subjective knowledge, procedural knowledge, and constructed knowledge. (Matalene C. 789-808)
Three theories of gender differences have emerged from recent studies. The first theory posits that linguistic differences might be the result of subcultural differences. This theory is particularly useful for describing variations within same-sex groups. However, Poynton considered this theory inadequate for describing variations in mixed-sex groups that she claimed are more accurately characterized as differences in power. As Poynton observed, "men are culturally legitimated as powerful and women are not. . . . Hence, relations between women and men are culturally defined as between powerful and powerless and this shows up linguistically in a variety of ways". (Flower L. S., & Hayes J. R. 21-22) Miller (1976) extended Poynton's claim with the contention that women are repositories of qualities of affiliativeness, relatedness, empathy, and nurturance that are devalued and distorted in male-dominant culture and by men. Therefore, she recommended that women reclaim and revalorize these qualities.
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