16 with “Yes, it is.”, or “Yes, absolutely true” when someone tells and explains the
topic they know well to the audience. This is what this theory explains as play down their role.
2.1.2.2 Independence and Intimacy
As women see the world as a space to seek for support, they struggle to preserve intimacy. Men who concern with status tend to focus more on
independence. These traits can lead women and men to have different views of the same situation. Tannen 1991 gives the example of a woman who will check to
her husband before inviting a guest to stay. The woman does so because she likes telling friends that she has to check with him. However, the man invites a friend
without asking his wife first because he will lose his status by checking with her wife first.
2.1.2.3 Advice and Understanding
Tannen claims that for men, a complaint is a challenge to find a solution. Women make complaint to gain sympathy, caring, and attention. For men, sharing
about problem is a way to get a solution. They rarely need understanding and support when they talk about their problem. On the contrary, women will feel
irritated when the response of the sharing problem is giving solution. For most of women, sharing their problem is a way to get attention and support. What women
do when they talk about their problem is understanding of the feeling. Confirming the feeling and giving understanding are the points of sharing. Women do not
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17 need any solution. For men, they focus on what he can do, whereas women expect
sympathy and caring.
2.1.2.4 Orders and Proposals
As men prefer brief informative conversation and focus on what they can do, they may use a direct imperative to ask someone else to do something. Direct
imperative is considered as effective, more simple and informative. Women tend to suggest people doing things in indirect ways - “lets”, “why dont we?” or
“wouldnt it be good, if we...?” because feeling is considered more important for them and giving direct imperative can hurt feelings sometimes. Men tend to use
order for asking people to do something, whereas women prefer to use proposal than order.
2.1.2.5 Conflict and Compromise
Men are said to vocally protest on what they do not agree or like. They openly declare their dislike and opinion about something. Since independence is
their concern, they are said to keep mindset that they will prefer have conflict by saying their opinion openly than compromise for what they do not want to and
never declare their ideas. Men think that differences do not preclude good and close relationship. Sometimes, men use friendly confrontation to know their
friends. For most of men, a friendly debate and confrontation are ways to establish relationship. For women, they are considered to avoid and prevent fight by
refusing to oppose the will of others openly. Women may appear accede, but complaint subsequently to the unattractive environment that they do not like.
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2.2 Theoretical Framework
This research is intended to find out and to discuss the phenomenon of gender language that occurred on students’ speech. The first question in problem
formulation was the beginning of the investigation to see whether male students and female students use the language differently. To answer the first research
problem, gender language theory of Deborah Tannen 1991 is used. According to her, there are six points of interaction between men and women.
The second problem formulation is to find out what kind of topic that triggers gender language on Sanata Dharma English Language Education Study
Program students’ speeches. After analyzing the gender language on students’ speeches, the researcher discovers the topic that triggers the gender language. The
gender and interaction theory of Tannen were combined with the theory of topic and the quantity of talk to analyze and discuss in this part.
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