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emotionless and hyper-rational interaction style associated with male and masculine workplace.
McElhinny 1995 also points out that women are able to create a space for themselves in a largely masculine workplace by challenging “the hegemonic
definition of a police officer and of working-class masculinity and orienting to an alternative kind of masculinity
” p.318. By looking at some theories which claim women language as inferior, women want to prove that they are able to be like men.
B. Theoretical Framework
In this part, this study explains the theories that were used to analyze the problem formulations of this study. All major theories are summarized and
synthesized. It also explains the reason why the theories are needed and how this study will apply the theories in the analysis.
Women have their own features in the way they speak. In society, women are expected to be polite, indirect, and emotive in communication. Therefore, women
have their special features which are called as women’s language. In order to answer research question number one, the researcher applied Lakoff’s theory. Lakoff 1975
states that there are several women’s language features, including lexical hedge or filler, intensifier, emphatic stress, tag question, rising intonation on declaratives,
‘empty’ adjectives, precise color terms, ‘hypercorrect’ grammar, ‘superpolite’ forms, and avoidance of strong swear word. Women tend to use those features to reinforce
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their utterance so that the addressee will take them seriously. Moreover, those features mark women’s uncertainty and lack of confidence.
Lexical hedges or fillers are used to weaken the strength of an assertion. There is a distinction between hedges and fillers which is stated by Holmes. Fillers are used
to pause when someone is not yet finished speaking and they belong to meaningless particles Holmes, 2001, p.315. Intensifier and emphatic stress are used to emphasize
and strengthen the most important word in statements Lakoff, 1975. Another feature stated by Lakoff is tag question which expresses uncertainty.
Rising intonation is also used by women to turn a statement into a question in order to weaken the force and make the speaker sound uncertain. Women
use ‘empty’ adjective to express approval or admirable on something. Lakoff 1975 states that
women tend to differentiate all the color names in detail. Since social inequity occurs to women, women take opportunity through color discrimination to make the real
decision. It happens because in the society women are not involved in making important decisions. Women also pay attention to their behavior in society.
Therefore, they use standard form to show good behavior as a speech-role in front of society Holmes, 2001, p.172. Then, they tend to use hypercorrect grammar to be
valued in society. Besides, women must speak carefully and politely. Lakoff and Bucholtz 2004 point out that the more particles in a sentence can make sense a
sentence as a polite request rather than an order. Moreover, women are not supposed to utter strong swear words. They must select which words that should be spoken and
follow the social norm in society. Swearing is considered as a strong language that
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shows profanity that is not suitable for women and children Eckert Ginet, 2003, p.181.
The study of women’s language is aimed to reveal the changes of women’s language from femininity to masculinity. In order to answer research question
number two, the researcher used the theories of Eckert 2000, McElhinny 1995, and Morawski 1987. There are some factors why women change their language.
The first factor is community of practice. According to Eckert 2000, the community of practice is a rich locus for the study of situated language use, of language change,
and of the very process of conventionalization that underlies both. Community of practice causes the changes of women’s language.
The second factor is women in the profession. McElhinny 1995 notes that in moving into a masculine workplace, women did not adopt an empathetic and warm
interactional style associated with many traditionally workplace e.g., nursing, secretarial work, social work, as might be expected; rather they appropriate a
masculine identity in dealing with the public. Language changes spread through the social network of individuals. It meant workplace introduces changes in the way
women deliver a speech. The last factor is psychological approach. Androgyny as in psychological
approach, according to Morawski 1987, is a combination or balance of masculinity and femininity. It allows individuals to express both masculinity and femininity.
Androgyny can be applied by anybody as being flexible in the kinds of behaviors in
