20
prefer to use softer expletives, such as, „God,‟ „Goodness,‟ „dear,‟ and „Jesus.‟
However, nowadays these particular differences are rapidly disappearing. Coates 1987 believes that the way women talk is starting to change.
Men‟s speech style is different from women‟s speech style. The men‟s speech style tends to avoid self-disclosure. Men tend to avoid talking about
feeling or story that related to other feelings. They prefer to talk about an impersonal topic such as sport, news, or something that based on the facts. There
are some features of men‟s speech according to Haas 1979, such as the frequent
use of slang, the use of profanity and obscenity, the use language are to lecture, to argue, to debate, to assert and to command, the use of nonstandard form, directive,
and coarse.
1. Men’s Speech
Besides, women‟s speech, Wood 1993b also gives some features of
men‟s speech which are spoken by the masculine speech communities. Based on Wood 1993b
, men‟s speech tends to regard talk as a way to exert control, preserve, independence, entertain, and enhance status. There are some features of
men‟s speech style, such as:
A. Status and Control
Men often speak to exhibit knowledge, skill, or ability to establish their own status and value. Equally is the
typical tendency to avoid disclosing personal information that might make a man appears weak or vulnerable. Tannen believes
that the tendency to give advice is a common thing in men‟s speech. Men tend to
use commands such as „give me‟ and „turn over‟ to show the leadership Larner,
21
2009, p. 4. Men tend to use language to show their power. They usually talk assertively to show their authoritative. Men are the one that usually control the
conversation. Therefore, they might interrupt if the conversation leads to the topic that they do not like.
B. Instrumentality
Men socialize to do things and to achieve their goals Bellinger Gleason, 1982. In conversation, this is often expressed through problem-solving
efforts that focus on getting information, discovering facts, and suggesting solutions. Men tend to talk with some facts and do not include any feeling into it.
The communication ‟s aims are limited to gain and to deliver information.
C. Conversational Dominance
In most circumstances, men tend to talk more and at greater length than women. Men engaged in other verbal behaviors that sustain conversational
dominance. They may reroute the conversation by using what people said as a jump-off point for their own topic or they may interrupt. Not only do men seem to
interrupt more than women, but they do so for different reasons. Stewart and her colleagues 1990, p. 5I suggest that men use interruptions to control the
conversation by challenging the other speakers. On the other hand, when women interrupt, it shows that they interest and they want to respond. Men and women
have different aims when interrupting, such as men aim to control the conversation and want the conversation to go as what they want. Therefore, it will
be seen rough when men do the interruption rather than when women do.
