Women’s language Miss Congeniality Movie

13 Lakoff identifies lexical hedges are means of expressing uncertainty or tentativeness. In society, women have a lower position than men, so they talk indirectly and tend to speak more politely. For instance, sort of is used to weaken the strength of an assertion that might caus e offense, as in ‘John is sort of short’. It shows that the speaker talks about a thing politely so as not to offend others. Besides, “women use hedges to arise out of a fear of seeming too masculine by seeing assertive and saying things directly” Lakoff Bucholtz, 2004, p.79. 2 Intensifier Intensifier indicates on increase or decrease of the intensifying with which she expressed. The intensifier e.g. really, so, very is supposed to strengthen the intended meaning Holmes, 2008, p.323. For instance, so as in ‘I like him so much’ shows that women use intensifier to show their excitement by making strong assertion in their utterance. The use of intensifier is used more frequently by women than men. Lakoff 2004 also states that it has subsequently been viewed as a boosting device. 3 Emphatic Stress Emphatic stress is used to show that women tend to emphasize the most important word in their sentence Lakoff Bucholtz, 2004. Emphatic stress refers to speaking in italics as the strong expression that are shown by women , as in ‘What a beautiful dress ’ or ‘it was a brilliant performance’ It is used as a boosting device to make sure that the message received and responded. Lakoff and Bucholtz 2004 also 14 states that women use-the-top emphasis because they anticipate not being taken seriously. 4 Tag Questions Tag question is “syntactic device” which expresses uncertainty. “The tags contain an inverted auxiliary form, determined by the auxiliary in the main clause, and the pronoun that agrees with the subject of the main clause” Eckert Ginet, 2003, p.167. For instance, “It’s a fantail, isn’t it?” or “That was a bit of a daft thing to do, wasn’t it?” Based on the examples, they turn a statement into a question, so that its force is reduced. According to Lakoff 1975, tag question refers to indications of approval-seeking. Moreover, by using tag question a woman wants to get a confirmation of her claim from the addressee. According to Holmes 2008, there are four functions of tag questions. They are to express uncertainty, to show positive politeness devices, to soften a directive or a criticism, and to show confrontational and coercive devices. First, tag question functions to express uncertainty. A woman inserts tag question at the end of the sentence is not to ask, but to show uncertainty about what she is saying. For instance, “English test is tomorrow, isn’t it?” In this case, it shows that the speaker is not really sure and tries to look for other’s confirmations. Second, tag question functions to show positive politeness devices. Positive politeness is used for the success of an interaction in facilitative way. A woman uses politeness devices to ease the addressee to participate in a conversation and to soften impolite things within a polite way. For 15 example, a “Andrew, this is our new neighbor, Frank. Andrew has just changed jobs, haven’t you?” b “Yes, I am now a well-paid computer programmer instead of a poorly paid administrative assistant”. In this case, the speaker provides the guest with a topic of conversation. Tag question in that case makes it easier for the guest to participate in the conversation. Third, tag question functions to soften a directive or a criticism. Someone who wants to criticize others often uses it. For instance, ” That was a bit of a daft thing to do, wasn’t it?” In this case, the tag functions not to express uncertainty, but rather reflects concern for the addressee’s feelings. Sometimes, women use this tag to show politeness even though it criticizes someone. Fourth, tag question functions as a confrontational and coercive device. This tag is used to force feedback from an uncooperative addressee. For instance, a police superintendent is interviewing a detective constable and is criticizing the constable’s performance. “Now you fully understand that, don’t you?” The tag in that case functions not to hedge but rather to strengthen the negative force of the utterance in which it occurs. It emphasizes the negative force that is not cooperative Holmes, 2008. 5 Rising Intonation on Declaratives Women often raise their intonation to make sure the accuracy of information when they are not sure about something. Rising intonation is used by women to turn a statement into a question Lakoff Bucholtz, 2004. Rising intonation is used to weaken the force and shows uncertainty of the speaker’s utterance.