SotA Anthology 2015-16
different swear words. The
interaction with the most
variety in swear words is
the all-male interaction,
in which there were 18
different BLWs used.
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The most interesting result
of this study is that the
aJl-female and all-male
interactions
form
two
opposites within the bar
charts, with the mixed-sex
group sharing features
of both charts: it shows
lower variation than the
all-male interaction, but
higher than the female
interaction. Looking at the
language alone, it would be
difficult to argue this from
a dominance approach.
Lakoff (1975/2004) claims
women have a different
type of language to men,
a
‘feminine’
language,
however in the mixedsex
interaction
here,
female speaker A is using
expletives shared with the
males. This suggests that
there is no real gender
dominance occurring here,
but that speakers have
adapted their language due
to the mixed-sex interaction.
With a difference approach,
this proves that indeed
males and females have a
different way in which they
speak to each other, but in a
mixed-sex interaction their
language is different once
again, to form a common
ground of interaction.
This could be a cause for
the dominance of male
speaker A in both settings.
Indeed it may not be, as
Lakoff and other dominance
theorists might presume, an
affirmation of his dominance
as a masculine figure, but
merely following different
conversational rules for the
sake of solidarity.
The distribution of BLWs,
and
consequently
the
frequency of speech per
informant, is different within
each interaction. The allfemale interaction proves to
be, as Coates writes of, a
very collaborative floor, with
a similar number of BLWs
being shared between the
interlocutors. This is not
apparent within the all-male
interaction and the mixed
sex interaction, suggesting
a different approach to
conversation and turn-taking
is happening here. As in
Coates’s studies, the males
take more of a ‘one-at-atime’ floor, with one person
speaking
uninterrupted
before another speaks.
The difference in showing
solidarity to each other in
the various interactions can
be shown again through
the variety in BLWs. With
the same nine swear words
being used in the all-female
group, there is an obvious
shared use of these words,
reinforcing the idea of the
collaborative floor. By all
using the same words, they
are sharing similar language
features with those around
them, and increasing their
solidarity as a group of
friends. This is different to
the all-male interaction,
where more variety is used,
as well as less commonly
known expletives such as
‘pikey’ and ‘MILF’. Although