Anthony Mulac

Male/female language differences and effects in same‐sex and mixed‐sex dyads: The gender‐linked language effect

Ninety‐six university students (48 males, 48 females) were randomly assigned a partner (whom they did not know well), forming two dyad conditions: (a) same‐sex, and (b) mixed‐sex. The 48 dyads were audiotape‐recorded in 20‐minute problem solving interactions, from which 300‐word language samples were transcribed for analysis. In Study 1, 9 trained observers coded 12 language variables previously shown to distinguish male from female language use. Discriminant analysis results demonstrated that a weighted combination of 8 variables could differentiate male from female interactants: male indicators—interruptions, directives, and conjunctions/ fillers begin sentence; female indicators—questions, justifiers, intensive adverbs, personal pronouns, and adverbials begin sentence. An analysis of variance of individuals’ gender discriminant function scores showed greater differences in gender‐linked language behavior in same‐sex than in mixed‐sex dyads. In Study 2, 231 naive observers rated the 96 interactants, usi...

The discourse conditions for the use of the complementizer that in conversational English

Abstract The complementizer that in English, as in I heard (that) you were sick , has widely been regarded as optional. Our research demonstrates that the use of that in such utterances in conversation is highly related to various other features in the discourse. First and second person subjects, the verbs think and guess , and auxiliaries, indirect objects, and adverbs in the main clause, and pronominal complement subjects are all significant in predicting the use of that . As seemingly disparate as these factors are, their influence finds a unified explanation in the acknowledgement that certain combinations of main clause subjects and verbs in English (such as I think ) are being reanalyzed as unitary epistemic phrases. As this happens, the distinction between ‘main’ and ‘complement’ clauses is being eroded, with the omission of that a strong concomitant. Our findings show that the factors most likely to contribute to this reanalysis are precisely those which relate either to the epistemicity of the main subject and verb or to the topicality of the complement at the expense of the main clause.

A molecular view of powerful and powerless speech styles: Attributional consequences of specific language features and communicator intentions

Two studies are reported. The first study examined the extent to which seven forms of language were perceived as powerful and effective when used by an interviewee in a hypothetical job interview. Results suggested a five‐level model of linguistic power and effectiveness, which is independent of communicator sex. The second study examined the same seven linguistic features but in this case two dissimilar intentions were attributed to the interviewee: desire to appear sociable versus desire to appear authoritative. Results indicated that power of style interacted with communicator intention, qualifying to an extent the five‐level model suggested by Study 7. Again, effects were independent of communicator sex. Results of both studies showed that respondents made rather fine discriminations among powerful and powerless language forms, that these discriminations were quite stable, and that some ostensibly powerless forms were judged to be relatively powerful in fact.

Behavioral assessment of speech anxiety

The development and evaluation of an instrument for the behavioral assessment of speech anxiety is described. The BASA consists of eighteen behavioral variables which are separately rated on a ten‐point scale for degree of severity manifested during discrete speech segments. Testing of the BASA on videotape‐recorded classroom speeches of male college students provided evidence supporting its reliability and validity. Four orthogonal BASA factors resulted from varimax rotation: Rigidity, Inhibition, Disfluency, and Agitation.

Linguistic Contributors to the Gender-Linked Language Effect

Forty Speakers (20 male, 20 female), ranging from 11 to 69 years of age, described landscape photographs orally to a researcher. Orthographic transcripts were analysed for 31 linguistic variables. A discriminant analysis showed that a combination of 17 variables predicted speaker gender with 87.5% accuracy. The 17 gender-discriminating language variables were used in multiple regression analyses to predict previously found (Mulac & Lundell, 1980) speaker attribution ratings for these speakers. Results showed significant predictive ability for all three attributional dimensions: Socio-Intellectual Status (R 2= 0.53), Aesthetic Quality (R2 =0.43), and Dynamism (R2=0.33). Of the 14 language variables displaying effects consistent with the Gender-Linked Language Effect, seven were more indicative of male speakers: impersonals, fillers, elliptical sentences, units, justifiers, geographical references, and spatial references. Greater use of the other seven variables was more indicative of female speakers: intensive adverbs, personal pronouns, negations, verbs of cognition, dependent clauses with subordinating conjunctions understood, oppositions, and pauses. These clusters of male and female contributors to the effect are discussed in terms of potential underlying communication strategies.

The gender-linked language effect in primary and secondary students' impromptu essays

Impromptu essays were written by 96 primary- and secondary-school students (48 males and 48 females) from three grades: fourth, eighth, and twelfth. In Analysis 1, printed transcripts of the essays were coded for 19 language features by trained observers. Discriminant analyses showed language differences between the male and the female writers at all three grade levels, differences that permitted 84 to 87% accuracy of gender prediction. In Analysis 2, the same transcripts were rated on three attributional dimensions by untrained university students and older individuals. Differences were found for all three grades: fourth-grade females were rated higher on Socio-Intellectual Status and Aesthetic Quality, but corresponding males were rated higher on Dynamism; eighth- and twelfth-grade males were rated higher on Dynamism. In Analysis 3, multiple regression analyses demonstrated a predictive link between objective language use and subjective attributional ratings. The findings are generally consistent with sex role stereotypes and fully support the existence of the Gender-Linked Language Effect in the writing of fourth graders.

Effects of phonological speech foreignness upon three dimensions of attitude of selected American listeners

The development and evaluation of the multi‐dimensional Speech Dialect Attitudinal Scale is described. Use of this semantic differential by townspeople and university students to rate audiotape recordings of European and American speakers’ spontaneous English monologues provided data of high reliability and consistent factor structure. Results indicated that native‐born speakers were rated significantly higher than their foreign‐born counterparts on three attitudinal dimensions.

Differences in perceptions created by syntactic‐semantic productions of male and female speakers

Speakers from four age groups—sixth graders, university freshmen and sophomores, graduate teaching assistants, and people in their 50s and 60s—were audiotape recorded during spontaneous photograph‐elicited monologues, with 45‐second segments transcribed for later rating. University students read the anonymous transcripts and indicated their perceptions of the speakers on the Speech Dialect Attitudinal Scale. (SDAS). Data were of high reliability and consistent factor structure. Analyses of the three SDAS dimensions revealed: (1) no difference between male and female speakers on socio‐intellectual status; (2) female speakers rated substantially higher on aesthetic quality than male speakers, with the disparity greater in the two older groups of speakers; (3) on dynamism, male speakers rated higher than female speakers.

Gender-Preferential Language Use in Spouse and Stranger Interaction

Research on sex differences in the communication practices of men and women often ignores the contexts in which communication takes place. By comparing women and men as they interact with both strangers and spouses, the authors present a more nuanced view of gender differences in social interaction. The authors discuss gender-preferential language and present data on social interaction in same-sex, mixed-sex and marital dialogues. Results of a round-robin analysis of variance indicate that same-sex dyadic conversations, but not mixed-sex dyadic conversations, are marked by a strong display of stereotypical gender-preferential linguistic use. Husbands tend to adopt a female-preferential linguistic style when speaking to their wives.

Female and Male Managers’ and Professionals’ Criticism Giving Differences in Language Use and Effects

Study 1 investigated differences in the language used by 86 female and male middle managers and career professionals during role plays of criticism that they had recently voiced to a colleague. Discriminant analysis revealed significant differences in language use, permitting 72% accurate gender reclassification. The language features more indicative of men were number of words, negations, questions, judgmental adjectives, references to emotion, and oppositions. Those more predictive of women were intensive adverbs, longer mean length sentences, hedges, directives, dependent clauses, and sentence initial adverbials. However, nearly one half of these gender indicators had been found in previous research to be predictive of the opposite gender. In Study 2, effects of these language differences on third-party observers’ judgments were assessed. Contrary to earlier research in nonorganizational settings, no differences were found on Socio-Intellectual Status, Aesthetic Quality, or Dynamism. Results indicated a gender-differentiating, but counterstereotypical, language use of female and male managers and career professionals in criticism giving.