On Gender-Related Differences In Daily Communication Of English

With the rising of feminist movements in Western societies in the 60's and 70's of the twentieth century, an upsurge in sociolinguistics surrounding the relation between language and gender appeared. Many valuable linguistic works were published and linguists advanced different ideas on this topic. It is especially so after the publication of Robin Lakoff's Language and Women's Place. Many thanks are owed to Lakoff, who successfully draws scholars'attention in linguistic circle, and has led the progress of research in this field concerning language and gender. This paper attempts to discuss the chief differences between men's and women's speech in daily communication among English native speakers. The author tries to give a clear analysis about the differences between men's and women's speech, and provide English learners in China with a useful manual to help them to reduce or avoid barriers in their communication with English native speakers in different situations. Meanwhile, the author hopes to give some enlightenment to domestic English teachers to help them give students helpful directions about certain language structures and train students with practical language skills and improve their communicative competence.