| Male and Female languages refer to those which are usually used by men and women or those which characterize gender differences. It is a widely studied subject and the differences between male and female languages have been recorded in almost all languages at all linguistic levels. Since the early 20th century, linguists have made systematic studies on male and female linguistic distinctions and identified similar tendencies: such as, men tend to make relatively direct speech while women make comparatively indirect speech; men make status-oriented speech while women make friendship-oriented speech. With a pragmatic approach, this thesis addresses the question of male and female languages as reflected in conversations in the fictional text of Jane Eyre.Based on the theories of sociolinguistics and pragmatics, this thesis makes a pragmatic study of gender differences in conversations. It intends to demonstrate how women and men differ in observing or flouting such pragmatic principles: the Speech Act Theory, the Cooperative Principle, the Politeness Principle and the Face Theory .The case study of conversations between Jane and Rochester reveals that women and men adopt different conversational strategies, and play different roles in speech interactions. This thesis analyzes the reasons that cause gender differences in conversations: different sub-cultures, social power, and psychological factors between females and males.Furthermore, this thesis also makes an analysis on the negative effects caused by gender difference. On the one hand, gender differences lead to females'disadvantage in work, which can be closely related to females'speech styles. For example, females are inclined to employ hedges which show they are indecisive, have no judgments of their own, and are not qualified as a leader. On the other hand, gender differences cause miscommunication in cross-gender conversations. And as for the negative effects mentioned above, this thesis intends to develop some suggestions.
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