A Study Of Convergence In Cross-gender Conversational Style

The paper doesn't focus on the gender differences as most gender-languagestudies have done. The writer wants to draw readers' attention to the opposite side—convergence. Unlike some former linguists who universally thought that the female liein an inferior position in cross-gender communication, some modern sociolinguistsbelieve that with the development of society and culture, the female's status has beenchanging day by day, so has been the status in cross-gender communication.The early research of gender and communication was made by Robin Lakoff, andalong with her, researches by other linguists in this field have been progressing, withmuch attention directed to the studies in these aspects: the differences of the pattern inmale-female language, the causes to form these differences, the sexism in languageand the ways of improving it.With the development of the society and the changing of the female's status, the44th International Linguistic Conference discussed the subject—"Gender &Language". Many researchers have turned their attention to the general character ofthe gender language, not the difference; for they hold that some theories are improperin today's context. Therefore, the future studies of the male-female conversationalstyle are expected to extend into the field of convergence.All their studies are valuable to those people who are studying the genderlanguage and the cross-gender conversational style. Their studies benefit me a lot,which not only give me inspiration, but also provide me with the method of studyingthe convergence. By learning their works I summarize their opinions which are indribs and drabs about the conversational style. I found that overemphasizing thedifference of cross-gender communication will lead us to the gender stereotype.According to the analytical method provided by previous scholars, I found that thedegree of convergence in cross-gender conversational style varies with some factors,such as the circumstance of the conversation, the degree a speaker's interested intopics and the speaker's social status.Based on the analyses in the whole paper, the writer offers some considerationswith regard to the significance of the study. Besides, to properly know and understandthe new changing of the patterns in cross-gender conversation—convergence will serve to maintain the harmonious society, to help promote the interpersonalrelationship, and finally to achieve smooth and effective communication. To study theconvergence phenomenon in the gender language will extend a new horizon in thisfield. And at the same time, it will also help eliminate the sexism in cross-gendercommunication.