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Abstract：This paper focuses on gender difference in language use.It offers wide ranges of sociolinguistic analysis on language use by and use about men and women.It first discusses the different perspective about female and male language style，and then it researches different men and women’s communication characteristic from many aspects.
Key words：male，female，language style，communication
1.Female language style
Labov gave a complete list of the commonly-believed characteristics of women’s language:
a) Stronger expletives are reserved for men；weaker ones are reserved for women.Women’s speech is more polite than men’s.b) Topics that are considered trivial or unimportant are women’s domain，e.g.，women discriminate among colors more than men do.c) Women use question intonation in statements to express uncertainty，e.g.，“My name is Tammy?” d) Women speak in more “italics”，i.e.，by using intensifiers more than men，e.g.，“I feel so happy”.e) Women use hedges more than men do，e.g.，“It’s kinda (kind of) nice”.(Holmes，1984，47-62)
Societal expectations and stereotypical beliefs about communication behavior do，in part，become prescriptive in nature，often determining sex-role-related behavior (Barron，1970).Generally speaking，women’s language indicated a great interest in the female role，clothes，cosmetics，interior decorations，the opposite sex，and appearances and exhibited great shyness.Balswick and Averttdescribed certain emotions as feminine：tenderness，compassion，sentimentality，gentleness，and soft-heartedness in contrast with those given by Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (1992:90)：“Women’s language is said to reflect their conservativism，prestige consciousness，upward mobility，insecurity，deference，nurture，emotional expressivity，connectedness，sensitivity to others，and solidarity.” In their study，they find females more expressive of love，happiness，and sadness than males.
2.Male language style
Sause (1976) found a boy’s oral language with much more references to aggression，time，space，quantity，and acts of physical movement than the language of females.It appears to be more inquisitive，more interested itself，and tends more willingly to make value judgments. Men’s language is characterized by using more profanity，dominating speech，straight-to-the-point wording，forcefulness，aggressiveness，bluntness，competitiveness，competence and ideas representing a sense of humor.The key difference attributed to males is a greater use of instrumental states，or things being acted upon.Boys use speech to initiate activity，direct others and assert themselves more than girls (Cook，1985).When males use tag questions and edges，they are viewed as polite and considerate to others；however，when they are used by women，women are seen as powerless.Some researchers argue that because women have lower status，the use of these language forms becomes an indicator of their lower status.
3.Language differences in communication between men and women
3.1 The meaning of questions
Women and men seem to have different attitude towards questions during a conversation.Women use questions more as a strategy for conversational maintenance.By proposing a question，a woman intends to invite the addressee to join her in her speech instead of waiting for the addressee to answer the question.But this is not the way men use questions.They interpret questions as simple requests for information.Therefore，a clash arises：men interpret questions at face value while women see them at facilitating the flow of conversation.Because of the different use and interpretation of questions，miscommunication is under way at any time.
3.2Minimal responses
Minimal responses such as nods and comments like “Yeah”，and “mm” or “hmm” are common features of conversational interaction.Based on our personal experience，these minimal responses have significantly different meanings for men and women，thus may lead to serious miscommunications.People generally hold that for women a minimal response means simply something like “I am listening to you；please continue”，and that for men it has somewhat of a stronger meaning such as “I agree with you” or at least “I follow your speech so far”.The fact that women use these responses more often than men is merely that women are listening more often than men are agreeing.
3.3Topic Shifts
Men change topics much more abruptly than women.Elaboration and continuity are key notions in the analysis of women’s talk，but may not relevant to an understanding of men’s talk This may lead to women’s dissatisfaction of men’s shifting the topics all in a sudden and they would consider it without showing respect to other speakers.
3.4Self disclosure
Women are happy to discuss their problems and share their experience in a conversation，while men may dissect personal problems in their conversation Moreover，women may respond to another speaker’s self-disclosure with reassurance，support or comfort.Men，on the other hand，may not respond with a matching self-disclosure，but take on the role of expert，offering advice，often lecturing the other speaker.
3.5 Simultaneous Speech
Women will tend to fall silent when interrupted by a man：their experience of all-female conversation provides them with no strategies to resist interruption.Male speakers，conversely，will interpret any overlapping speech as interruption，and will therefore protest when a speech，which occurs when more woman talks contrapuntally.Simultaneous than one speaker speaks at the same time therefore，has different meaning for male and female speakers and is a potent source of miscommunication.
4.Conclusion
In conclusion，this study has set out to demonstrate that in our society，there are clear differences in male and female communication.I have looked at the different language style between male and female firstly and then explored power relations between men and women in their conversations and language use.Of course this study is just a tiny aspect of this subject.Further studies would move beyond this angle to examine other aspects of the society，such as the field of vernacular，etc.Gender differences are a fundamental fact of human life and it is not surprising to find them reflected in language.
Bibliography
1.Austin，J.L.How to Do Things with Words，New York：Oxford University Press,1962
2.吕婧，胡惠清.语言中的性别差异研究［J］.华中科技大学学报，2001.11
3.白解红.语义多层面上的性别差异［J］.湖南师范大学学报，2000.04
Key words：male，female，language style，communication
1.Female language style
Labov gave a complete list of the commonly-believed characteristics of women’s language:
a) Stronger expletives are reserved for men；weaker ones are reserved for women.Women’s speech is more polite than men’s.b) Topics that are considered trivial or unimportant are women’s domain，e.g.，women discriminate among colors more than men do.c) Women use question intonation in statements to express uncertainty，e.g.，“My name is Tammy?” d) Women speak in more “italics”，i.e.，by using intensifiers more than men，e.g.，“I feel so happy”.e) Women use hedges more than men do，e.g.，“It’s kinda (kind of) nice”.(Holmes，1984，47-62)
Societal expectations and stereotypical beliefs about communication behavior do，in part，become prescriptive in nature，often determining sex-role-related behavior (Barron，1970).Generally speaking，women’s language indicated a great interest in the female role，clothes，cosmetics，interior decorations，the opposite sex，and appearances and exhibited great shyness.Balswick and Averttdescribed certain emotions as feminine：tenderness，compassion，sentimentality，gentleness，and soft-heartedness in contrast with those given by Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (1992:90)：“Women’s language is said to reflect their conservativism，prestige consciousness，upward mobility，insecurity，deference，nurture，emotional expressivity，connectedness，sensitivity to others，and solidarity.” In their study，they find females more expressive of love，happiness，and sadness than males.
2.Male language style
Sause (1976) found a boy’s oral language with much more references to aggression，time，space，quantity，and acts of physical movement than the language of females.It appears to be more inquisitive，more interested itself，and tends more willingly to make value judgments. Men’s language is characterized by using more profanity，dominating speech，straight-to-the-point wording，forcefulness，aggressiveness，bluntness，competitiveness，competence and ideas representing a sense of humor.The key difference attributed to males is a greater use of instrumental states，or things being acted upon.Boys use speech to initiate activity，direct others and assert themselves more than girls (Cook，1985).When males use tag questions and edges，they are viewed as polite and considerate to others；however，when they are used by women，women are seen as powerless.Some researchers argue that because women have lower status，the use of these language forms becomes an indicator of their lower status.
3.Language differences in communication between men and women
3.1 The meaning of questions
Women and men seem to have different attitude towards questions during a conversation.Women use questions more as a strategy for conversational maintenance.By proposing a question，a woman intends to invite the addressee to join her in her speech instead of waiting for the addressee to answer the question.But this is not the way men use questions.They interpret questions as simple requests for information.Therefore，a clash arises：men interpret questions at face value while women see them at facilitating the flow of conversation.Because of the different use and interpretation of questions，miscommunication is under way at any time.
3.2Minimal responses
Minimal responses such as nods and comments like “Yeah”，and “mm” or “hmm” are common features of conversational interaction.Based on our personal experience，these minimal responses have significantly different meanings for men and women，thus may lead to serious miscommunications.People generally hold that for women a minimal response means simply something like “I am listening to you；please continue”，and that for men it has somewhat of a stronger meaning such as “I agree with you” or at least “I follow your speech so far”.The fact that women use these responses more often than men is merely that women are listening more often than men are agreeing.
3.3Topic Shifts
Men change topics much more abruptly than women.Elaboration and continuity are key notions in the analysis of women’s talk，but may not relevant to an understanding of men’s talk This may lead to women’s dissatisfaction of men’s shifting the topics all in a sudden and they would consider it without showing respect to other speakers.
3.4Self disclosure
Women are happy to discuss their problems and share their experience in a conversation，while men may dissect personal problems in their conversation Moreover，women may respond to another speaker’s self-disclosure with reassurance，support or comfort.Men，on the other hand，may not respond with a matching self-disclosure，but take on the role of expert，offering advice，often lecturing the other speaker.
3.5 Simultaneous Speech
Women will tend to fall silent when interrupted by a man：their experience of all-female conversation provides them with no strategies to resist interruption.Male speakers，conversely，will interpret any overlapping speech as interruption，and will therefore protest when a speech，which occurs when more woman talks contrapuntally.Simultaneous than one speaker speaks at the same time therefore，has different meaning for male and female speakers and is a potent source of miscommunication.
4.Conclusion
In conclusion，this study has set out to demonstrate that in our society，there are clear differences in male and female communication.I have looked at the different language style between male and female firstly and then explored power relations between men and women in their conversations and language use.Of course this study is just a tiny aspect of this subject.Further studies would move beyond this angle to examine other aspects of the society，such as the field of vernacular，etc.Gender differences are a fundamental fact of human life and it is not surprising to find them reflected in language.
Bibliography
1.Austin，J.L.How to Do Things with Words，New York：Oxford University Press,1962
2.吕婧，胡惠清.语言中的性别差异研究［J］.华中科技大学学报，2001.11
3.白解红.语义多层面上的性别差异［J］.湖南师范大学学报，2000.04