Empirical support for the gender-as-culture hypothesis - An intercultural analysis of male/female language differences

This investigation provided a test of the gender-as-culture, or "two cultur es," hypothesis proposed by Maltz anti Borker (1982) to explain male/female differences in language use. Analysis of previous empirical investigations located 16 language features that had consistently been shown to indicate communicator gender and these were tested within the framework of the four dimensions of intercultural style proposed by Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey (19 88): direct versus indirect succinct versus elaborate, personal versus cont extual, and instrumental versus affective. Study 1 provided preliminary evi dence supporting the hypothesized language-feature-by-dimension relationshi ps (e.g., male directives were rated more direct and female uncertainty ver bs more indirect). In Study 2, respondents rated multiple exemplars of the 16 language features, as well as 16 contrasting foil sentences, on all four dimensions, findings that nearly all of the variables fell on the hypothes ized intercultural dimensions. In Study 3, respondents rated four sets of n aturally occurring target sentences and matching foil sentences, rt represe nting all language variables, on their appropriate intercultural dimensions in order to establish dimensional polarity. Results across the three studi es supported the hypothesized language feature-by-stylistic dimension relat ionships for 15 of the 16 variables: The 6 male language features were rate d as more direct, succinct, personal, and instrumental, whereas 9 of the 10 female features were perceived as more indirect, elaborate, and affective. The findings demonstrate that gender preferences for language use function in ways that are consistent with stylistic preferences that distinguish na tional cultures.