女性發音普遍比男性標準？男女生的語言習慣還有這麼多差別……
語言是社會的一面鏡子。
1975年著名社會語言學家Robin Lakoff引入了 “women’s register” （女性語域）這個概念，她觀察到，美國女性爲了緩和談話或者爲了減弱表達觀點時的侵略性，會出現以下這些特徵：
❶Tag questions
使用很多反義疑問句
“This election mess is terrible, isn’t it?”
“這屆選舉亂套了，是吧？”
❷ Rising intonation on declaratives
陳述句也用升調結尾
A: “When will dinner be ready?”
“晚飯什麼時候好啊？”
B:“Six o’clock.”↑
“六點。”↑
❸ The use of various kinds of hedges.
用插入成分避免過分直接的表達
“That’s kinda sad.” Vs. “That’s sad.”
“是有點可憐”Vs.“可憐”
“It’s probably dinner time.” Vs. “It’s dinner time.”
“或許該吃飯了吧”Vs.“該吃飯了”
“I don’t really want it.” Vs. “I don’t want it.”
“我不太想這麼做”Vs.“我不想這麼做”
“I wondered if I could have a word with you.” Vs. “Can I have a word with you?”
“我在想是否可以借一步說話”Vs.“我能跟你聊聊嗎”
“The answer could be that the trees have some sort of disease.” Vs. “The answer is that...”
“答案可能是這些樹得了某種病”Vs.“答案是……”
❹ Boosters or amplifiers.
加重語氣，放大情感
“I am so glad you are here.”
“你在這兒，我太高興了。”
❺ Indirection.
迂迴表述
Saying “Well, I’ve got a dentist appointment then” in order to convey a reluctance to meet at some proposed time and perhaps to request that the other person propose an alternative time.
比如，爲了表達不情願與某人在約定時間見面，或者希望對方另找一個時間，會說 “呃……那個點我約了去見牙醫。”
❻Diminutives
使用小詞或小詞綴
A diminutive form of a word implies that something is small, cute, loved, or special. E.g. panties, piglet, kitchenette, etc.
人們使用小詞或小詞綴來表示該事物體積很小、很可愛，或者很特別。例如panties（女士短襯褲）、piglet（小豬豬、豬崽兒）、kitchenette（小廚房）等。
❼ Euphemism
使用委婉語
Avoiding profanities by using expressions like piffle, or heck; using circumlocutions like go to the bathroom to avoid “vulgar” or tabooed expressions such as pee or piss.
爲避免髒話，會說piffle（廢話、蠢話） 或者heck（見鬼）。爲了避免“粗俗”或者忌諱的表達，如pee（撒尿） 或者piss（尿尿），會用委婉的表達，如“去衛生間”。
不過，許多跟進研究發現，改變說話方式——說話時去掉上面這些展示迂迴和禮貌的語言特徵並不會幫助到女性爭取到assertiveness（說話自信）和the sense of power（權力感）。
上世紀60到80年代，拉博夫等人也對這個領域進行了研究，他們發現：
In Western, industrial societies, women tend to produce speech closer to the standard in pronunciation than that of men. For instance, women produce more ‘ing’ in words like ‘running’, but men produce more ‘in’, resulting in ‘runnin’.
在西方工業社會，女性的發音會比男性更靠近社會標準語的要求。比方說，像是“running”這樣的詞，女性多以‘ing’來結尾（running），而很多男性會發成“in” （runnin）。
當然，這些研究最長距今已經過去了50多年，今時今日的狀況與當年的研究結果或許已經出現了很大的出入。
男性語言的特徵
視線轉過來，男性的語言有什麼顯著特徵呢？
英國社會語言學家Jennifer Coates在她的專著Men Talk–Stories in the Making of Masculinities中談到了自己對男性使用語言表達情感情緒的觀察。
The absence of talk about feelings is perhaps the most notable consequence of “the constraining hand of hegemonic masculinity” in the conversations I’ve collected. The imperative to avoid vulnerability means that men have to put a lot of effort into keeping up a front (or wearing a mask).
在我收集的對話中，不談論情感或情緒或許是“霸權男性氣概掣肘”最顯著的後果。必須隱藏脆弱意味着男人們需要花很多精力樹立一個門面形象（或者說戴上一個面具）。
看到這兒，腦海裏應該很容易浮現出不善言談的直男老爸形象。
Men avoid the emotional when they talk with each other. In groups of more than two speakers, men are anxious not to be seen to be displaying characteristics which could be labeled “feminine” and therefore “gay”’.
男人與男人聊天時，通常會避免談及情緒。在談話者超過兩人的羣組中，男性特別在乎不要被人看到自己展示出可能會被打上“女性化”標籤，進而被人覺得“像同性戀”的特質。
The significance of talk involving just two speakers is confirmed by a contemporary survey of boys in London schools. Boys are willing to open up to a sympathetic male interviewer.
最近一項針對倫敦校園男生的調查顯示，僅包括兩個談話者的對話十分重要。男孩們很願意對友好的男性訪談者袒露心扉。
As the researchers say: “Boys struggle to find a forum in which they can try out masculine identities which can be differentiated from the ‘hegemonic’ codes of macho masculinity.” Both boys and men seem more likely to do this in the presence of just one close friend (or a single trusted adult).
研究者稱：“男生們努力尋找一種公共話語空間，讓他們可以試着表達與那種大男子氣的‘霸權’男性氣概不相同的男性身份認同。”男孩與成年男性貌似都更容易在只有一個親密朋友或者自己信任的成人在場的情況下吐露心聲。
And men have historically preferred to have emotional talk with women. A recent survey of mobile phone use claims that men now gossip more than women, but reveals that women’s “gossip partners” tend to be women friends and family, while men’s “gossip partners” tend to be women partners, female friends and work colleagues.
自古以來，男性都更願意與女性交流情緒。最近一項對手機使用情況的調查顯示，男性比女性更喜歡八卦；不過，調查顯示，女性的“八卦對象”往往是同爲女性的朋友和家人，而男性的“八卦對象”往往是女性伴侶、女性朋友和工作同事。
However, as women become impatient with doing this emotional work, men will need to develop more “connectedness” with other men. But men have a history of friendships which stress sociability rather than intimacy, which could be described as “side-by-side” rather than “face-to-face”.
不過，女性會對這種“知心姐姐”似的情感工作變得不耐煩，因此，男性則需要與其他男性建立更多的“聯結感”。但是呢，男人間的友誼自古以來都是強調交際而非親密。有一個比喻可以很形象地描述這種兄弟情：這種友誼是“肩並肩的”，而不是“面對面的”。
So although it is acknowledged that men and boys have a lot of fun together, at the same time there is a sense “of something missing emotionally”. Those involved in the research on boys in London schools are hopeful that things can be changed: “By encouraging boys to talk about themselves and their relationships in single-sex groups, close and supportive relations with other boys can be forged.”
所以呢，即便大家都承認男人間和男孩間都可以玩得很來，但同時，他們的關係總有一種“情緒情感上的缺失感”。倫敦校園男孩研究中的研究員們表示情況可以有所改善：“鼓勵男孩兒多談論自己的情緒，鼓勵他們多表達自己在男性羣體中所經歷的關係，這樣一來，親密且能夠互相扶持的男孩間關係也能夠建立起來。”
Gender is not something we are born with, and not something we have, but something we do (West and Zimmerman 1987) – something we perform (Butler 1990).
社會性別並不是與生俱來的，也並不是你所擁有的一種東西，而是你的所作所爲，是你的執行與呈現。
社會性別的內涵一直在變遷，它們與語言之間的關係也同樣隨時間改變。
我們很難預料，現在某個性別的言語特徵以後會不會成爲主流，就像200年前喜歡捲舌的英國人應該也沒想到，不捲舌的RP（Received Pronunciation，標準發音）成了不列顛羣島的標準音。
Notes
intonation /ˌɪntəˈneɪʃn/ n語調
declarative /dɪˈklærətɪv/ adj陳述的；陳述句
hegemonic / ˌhedʒɪˈmɒnɪk / adj支配的；霸權的
macho / ˈmɑːtʃoʊ / adj大男子氣的
masculinity/,mæskjʊ'lɪnɪtɪ/ n男性氣概
forge / fɔːrdʒ / v鍛造
