In the background

Screams are all I can hear these days. They're 

there when I go to the bathroom and when I 

trying to make food. I can't get rid of it. You'd 

think that it will be easy to live with but it is not.

 Never should have left the hospital. 

Investigation

Language is used differently on the news when different audiences are addressed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BFSJRH1q-A   - David Cameron on Sky News discussing the EU referendum


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTLzRHrGHds    - Davis Cameron on BBC News discussing the EU referendum

Giles communication and accommodation theory

Research

In the book 'How children think + learn' (1998), an argument was created on the idea that children are not taught to speak from Chomsky's theory. A question asked do they learn through imitation or 'acquire their mothers tongue'? A difference in language is accents and although people may think that a specific accent is better than another there is no real justification to show that specific accents are better or worse. Languages are not taught in schools but picked up gradually over every day social contact,different language and new customs have been blended over time to form British culture and English language.

An opinion article discussing the idea that women should change their language

Intended audience: women of all ages
Guardian post

Should women change their language? 

It has always been suggested that women are lower than men and the only way to get on top is to change, change the way you talk, change the way you dress, to be/act more masculine.

There are many people who believe that the only way women will ever be able to gain power is by changing their language, an example of this would be Margaret Thatcher. The former Prime Minister had lessons to deepen her voice, a key reason for this may have been because a deeper tone may have more connotations towards power and dominance (which is needed when you are running a country) whereas if she had a feminine voice she may not have been respected or taken seriously. Being a woman I think it is absurd that people believe we should change and that without changes, in things such as language, we are being held back from our full potential. A well know linguist called Robin Lakoff made a very strong assumption on the trends in the spoken language of a female. These were things such as polite forms, hedges (eg. maybe, could and feel) and use question intonation in declarative statements. These all could suggest that a woman's language is weaker than a male's because they are polite and can sometimes come across unsure or though they need reassurance. This idea is supported by a linguist expert Dr Judith Baxter, who found that found that in board rooms women were adjusting their language so impact their colleagues in a good way, they were second guessing their language. This lead to them using phrases such as "I am probably speaking out of tum, but...", this comes across as them lowering their social power which could seem weak or as suggested by Dr Baxter it could be a way of manipulating those around them.

On the other hand changing your language, in an effective way, may not be too bad if it allows you to reach your full potential instead of letting the use of tag questions be the reason you do not get the manager job. So although I don't agree that you should have to change to get where you want to go it does work. If you were more straightforward in your speech you may have the ability to be more respected that if you were turning commands into questions.

In this generation, it may take a woman changing her language to allow her to climb social ladders but I do hope that one day a woman will be able to reach her best without changing her language.