Sunday, October 18, 2009

blog # 10 Tannen, Deborah. “The Relativity of Linguistic Strategies: Rethinking Power and Solidarity in Gender and Dominance.”

In my relationship with my girlfriend and other females in my life such as my mother and sisters, the one common time in which I am the subordinate in these relationships is when we're cooking or doing house chores. In the case of me and my girlfriend, the person I currently live with now, she's usually the boss when we are cleaning or cooking. This is one of the rare times where what she tells me to do gets done with little or no questions ask. I usually don't question her authority during these times because I know she performs these tasks more commonly than I do and therefore know better than me. We do however switch roles when it comes to her helping me get something assembled or when we're planning a trip somewhere. I'm usually much more decisive than she is and better with handling the finances of the trip so she usually does what I say in these situations.

blog #9 Holmes, Janet. "Complimenting--A Positive Politeness Strategy."

The examples here remind me of the treatment my older brother use to give me. Whenever he wanted to get under my skin or remind me that he was the older brother and therefore was superior to me he would make me do stupid little tasks like picking up after his dirty laundry or commanding me to grab him a beverage of his choice. He would always repay my acts of kindness with a sarcastic "thank you" as to say "haha sucker you do as I please." Like what Holmes talks about I think these compliments are more degrading than they are positive. I think guys are uncomfortable with giving or receiving compliments because thats seen as being polite and being polite is seen as not being manly. Thats why in the example Holmes gives about the rugby players they scold and call each other names to get hyped and bond. Showing your sensitive side to a man makes you less manly.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Blog #8 Tannen, Deborah. “Ethnic Style in Male-female Conversation.”

I think Deborah Tannen is right when she says that our language greatly reflects our ethnicity, they way we grew up and how our family communicates. Similar to the Greeks, I see my Hmong nephews and neices loosing their native language but not the way our conversations are spoken. I've also noticed that how someone grew up socially and economically shapes their way of speech as well. Kids from my neighborhood, which consisted of lower to middle class immigrants, spoke very differently than friends in school that were from wealthy neighborhoods. We're all speaking the same language, English, but it's almost like it is a different dialect. Certain words and sayings take on totally different meanings from one neighborhood to the other.

Blog #7 Fishman, Pamela. “Interaction: The Work Women Do.”

I agree with Pamela Fishman when she says that women work much harder than men during conversations between these two opposite sexs. Women try and initiate much more than men but often fail while men on the other hand hardly fail to bring up a talkable topic and hardly initiate conversations. She explains that this happens because women want to carry on conversations while men pretty much want to say what they have to say and thats it. Women also want to talk about much more things, many of which men do not care for. In my personal experience, when my girlfriend and I have conversations we often talk about what I bring up just because it's something that relates to both of us. Conversations that she initiates often has nothing to do with anything I know. It seems like the topics she brings up are more suited for her and another women. I think this may be another reason why Fishman found what she found.