Research Information System
International Marmara Sciences Congress (IMASCON), Kocaeli, Turkey, 1 - 03 November 2019
Gender differences have an impact on every aspect of life, including language use. The study Language and Woman’s Place by Lakoff (1973) raised the awareness about the issue of gender-related linguistic differences between men and women. After this study, this issue has been highly investigated. In this context, the purpose of this study is to determine whether there are gender-related linguistic differences between men and women in language use in a local context which is Turkey. Three basic research questions were intended to be answered and the differences between men and women in terms of language use, including directness and the choice of different vocabulary items and lexical complexity were investigated accordingly. Five male and five female English instructors, working at the preparatory school of a foundational university and aged between 23 and 41, are the participants of this study. An online semi-structured interview was used to collect data about their preferences in language use. The results indicated that there are a number of differences between men and women in terms of language use including language aspects like, the choice of adjectives, the use of swear words, length, directness and lexical complexity. Keywords: Gender-related language, women’s language, men’s language