Deficit draft

Deficit theory: In 1975, Robin Lakoff published a theory based around the common phrases that make women’s language so distinctively different. She made the statements that are more polite in the way they address people for example: “Would you mind …” or “I’d appreciate it” in comparison to men who are usually more abrupt in and less polite. Lakoff examined women’s use of tag questions and politeness to come to the conclusion that when women use this language, they are showing signs of uncertainty and making themselves seem to have inferior status.  Another theorist who studied deficit language features was Jespersen. Jespersen defined male language as the standard whilst women’s language was seen as deficient. This theory brought up a lot of division between men and women as this theory brought up ideas that women’s language was inherently ‘wrong’ and or had something  that made it use men’s language as a sort of ‘benchmark’

These techniques identified in the deficit theory could be used in real life texts for example, advertisements for food produce where a little girl asks her mother politely for something to eat and the little boy asks in a less polite manner yet receives his first as the polite manner showed an inferior side and therefore lead the boy to get his way first as the stereotype that men have a more intimidating language and tone than women was made clear in this advertisement.

I looked at a female advice column from ELLE magazine and I began to notice the polite language the women in need were using to ask for advice without sounding like they’re hassling the columnist. I looked at a male advice column called ‘Ask the Dad’ which is mainly a column based around males who need advice with the occasional polite female cry for help. I began to see that the column from ELLE magazine began with the advice seeker’s question which began by quickly addressing the problem. “How can I stop people from constantly interrupting me?”