 In this module, we will discuss some features of women's language, how their language is different, as was claimed by Robin Laker. Actually, this was a seminal book, a seminal book that provides basis for further discussion, talk and research. So, after this book, actually, people started taking interest in relationship between language and gender. So, that's why we are discussing these features with reference to Robin Laker. Feminist language supports feminist demand, as we discussed in previous modules, which demand for equal opportunity to women, equal pay, equal access to power and politics, and powerful positions and law and business in different fields of life, which are accessible to men, should also be accessible to women. So, here, linguists and feminists were on the same page. This demand encouraged middle-class women to look, to act and speak like men. They got confidence. They, for the first time, understood their importance in society. Feminist linguists pointed out sexism in English language. So, first of all, we have talked about the influence, the effect of feminism and linguistics on middle-class women. What happened when feminists and linguists joined hands to raise voice of women? You have seen the social effect of that. Middle-class women started joining men's domains, professions. The second effect was that feminist linguists pointed out that in English language, we have certain terms and words which promote difference on the basis of sex. This is called sexism. For example, they pointed out that this generic he that we use for both male and female, and then male agent nouns like chairmen, watchmen, etc. So, agent nouns mean a person who does something. Agent means a doer, doer of something. So, these male terms, they covered both men and women. Chairmen for both male, chairmen and female. So, this was wrong. This was sexism. Then, semantic asymmetries. What do we mean by this? Master mistress. So, when we talk about males, we say master, and females mistress. So, this division shows that one refers to masculine, the other refers to feminine. This also creates asymmetry. Adham tavazan pedaghti. Lack of view that women's language disempowers them. It is weak. It snatches their power from them. They are very soft and polite. Their language is weak. It disempowers them. So, this view boosted work on the role of language and discourse use of language in gendering. After she proposed this view, research on use of language, especially the study of discourse, started in the field of sociolinguistics and feminist linguistics. So, this credit goes to Robin Ladder. For example, some features are shared with you. Women use hedges. Hedges means they avoid direct expressions. For example, you could add a little bit of fresh lemon if you like. They don't say add a little bit of fresh lemon. Instead, they say you could add a little bit. So, this use of code shows that they are avoiding direct imposition on some other person. They are not making direct request. Similarly, they are oversensitive in matters of accuracy. This is called hyper-correctness. For example, Americans, they often drop ING from such forms like reading, writing, playing. They pronounce them as reading, playing, writing. So, they drop the last gas sound. But when women use such words, which end at ING, they pronounce this gas sound. Men, they drop it. So, they are hyper-correct. They are sensitive to accuracy. Similarly, they use super-plied forms. For example, they won't say sorry. They will say extremely sorry. Super-plied. No. Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much like this. And they often avoid dirty jokes. Here is a task. Talk to some working woman and try to record her conversation with permission. After recording the conversation, note down features of the language of that woman and match those features with the ones which we have discussed in this model. Linguistic studies like that of lack of provided an academic grounding to political movement. So, what started as just as a political movement in form of feminism became a discipline, a field of study. Why? Because of the contribution of linguists like Robin Lecker. This interest engaged intellectuals to explore relations between language and gender through research and writing.