Language as dialect, language and gender in the classroom Essay

Language as dialect, language and gender in the classroom - Essay Example f gender is such a great component of the social and cultural existence of humans that it is almost impossible to talk, interrelate and make judgments on others in the society without first classifying them under a certain category of gender- either male or female (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (15). Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (10) in the definition of genders as a social construction reveal that this is the manner in which the society is able to carry out the sets of procedures that constitute the differentiation of the gender categories. Despite the fact that biological and physiological construction has a propensity to impact the male and female individuals in society, the perception of gender as a socially constructed phenomenon perceived such differences as being social in nature. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (22) indicates that the cultural differences between boys and girls are enforced in different levels based on the societies from which they come. The children of different gende rs then indicate a preference for same-sex companies and circle. It is in these same-sex groupings that the boy and girl children begin to behave differently, acquire different perspectives of life and develop discrepant verbal cultures. The manner in which male and female individuals comprehend interrelations is very discrepant, and most times, they are ignorant of such differences. Moreover the males and females tend to suppose that the function from a similar understanding. It is such ignorance and presupposition that fuels gender- founded miscommunication (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 24). The main point of concern for feminist linguistics is the depiction of language and gender as a social and cultural construction. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (18) point out that voice is a very important component of language and gender. From the time, they are aged 4-5 years old, children from either sex start to make a distinction between the basic frequencies, which characterizes the voices they