Robin Tolmach Lakoff (; born November 27, 1942) is a professor emerita of
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. Her 1975 book ''Language and Woman's Place'' is often credited for making
language and gender
Research into the many possible relationships, intersections and tensions between language and gender is diverse. It crosses disciplinary boundaries, and, as a bare minimum, could be said to encompass work notionally housed within applied lingui ...
a major debate in
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and other disciplines.
[Sergio Bolaños Cuellar,]
Women's Language: A struggle to overcome inequality
, ''Forma Y Función 19, 2006.
Biography
Lakoff was born in 1942 in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. She earned a B.A. at
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
, a M.A. from
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
(1967). She was married to linguist
George Lakoff
George Philip Lakoff (; born May 24, 1941) is an American cognitive linguistics, cognitive linguist and philosopher, best known for his thesis that people's lives are significantly influenced by the conceptual metaphors they use to explain comple ...
. She taught at
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
from 1972 until her retirement.
While an undergraduate at Radcliffe College (in Cambridge, MA), Lakoff audited
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...
's classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and became connected to the MIT Linguistics Department. During this time, as Chomsky and students were creating
Transformational Generative Grammar
In linguistics, transformational grammar (TG) or transformational-generative grammar (TGG) is part of the theory of generative grammar, especially of natural languages. It considers grammar to be a system of rules that generate exactly those combi ...
, Lakoff and others explored ways in which outside context entered the structure of language.
Lakoff is a regular contributor to the ''
Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''.
Lakoff received national attention for an opinion piece in
TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
titled "Hillary Clinton's Emailgate Is an Attack on Women".
''Language and Woman's Place''
Lakoff's influential work ''Language and Woman's Place'' introduces to the field of
sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural Norm (sociology), norms, expectations, and context (language use), context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on languag ...
many ideas about women's language that are now often commonplace. It has inspired many different strategies for studying
language and gender
Research into the many possible relationships, intersections and tensions between language and gender is diverse. It crosses disciplinary boundaries, and, as a bare minimum, could be said to encompass work notionally housed within applied lingui ...
, across national borders as well as across class and race lines.
[
Her work is noted for its attention to class, power, and social justice in addition to gender.
Lakoff proposes that women's speech can be distinguished from that of men in a number of ways (part of gender deficit model), including:
# Hedges: Phrases like "sort of", "kind of", "it seems like"
# Empty adjectives: "divine", "adorable", "gorgeous"
# Super-polite forms: "Would you mind..." "...if it's not too much to ask" "Is it okay if...?"
# Apologize more: "I'm sorry, but I think that..."
# Speak less frequently
# Avoid curse language or expletives
# Tag questions: "You don't mind eating this, do you?".
# Hyper-correct grammar and pronunciation: Use of prestige grammar and clear articulation
# Indirect requests: "Wow, I'm so thirsty." – really asking for a drink
# Speak in italics: Use tone to emphasise certain words, e.g., "so", "very", "quite"
Lakoff developed the "Politeness Principle," in which she devised three maxims that are usually followed in interaction. These are: Don't impose, give the receiver options, and make the receiver feel good. She stated that these are paramount in good interaction. By not adhering to these maxims, a speaker is said to be "flouting the maxims."
]
''The Language War''
Lakoff's ''The Language War'' (2000) performs a linguistic analysis of discourse on contemporary issues. She covers topics including the Hill–Thomas hearings
On July 1, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court of the United States to replace Thurgood Marshall, who had announced his retirement. At the time of his nomination, Thomas was a judge on the United Stat ...
, the O.J. Simpson trial
''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was t ...
, the Lewinsky scandal
Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...
, and the political correctness
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
phenomenon. Lakoff discusses each topic while arguing a general thesis that language itself constitutes a political battleground.[Judith Rosenhouse,]
Robin Tolmach- Lakoff. 2000. ''The Language War''. Berkeley: University of California Press.
''California Linguistic Notes'' XXVI(1), Spring 2001.
In ''The Language War'', Lakoff introduced the idea that frames create meanings. She quotes that language (either verbal or nonverbal) and experiences is a “body of knowledge that is evoked in order to provide an inferential base for the understanding of an utterance.” (Levinson, 1983)
''Frames'' are ideas that shape expectations and create focuses that are to be seen as truth and common sense. When someone decides to adopt a frame, that person will believe everything within the frame is genuine, and that what she or he learns within the frame becomes what she or he believes is common sense. For example, in the 19th century, people believed women should wear corsets and bind their waists. No one thought about women wearing clothes without a corset underneath because it was common sense that corsets are a must-have fashion item.
However, if someone decides to look at the same situation outside of the frame— which rarely happens because people are always convinced that common sense does not require justification— that person will have a completely different understanding of what is in the frame, and feel that common sense no longer makes sense. Continuing the corset example, in our present time it is common sense that corsets are unhealthy and will do more harm than good to a female body. This is why the majority of women these days don't wear corsets. And when we look back to the old frame from the 19th century, we think that fashion sense of that time is strange. This is the outcome of shifted frames.
Selected works
*1972: "Language in Context." ''Language'' 48:4 (December 1972): 907–27.
*1973: ''The logic of politeness; or, minding your P's and Q's.'' In: ''Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society'', ed. C. Corum, T. Cedric Smith-Stark, A. Weiser, pp 292–305. Chicago: Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago
*1975: ''Language and Woman's Place''.
*1977: ''What you can do with words: Politeness, pragmatics and performatives.'' In
''Proceedings of the Texas Conference on Performatives, Presuppositions and Implicatures''
ed. R. Rogers, R. Wall & J. Murphy, pp. 79–106. Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
*1985: ''When talk is not cheap''. With Mandy Aftel
Mandy or Mandie may refer to:
People
* Mandy (name), a female given name and nickname
* Iván Mándy (1918-1995), Hungarian writer
* Mark Mandy (born 1972), Irish retired high jumper
* Philip Mandie (born 1942), a former judge on the Supreme Co ...
. Warner
*1990: ''Talking Power''. Basic Books.
*1993: ''Father knows best: the use and abuse of therapy in Freud's case of Dora''. With J. Coyne. Teachers College Press.
*2000: ''The Language War''. University of California Press.
*2006: "Identity à la carte: you are what you eat." In: ''Discourse and Identity'', ed. Anna DeFina, Deborah Schiffrin and Michael Bamberg. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
References
External links
* Lakoff
"Language and Woman's Place"
(1973)
* Lakoff,
Language in Context
(1972)
Robin Lakoff analyzes Sarah Palin and the 2008 election
interview with Kiera Butle
for ''Mother Jones''
3 October 2008
(UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
)
*
Gender and tags
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lakoff, Robin Tolmach
1942 births
Living people
Linguists from the United States
Women linguists
Sociolinguists
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
Radcliffe College alumni
Indiana University alumni