LANGUAGE, GENDER, CULTURE

Module 2 – 12A

introduction

Note: “norms” means In this module, we’ll interrogate gender norms

and the ways social pressures enforce those norms. In addition to reflecting on a range of topics including gender, identity, race, and culture, you will consider how norms of behavior are enforced through language and social interaction and analyze the ways you may have been silenced or witnessed others being silenced. The final writing assignment invites you to transform their own silences into language and social action.

Activity 1: definitions

After examining the meanings of the words below, put a definition in your own words for each of the words listed under Activity 1.

Language: refers not just to the general language one speaks (such as English, Spanish, etc.), but also the way a person speaks it, which reflects their culture and identity—or, how someone sees themselves and how they represent themselves to others. For example, a person who says “ain’t” or “chillin’” or “turn up” reveals something about the culture with which they identify.

Activity 1 (cont’d)

Gender is not the exact same thing as someone’s sex (which, based on genitalia, could be male, female, or intersex). Instead, it is the social assumptions placed on someone based on that genitalia. In some cases, gender may not align with ones sexual anatomy (leading frequently to cultural conflict).

Culture can mean a particular group of people, as well as their inherited beliefs, values, and knowledge which make up their shared bases of social action. It refers to the attitude and values that inform a society’s actions. For example, most cultures have specific beliefs about what it means to be/act like a male/female

Activity 2: Quickwrite

Reflect on the following under Activity 2 in your activities template:

Characterize some of the differences you have observed between how American men and women generally walk. What aspects of walking behavior or style make a person’s walk seem “feminine” versus “masculine”? (Consider speed, size of steps, carriage of the shoulders and hips, gaze [focus of the eyes], etc.) Describe an example of any individuals you’ve known whose walk could be characterized as typically “masculine” or “feminine.”

Activity 3: Vocabulary (Butler) Using the vocabulary and synonym table on

your activities template, review the list of key vocabulary words for Butler’s video. Then, brainstorm an additional 2-5 synonyms in the far right column for any of the key vocabulary words or phrases. You can do so by asking a classmate or using online databases.

Note: this activity not only helps with your comprehension of the video, but it also develops the synapses in your brain between words and significance (i.e., it makes you smarter!)

Background Information (Butler)

Judith Butler—This YouTube video clip is from an interview uploaded to YouTube in 2007.

Judith Butler is a Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her PhD in Philosophy from Yale University. She is the author of many books, including Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity and Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” She is also active in gender and sexual politics and human rights, anti-war politics, and Jewish Voice for Peace. She is presently the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in the Humanities.

Activity 4: Quickwrite

Reread the quickwrite you wrote for Activity 2, and then answer both of the following questions.1. Though you may not know any examples as

extreme as the one described by Butler, have you seen or heard of similar instances in which gender norms have been enforced through violence or bullying?

2. How does this story deepen your understanding of the relationship between identity, gender, and culture?

Background Information (Tannen)

Deborah Tannen—“His Politeness Is Her Powerlessness” is excerpted from You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation (1990; 2001).

Deborah Tannen earned a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley. She is Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. She is best known as author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, which was on the New York Times best seller list for nearly four years. This book brought gender differences in communication style to the forefront of public awareness. Deborah Tannen is a frequent guest on television and radio, and she has written for many major newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today, Washington Post, and People.

Activity 5: Vocabulary (Tannen) Using the vocabulary and synonym table on

your activities template, review the list of key vocabulary words for Tannen’s article. Then, brainstorm an additional 2-5 synonyms in the far right column for any of the key vocabulary words or phrases. You can do so by asking a classmate or using online databases.

Note: this activity not only helps with your comprehension of the chapter, but it also develops the synapses in your brain between words and significance (i.e., it makes you smarter!)

Activity 6: First Read-Through (Tannen)

After reading Tannen’s text, consider the following and write your responses in your activities template.1. What surprised you within the

chapter?2. What, if anything about this piece,

still confuses you?3. Write a single sentence in your own

words that summarizes Tannen’s main argument.

Activity 7: Ethos, Pathos, Logos (Tannen)

LOGOS1. What is Tannen claiming, specifically about male and female

behavior?2. What evidence does Tannen offer to support her claims?3. What counterarguments has she addressed?ETHOS4. What can you infer about Tannen from her article?5. Why does she refer both to her own research and the research of

other authors?6. What does Tannen’s style and language tell the reader about her?7. Does Tannen seem trustworthy? Why or why not?PATHOS8. Do you think Tannen is trying to manipulate the reader’s

emotions? In what ways? At what points?9. Does Tannen use humor or irony? How does that affect your

acceptance of her ideas?

Intro to Sentence Patterns:Subject and Object Complements

Fill in the information in your activities template under “Activity 8” as you watch the videos and read the introductory notes

Activity 8: Subject and Object Complements

Note: different from the word compliment (meaning, a gesture of flattery toward someone), the word complement means something that completes. It’s the second part of something. In terms of grammar, it’s a word or group of words that completes the meaning for a subject in a sentence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF9ogQdj5RY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNuieiLjMq8

Activity 8: Subject and Object Complement (Cont’d)

SUBJECT COMPLEMENT Linking verb: any form of verb “be” (is, are,

were, was, will be, might have been, are being, etc.)

Some verbs are occasionally linking verbs, for example: appear, grow, become, look, feel, prove, remain, smell, sound, turn, taste

How do you know? Try replacing the verb with an = sign. Does the sentence still make sense?

Examples: Michelle felt sick Michelle felt her forehead but did not have a fever.

Activity 8: Subject and Object Complements (Cont’d)

SUBJECT PRONOUNS

I We

You They

He, She, It

Who

OBJECT PRONOUNS

Me Us

You Them

Him, Her, It Whom

It was I who woke you from your nap.I didn’t pull your ponytail. It was he!Remember the amazing guitarist I met? This is she.

Activity 8: Subject and Object Complements (Cont’d)

Unlike subject complements, object complements modify (describe/complete) a direct or indirect object (NOT the sentence’s subject – hence, the name) Direct objects are nouns that follow action verbs (pretty much

anything that isn’t a linking verb) Sometimes direct objects need some help, so we add an

object complement In general, verbs which have to do with perceiving,

judging, or changing something have objects that take object complements:

Examples: Paint it black. The judge ruler her out of order. I saw the Prime Minister sleeping.

To summarize:

Subject complements follow a linking verb and provide extra info about the subject of a sentence

Object complements follow a direct object and provide additional info about the direct object

Examples: Marie is the treasurer. The class appointed her treasurer.

Activity 9: Sentence Pattern Practice

Complete the exercises listed under activity 9 in your activities template.

Understanding of subject and object complements is crucial for understanding the last two sentence patterns of this semester: inverted sentences.

IT’S NOT JUST GENDERMODULE SHIFT

Activity 10: JIGSAW READING

Now we turn our eyes to the interactions between race, culture, and identity.

To assist, you’ll be split into 6 groups. For the three readings: 3 groups will write a rhetorical précis for their assigned

article or website 3 groups will choose 5 of the most important quotes,

statistics, or points to take away from their assigned article or website and fill out a “Say, Mean, Matter” chart for each. If you don’t know what this is, I’ll help you out!

You may write your part on the activities template, and fill in the rest when each group presents

Activity 11: Reactions and ReflectionsAnswer the following in your activities template1. Based on what you learned from the Jigsaw

Reading, how might cultural expectations affect students at Lindsay High School?

2. What is the most fascinating new understanding you take away from these texts? Why?

3. Review your notes from this module’s 5 texts. In a minimum of two paragraphs, reflect on what you now understand to be the relationship between language and gender, between gender and culture, and/or between cultural expectations and identity.

Intro to Sentence Patterns:Inverted Sentences

Fill in the information in your activities template under “Activity 12” as you read the introductory notes.

“Powerful you have become. The dark side I sense in you.”

Activity 12: Intro to Inverted Sentences

Pattern 15 Remember those Subject or Object

Complements? At times in your writing, you can invert your

sentence to stress some part of the sentence that usually comes after the verb Inversion is like adding invisible italics or stress to

particular words (and, by the way, you should never use italics in an essay unless it’s to show something is a book/magazine)

CAUTION: if you invert it, read it aloud to make sure it sounds graceful, not awkward.

Activity 12: Intro to Inverted Sentences (cont’d)

Pattern 15: With a direct object:

His kind of sarcasm I do not like. Satisfied with his first draft, good grades

he will never have. With a subject complement:

No friend of snakes is my sister. Famous and wealthy an English

professor will never be.

Activity 12: Intro to Inverted Sentences (cont’d)

Still don’t get it? As Yoda says,

“Patience you must have, my young Padawan.”

Activity 12: Intro to Inverted Sentences (cont’d)

Pattern 15a (complete inversion) Sentences in which the verb comes before the

subject is completely inverted (it’s a complete flip, as opposed to the “yoda” speak, where subject and verb are still in traditional order

This is done to put more emphasis on the verb. Conjugation must agree with the SUBJECT no matter

what. Examples:

There are 30 people at the party.****use sparingly! In that barn live 4 horses. There is an idea somewhere in this sentence. ****use

sparingly! What is his name?

Activity 13: Sentence Pattern Practice

Complete the exercises listed under activity 13 in your activities template.

You will also be required to use these sentence patterns in your final writing

assignment.

INTRO TO WRITING ASSIGNMENT

Among other issues, each of the articles in this module considers how we might respond to the ways that social environments and norms constrain us. Perhaps there is a middle ground: something between suffering silently to fit in, and rebelling. Instead, we could try to speak out, using language and action to change, not just rebel against, the social conditions of our lives.

After considering this, write a public service announcement (PSA) –script and 30-second video that proposes meaningful change in your community related to the issues raised in these readings, or a cultural issue of your choice.

This will count as the research-based rhetorical modes essay for your senior project.

For further instructions, download the “final writing assignment” document at lhsenglish.com 12A language, gender, culture

Introduction to MLA

Download the MLA introduction document and the MLA practice worksheet (this is your activity 14)

Completion of the Module

Before turning in this module, complete activity 15: the checklist and metacognitive reflection