Gender and Sex Based Differences in Lexical Directions: A Study on Language Theories

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting an investigation into the theories of gender and sex-based language which are detailing the deficit, the dominance and the sub-cultural approach as defined by many social researchers and linguists in the field of gender and sex discourse. Tertiary level students have been repeatedly identified as a source of inter-individual variation in language development; however, their interactions have been investigated infrequently. Though sex differences are constant focal points for experiments regarding emerging language skills, data remain scarce and are not consistent across university life. The questions as to whether university impacts male and female students equally, as well as concerning the consistency of these differences throughout university socialization, remain open. In this research, the consistency of sex differences among the tertiary level students has been evaluated in the light of language theory. Therefore, the debate about whether language should be studied as a separate, distinct entity or it can be resolved if the notion of activity is adopted as it would be allowed for the understanding of language as constituting reality, reflecting modification and developments. Following the crises of the society of the past and present era, both similarities and dissimilarities between men and women speech appear to be significant issues which are worth studying. Finally, the study demonstrates in the field of language to understanding how and when language use constructs gender differences as a social category.