Theories of Language

Abstract

Theories of how women use language and how women write creatively begin with language as a reflection of the dominant culture. But they have led to sometimes contradictory views: is women’s language inferior and to be changed, or is it expressive of values that have been neglected? Is difference in language a reflection of cultural submission, or a way of subverting the dominant culture? If women feel uncomfortable expressing their experience within the language of male culture, they may use language less forcefully than men; language use may reflect a position of social inferiority. On the other hand, rejecting the dominant language may also mean rejecting the conventional point of view and may result in increased creativity among women motivated to find their own means of expression.

The very form of the sentence does not fit her. It is a sentence made by men; it is too loose, too heavy, too pompous for a woman’s use … this a woman must make for herself, altering and adapting the current sentence until she writes one that takes the natural shape of her thought without crushing or distorting it. (Woolf, 1967, p. 145)

Most feminist critics agree on several general points: that language has been representative of the dominant culture and therefore reflects masculine values only; that most women when attempting to express themselves verbally are alienated from culturally-accepted symbols and forms, and that other written and spoken modes exist that would express the unalienated language of women. (Gelfand, 1977, p. 245)