Gender Differences in the Use of Tag Questions in English

Abstract

This paper investigates whether there are any gender related differences in the use of language by television hosts in American talk shows. It brings a concise overview of gender differences manifested in language usage through different theoretical approaches offered by Otto Jespersen, Labov, Lakoff, Zimmerman and West, Tannen, Coates, Holmes and Cameron, as well as short descriptions of the studies they conducted. The present study analyses the frequency and the most common types of tag questions used by female and male television hosts in American talk shows. Talk shows are one of the most popular and influential forms of television programming that have an effect on society in different ways. They are aired in countries all over the world and there seem to be an amazingly endless number of relevant topics, thus offering interesting corpora for various types of linguistic analysis. The aim of the paper is to investigate whether there are any significant differences between male and female hosts in their use of tag questions.