1. International Islamic University
M.A ENGLISH LITERATURE & LANGUISTICS
3RD SEMESTER-SECTION A
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: APPLICATION OF LAKOFF THEORY ON THE TEXT OF THE PLAY A DOLL’S
HOUSE BY HENRICK IBSEN
SUBMITTED TO: MRS. SALMA KALEEM
SUBMITTED BY: HUMA ASLAM
KINZA GHAFOOR
SUMAIRA BIBI
HUMA HAFIZ
DATED: 19-12-2012

2. Introduction:
„Language and Gender‟ refer to the area of studies enclosed by sociolinguistics, applied
linguistics and associated fields that enquire into the varieties of speech linked with a specific
gender. A variety of speech correlated with a specific gender is also called „genderlect‟.
Finding the relationship between language and gender has ever been a topic of interest for
sociolinguists. During the early twentieth century, research have been conducted in the field of
„linguistic Anthropology‟ which tends to explore the differences between men‟s speech and
women‟s speech in a wide range of languages, and also pointing out the distinctive male and
female language forms.
Gender has also been identified as a social variable in „language variation studies‟ since 1960‟s.
Recurrent point to be found among the speakers of same social status appears to be the use of
„standard‟ or „privileged‟ language features among the women and the use of „lower‟ or
„vernacular‟ language features by the men.
Language and gender really became popular during 1960‟s along a wide interest, specifically
concerning feminist researches in regard to the ability of male dominance in mixed gender talk,
for instance men interrupting women more often than vice versa; and observing the
discriminating male and female utterance or speaking styles as women are normally found using
more supportive or cooperative speaking styles. While men are more prone towards competitive
style, so, the sexism or sexist bias can be identified in language.
The field was also marked by varying positions, retrospectively termed, “deficit”, “dominance;
which is usually male”, “differences” like cultural differences. Research associated with the
deficit position saw women‟s language use as deficient in various ways. The dominant position
of male is perceived as being emphasized on the basis of differences in power between male and
female speakers; the cultural difference position marks men‟s and women‟s language utterances
as culturally different but not unequal.
The use of language among men and women has also been analyzed and interpreted in regard to
politeness, where usually women are perceived as being linguistically more polite than men.
“Language and gender” has long been a topic of debates and research work for sociolinguists. It
has been asserted and claimed by many linguists that the differences in language among man and
women are universal, inherent and biologically determined.
A well known linguist came up with an interest in the features and characteristics of men‟s and
women‟s language which made her to observe social implications of speech. She interpreted and
elaborated the variations of speech and gender. She emphasized upon the fact that whether
language plays part to women‟s status in society i.e. their lack of power. Robin Lakoff asserts
that women‟s language is polite and expresses the idea that women are fragile, weaker and less

3. certain than men. She justifies the treatment of women as having low status and men‟s treatment
towards women.
Theory:
Robin Lakoff was a professor of linguistics at the University of California and her well work was
the subject of women‟s language as she believed that women‟s speech can be distinguished in
certain features. Lakoff formulated the “politeness principle” in three maxims; don‟t impose,
give options, make one‟s receiver feel good.
Lakoff assert that the language is basic to gender inequalities and it could play part to the
deficiency of women‟s power in two areas; the use of language about women and the languge
used by women.
The vital features which distinguish women language includes the use of „hedging‟ which shows
lack of authorities and uncertainty, the use of super polite forms, use of hyper correct grammar
and pronunciation especially using English prestige grammar and clear enunciation.
Lakoff believed that there are some certain features which distinguish women‟s language from
men‟s language such as use of tag questions like “isn‟t it?” or “aren‟t you?” Speaking in italics
and using more intensifiers which means that intonation emphasis becomes equal to underlining
words like „so‟, „very‟ or „quiet‟.
Women use exaggerated intonation or stress for emphasis which expresses uncertainty. Females
are more prone towards using “empty adjectives”. Lackoff argues that a man appears to be more
feminine if he uses such terms as „divine, lovely, adorable, delightful and sweetie‟ as it hurts his
masculine prestige. Females use “direct quotation while males paraphrase more often.
Use of special lexicons is obvious in female speeches. Lakoff suggests that such words are trivial
and evidence of the fact that women have been allowed control over unimportant things. Women
use more words for things like colors, men for sports.
Women use of questioning intonation in declarative statements; women make declarative
statements into questions by raising the pitch of their voice at a statement, expressing
uncertainty. Use of indirect and use of implication “wh” imperatives. Lakoff claimed women use
this because they do not feel the authority to give orders.
Women speak less frequently. Men speak more often than woman. It proves women to be less
certain of themselves. Women apologize more like saying “I am sorry, but I think that…”
Women use more modal constructions such as „can, would, should, ought‟.

4. Women use indirect commands and requests. They lack a sense of humor. They do not tell jokes
well and often do not understand the punch line of jokes. Female avoid coarse language or
expletives.
Application of theory:
The play A Doll‟s house by Henrick Ibsen has been selected for the application of the theory of
Lakoff. There are certain speeches in the play on which the features of lakoff theory can be
successfully applied.
Tag Questions:
Lakoff claims that tag questions are more prominent in women‟s speech as it has occurred many
times in the text and is evident in the following dialogues;
Nora says: “let us do as you suggest Torvald, and then I shall have time to think what I am in
want of that, is a very sensible plan, isn‟t it?”
Nora: “it will be splendid to have heaps of money and not need to have any anxiety, won‟t it?”
Mrs. Linde: “you spent a whole year in Italy, didn‟t you?”
When Nora tells Mrs. Linde about the trip to Italy with Helmer, she says:
Nora: “it cost about two hundred and fifty pounds, thats‟ a lot, isn‟t it?”
At a place Mrs. Linde says to Nora,
Linde: “oh, I see it was just about that time that he died, wasn‟t it?”
Nora: “you are proud, aren‟t you…”
At a place Nora addresses Dr. Rank
Nora: “once in a way-that‟s so, isn‟t it, Dr. Rank?”
Hence from the above examples it is proved that women use tag questions in their speeches, but
it is not true that they use tag questions more than men as the male character in the play are also
observed as using the questions in their language.
Helmer: “… and a big enough income it‟s delightful to think of, isn‟t it?”
Another evident instance is of Krogstad‟s speech when he talks to Nora about Mrs. Linde:
Krogstad: “she is a great friend of yours. Isn‟t she?”
He again uses the tag questions in another speech

5. Krogstad: “haven‟t you? I thought you said yourself just now”.
Again at another place he says “didn‟t you?”
Hence Lakoff claim seems to be false that only female use more tag questions in their speech and
use of language.
Use of more Intensifiers:
Lakoff asserts that female use more intensifiers like „so‟ and „very‟ and speak with intonation
emphasis upon certain words as the following dialogues shows this feature:
Linde: “and much, much older Nora”
Nora: “perhaps a little older; very, very little, certainly not much.
Another incidence from the text is:
Mrs. Linde: “I quite understand, dear”
Nora: “it was very bad of me”.
Many of Nora‟s other speeches are evident of Lakoff‟s claim like:
“…I shall in a very short time be free of the whole thing”
“…and you certainly won‟t keep you post them”
“Yes, indeed I am”
“It is not so very late…”
“…I look so nice …”
Similarly there are many Mrs. Linde‟s speeches which explicitly exhibit this feature.
Mrs.Linde:“…come in; we are quite alone…”
Mrs.Linde: “is it too late now?”
Mrs.Linde: “I understand very well…”
Mrs.Linde: “and your husband came back quite well”
Mrs.Linde: “quite so”.
At a place Nora asks Mrs.Linde:
Nora: “how you have altered, Christine” and Mrs. Linde replies as:

6. Mrs. Linde: “yes I have indeed”.
Other than these examples there are many more examples of the usage of intensifiers among the
speeches of female but men are also found as using intensifiers in their speeches equally, which
negates the assumption that females use more intensifier than men. Lakoff says that women use
more intensifiers but the idea contradicts when it comes to the application of the text as in the
text the male characters are also observed as using this feature for instance Krogstad says to Nora
“you will be so kind…”
Some other dialogues by male characters display intensifiers:
Krogstad: “I can quite understand that your friend is not very anxious to expose herself to the
chance of rubbing shoulders with me; and I quite understand, too…”
Helmer: “…my dear Nora, you look so worn-out”.
Over Use Qualifiers:
Lakoff supports the views that “over use qualifiers” are observed more in women than men and
so many of the instances of it can be found in the text.
Mrs. Linde: “ I see he lives at the corner here”
Mrs. Linde: “you don‟t recognize me I suppose”
Mrs. Linde: “I thought your maid said the gentleman who arrived here just as I did, was the
doctor?”
Mrs. Linde: “I believe he was quite well off”
Mrs. Linde: “I think I have the right to be”
Mrs. Linde: “there is the bell; perhaps I had better go”.
Similarly, Nora also uses the „over use qualifier‟ as she says :
Nora: “no, perhaps you were quite right”
Nora: “I think so too”
Nora: “I think I have heard something of the kind”
Nora :“I don‟t know; I think there is …”

7. From the above examples it is evident that Lakoff‟s claim about the over use of qualifiers among
women is true but still it cannot be said that men donot use it in their speeches as it occurs in the
language of both genders. In the text it is obvious through the speech of Dr. Rank when he says:
Dr. Rank: “I think I passed you on the stairs”
Helmer also says “a school friend of my wife‟s, I presume?”
At a place Krogstad says:
Krogstad: “…I suppose someone forgot to shut it”.
Krogstad : “I presume you can give me a moment?
Questioning Intonation:
Lakoff claims that women use questioning intonation in declarative statements and that woman
usually use indirect commands and speech in request forms. Some of the instances of this feature
can be seen in the text. The examples from the text are mentioned below;
Nora:“…then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas tree. Wouldn‟t
that be fun?”
Nora: “what! Have been snow balling? I wish I had been there too!... what shall we play at? Hide
and seek?”
Nora: “is it so long since we met? I suppose it is”
Nora: “you don‟t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money”
Nora: “…but what would my assurances have been worth against yours? That was the wonderful
thing that I hoped for and fear”.
Mrs. Linde: “how am I to thank you?”
Mrs. Linde: “and your husband keeps the key?”
So from the above mentioned dialogues it can be extracted that Nora and Mrs. Linde are more
inclined towards the use of questioning intonation in their declarative and request speeches. The
questioning intonation in declarative statements and the use of indirect commands and requests
are also explicit in the dialogues of male characters in the play as Helmer wants Nora to stay and
be with him but he says his request in this manner
Helmer: “but can‟t we live here like a brother and sister?
Krogstad: “I presume you can give me a moment”.

8. So these statements stand out to be an opposition to Lakoff‟s claim that the questioning
intonation in declarative statements and the of indirect commands and requests are more used by
women.
Model Constructions:
It is suggested by Lakoff that women use more „model constructions’ then men in their
speeches, as the dialogues of Nora and Mrs. Linde provide evidence for it.
Nora: “I ought to tell you that we had it from papa”
Nora: “you ought not to be more superior”
Nora: “he should not know my goodness, and can‟t you understand that? It was necessary he
should have no idea…how much I should love to travel abroad…I told him that he ought to
remember the condition I was in and that he ought to be kind and indulgent to me”
Nora: “it‟s something I should dearly love to say, if Torvald could hear me”
Nora: “I should just love to say”
Nora: “…sometimes one has a tiny little bit of influence I should hope”
Nora: “it would be perfectly infamous of you…and it would put me in a horrible disagreeable
position”
Nora: “how should I know?”
Nora: “you should have let it alone…”
Nora: “oh! You would not understand…”
Same feature is evident in Mrs. Linde speeches as well.
Mrs. Linde: ”there was a time when he would gladly do anything for my sake”
Mrs. Linde: “I could do nothing else”
Mrs. Linde: “…we couldn‟t wait for you”.
So, the words like ought, can‟t, should, would, could are used by female characters. Lakoff
thinks that only females are more inclined towards the use of model constructions while in the
text the dialogues of male characters contradict this idea as well. The instance of it can be of Dr.
Rank‟s speech
Dr. Rank: “I won‟t disturb you; I would rather go into your wife”.

9. Krogstad‟s dialogues also support this idea :
Krogstad:“…I should advise you to use your influence to prevent that”
Krogstad:“I shouldn‟t have thought so”.
“WH-“ Imperatives:
Lakoff is of the view that women use „wh‟ imperatives in their speeches like “why don‟t you
open the door”. An instance of it can be taken from the play „A doll‟s house‟ from Nora speech
when she is talking to Mrs. Linde. Mrs. Linde is looking for a room to live and Nora wants to
help her but she has got no free room in her house so she replies to Mrs. Linde that:
Nora: “what a pity it is we are short of space here; I am afraid it is impossible for us”.
From the above example it can be analyzed that female convey the information in form of
questions.
Empty Adjectives:
Lakoff also claims that women use more empty adjectives like „divine‟, „lovely‟, „adorable‟.
Nora: “it is really wonderful”
Nora: “it‟s wonderfully lovely”
Nora: “to have some fun at Christmas time, of course how delightful!”
Nora: “It will be splendid to have heaps of money”
Nora: “but during the first week he overworked himself dreadfully”.
Nora: “He couldn‟t stand it and fell dreadfully ill”
Nora: “it was a wonderfully beautiful journey…but it cost a tremendous lot of money, Christine”
Nora: “…and I had my poor sick Torvald to look after”
Nora: “our beautiful happy home”
Nora: “it‟s perfectly glorious to think that…”
Nora: “my sweet little baby doll!”.
The underlined adjectives like wonderful, lovely, delightful, splendid, tremendous, beautiful,
poor, glorious and sweet little are more often used by the female characters in their speeches.

10. Hedges:
Lakoff is of the view that women are more prone towards using hedging like „sort of‟, „kind of‟,
„it seems like‟. It can be proved from the text;
Nora: “…embroidery and that kind of thing”
Nora: “what should make you think I have any influence of that kind with my husband?”
Nora: “So it seems”
Nora: “…but you must not read anything of that kind now”.
Mrs. Linde speeches also contain hedging:
Mrs. Linde: “… small household cares and that sort of thing...”
Mrs. Linde: “it seems to me imprudent…”
Mrs. Linde: “still I think the sick are those who most need taking care of”. The use of hedging by
Nora and Mrs. Linde shows lack of certainty, power and authority. The use of hedging is also
observed in the dialogues of the male characters of the play as Dr. Rank says:
Dr. Rank: “yes the general opinion seems to be that it is necessary”.
Dr. Rank: “yes, he has some sort of appointment there”.
Krogstad says to Nora:
Krogstad: “…but every way seems to be close to me after that”.
So, here again Lakoff‟s theory does not prove to be totally correct. The underlined words prove
that men and women both are inclined towards using adjectives.
Women ‘Apologize’ More and Use More ‘Super Polite’ Forms:
Lakoff proposes that women „apologize’ more and use more „super polite’ forms in language
but in the text this feature is seen also in the male characters in the play as a servant of Nora
says:
Nora: “excuse me, ma‟am there is a gentleman to see the master”
Krogstad:“…I shall be obliged to remind you of few details”.
Helmer : “with great pleasure if you wish me to”
Helmer : “I would gladly walk night and day for you”.

11. The use of apologizing elements in the language are also observable in male characters as
phrases like „I beg your pardon‟ and „excuse me‟ are frequently used.
Conclusion:
All the feature that Lakoff suggested to be only attributed to the speech or language use of
females cannot be totally assumed as true ,as after the application of these features on the text it
can be deduced that not all but some of the features can be applied as some of them appear to be
contradictory. Thus, at many places it can be seen that the same Lackoff features can be applied
regarding the language use of both genders.

12. References:
http://international.iupui.edu/kenya/resources/Language-and-Gender.pdf
http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist156/Lakoff_1973.pdf
http://international.iupui.edu/kenya/resources/Language-and-Gender.pdf
http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/gender.htm#themes
http://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/robin-lakoff-2/
http://quizlet.com/12165596/language-and-gender-theory-flash-cards/
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/githens/theories.htm
http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/2827