2008/05/15 by Matthew L. Newman, Carla J. Groom, Lori D. Handelman +1 · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · Computer Science · Psychology · #Artificial intelligence #Computer science #Digital Communication and Language #Discourse Analysis in Language Studies #Empirical research #Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies #Linguistics #Object (grammar) #Psychology #Statistics #Variation (astronomy)
paper · doi:10.1080/01638530802073712
openalex publication_date 2008/05/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Differences in the ways that men and women use language have long been of interest in the study of discourse. Despite extensive theorizing, actual empirical investigations have yet to converge on a coherent picture of gender differences in language. A significant reason is the lack of agreement over the best way to analyze language. In this research, gender differences in language use were examined using standardized categories to analyze a database of over 14,000 text files from 70 separate studies. Women used more words related to psychological and social processes. Men referred more to object properties and impersonal topics. Although these effects were largely consistent across different contexts, the pattern of variation suggests that gender differences are larger on tasks that place fewer constraints on language use.