Article Title：Tough talk: Indirectness and gender in requests for information
Abstract：
Differences between male and female speakers have been explored by linguists without their arriving at any general agreement. Female speakers are viewed differently by different theorists. The questions that women have of themselves and others have also been viewed differently. In this discussion, I examine a particular register, interviewing, in which female speakers employ questions or requests for information both to get information and maintain conversation. I examine differences between male and female interviewers in topical and political interviews on radio and television. The female interviewers in my study employ more indirect requests for information than do the male interviewers; however, since indirect requests for information can be provocative as well as polite, use of provocative forms constitutes an enabling strategy. While the male interviewers favour indirect forms that foster attunement, the female interviewers favour indirect forms that engage their interviewees analytically. The female interviewers employ indirect requests for information to ask 'tough' questions, maintain a line of questioning, and maintain their position as speakers who have power. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: indirectness; questions; male/female language; politeness; interieurs; A-, B-, etc. events
DOI: 10.1016/S0378-2166(99)00129-0
Source：JOURNAL OF PRAGMATICS
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