Differences in Men and Women’s Verbal Communication Styles

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has a relationship with a member of the opposite sex that the differences that exist in the communication styles of men and women can be frustrating, counter-productive, and downright painful. The simple fact is as Deborah Tanner (1991), a professor linguistics at Georgetown University, “Men and women speak differently, reflecting their different priorities in life--gaining respect and independence vs. feeling connected to other people and being liked. If women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy, while men speak and hear a language of status and independence, then communication between men and women can be like cross-cultural communication, prey to a clash of conversational styles. Instead of different dialects, it has been said they speak different genderlects” (pp. 20).
Research has been conducted on the gender differences in communication for the past several decades. Countless publications have addressed the issue from almost every framework of reference from clinical psychiatry to self-improvement. As a result of addressing the issue from souch a remarkably broa...