Women’s Language and a Freak: A Display of Gender Disparity in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus A Display of Gender Disparity in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus

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Usa Padgate

Abstract

This research article presents the results of the analysis of women’s language in Suzan-Lori Parks’s play Venus based on Robin Tolmach Lakoff’s summary of 9 characteristics of language use typical of, yet in no way exclusive to, female language users. The analysis reveals 7 characteristics perceived in the use of language by the play’s female protagonist, namely a large stock of words related to specific interests, the question intonation in declaratives, the use of hedges, hypercorrect grammar, superpolite forms, the inability to tell funny jokes, and strengthened utterances. The women’s language displayed in Venus reflects how language is produced and reproduced to stress the inherent inequality of power between man and woman as well as the social disparity experienced by those in marginalized social groups.

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How to Cite
Padgate, U. (2019). Women’s Language and a Freak: A Display of Gender Disparity in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus: A Display of Gender Disparity in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Venus. Chiang Mai University Journal of Humanities, 20(2), 195–224. Retrieved from https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/JHUMANS/article/view/213173
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Research Articles

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