Manifestation of gender variation at the level of formal indicators of spontaneous speech

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of the influence of the speaker's gender on speech characteristics in terms of comparing English and Russian. The study of spontaneous speech in terms of gender impact has not yet been notably reflected in the research literature. A psycholinguistic study of spontaneous monologues of English and Russian speakers – men and women, university lecturers and students was conducted in Britain and Russia. We have obtained numerous experimental data of the spontaneous speech of native speakers of Russian and English. Following the thematic structure of spontaneous monologues identified within the thesis research, it was hypothesized that there is certain influence of the speakers' gender on the formal indicators of spontaneous speech changing during the transition from one structural component of a monologue to another. The next research goal was to identify gender variation at the level of formal indicators of spontaneous speech. As a result, the goal of the experiment was achieved, and we revealed the signs of gender differentiation at the level of phonetic indicators of spontaneous monological speech of native Russians and British. The findings underscore the need to proceed with detailed studies of the differential attributes of male and female spontaneous speech in English and Russian, both perceptually and acoustically. The study of gender variation and its reflection in speech cannot be conducted only at one level of language, a comprehensive approach involving both linguists and specialists from related fi elds – psychologists, cultural linguists, sociologists, etc. – is necessary. The results obtained in the course of both studies at certain levels and in the collaboration of different specialists can be used in comparative studies, as well as phonological, authorship and forensic linguistic examinations.