Female and mail accents

Doon   Saturday, March 27, 2004, 06:52 GMT
I have got a weird question.
Are there improtant differences between the ways women and men speak?
The question is whether I would speak in a 'feminine accent' if I learn the language mostly from my girlfriend :)
mjd   Saturday, March 27, 2004, 07:59 GMT
When referring to men, the adjective is "male." "Mail" has to do with the postal service.
Chilli   Saturday, March 27, 2004, 15:41 GMT
There are substantive differences in how males and females speak, BUT that has literally to do with things like volume, pitch, interruptions and literally how certain things are phrased, like whether or not a demand is made rather than a request or a statement is used rather than a question.

As far as actual accent goes, there is the observer's paradox. By this I mean that your girlfriend might strive to talk in a much better way than normal because you are listening to her and learning from her. It's called hypercorrection, and in more normal circumstances she might not talk the same way, but will it give you a girly accent? I doubt it. I don't think there is such a thing.
pobre_diablo   Saturday, March 27, 2004, 22:03 GMT
If you've seen The Apprentice, Sam talks like s girl, which made him look funny :)
Simon   Monday, March 29, 2004, 09:37 GMT
Have you ever heard a guy and a girl getting "friendly" together. If you know them already, you'll notice that she makes her voice softer and higher and he makes his deeper and more manly. I don't even think it's conscious.
Ben   Monday, March 29, 2004, 14:51 GMT
I think that there really are some differences between Male and Female accents in certain cultures. In the Deep South in the 19th Century for example, men would often have a more "genteel" way of speaking than women because they, unlike their wives, would be educated at British Universities.

So I guess it depends on the level of social separation between men and women. In contemporary America you never really find this type of separation, but you probably would find certain dialectical differences between males and females in many Asian countries and primitive cultures that are a bit less poltically correct than our own.
Chilli   Tuesday, March 30, 2004, 06:58 GMT
>> but you probably would find certain dialectical differences
>> between males and females in many Asian countries and
>> primitive cultures that are a bit less poltically correct than
>> our own.

I'm willing to bet that we have a lot of dialectal differences between men and women even in the UK, America and other similar countries, but as far as acent goes, I'm doubtful.