week 12, post #3

The idea behind masculine language seems to be very pertinent in the debate of bias language. I feel that emotionally charged language is often biased, and is more representative of the male masculine perspective. It is unfortunate that the typical gender roles are reiterated in different forms of reference and print, however, the growing influence of the female voice, will hopefully change most if not all of that language to represent the fact that both genders are equal and neither should be steered towards dominance or serviance.

week 12, post 2

Muted Group Theory

The Muted Group Theory was developed by Kramarae. There was also some development between muted groups, from originally women, and the groups which have thoughts and communications which is counter to the public agenda or norms. In her theory, she greatly used metaphors of the internet, including information superhighway for the cost, new frontier for the atmosphere, democracy for increased expression, and global community for the possibility of interaction. It is decidely so, based on bias, that language often does not mean the same for everyone, or that it is equal for everyone. The dominant language is male, so everyone else is engaging in discorse.

face-negotiation model

The face-negotiation model presented by Ting-Toomey is extremely interesting in its diversity and explanation. The model is controlled by separating factors of culture, then self contrual, then face concern, and finally conflict-style. The culture, whether individualistic or collectivistic, is based on the individuals person's place of birth, traditionally, and how that society developed. The U.S. is the supreme individualistic culture with the main focus on "I" and overall lack of community care. Japan is one of the leaders in the collectivistic cultures, with main thoughts on helping their country succeed. The path is then followed down all the way to the learned conflict styles, based on the four criteria mentioned above, to six conflict styles, including dominant, expressive, aggressive (individualistic), and integrating, helping, oblnging (collectivistic).