On learning to be assertive: Women and public discourse
Abstract
For years, society has classified women as being inferior to men. Women have faced difficulty in making their voices heard. However, women have risen above the constraints that have been placed upon them, that is, from being discouraged to speak in public to becoming prominent figures in our modernday society. Women, today, find themselves having to live up to the standards set for them by a male-dominated society. As their participation in public forums have increased, women have learned to behave and communicate more assertively in order ‘to cope with all the conflicting demands they face when up at the podium’ (Campbell 1989: 9). This study focuses on the assertive styles and strategies that Malaysian women have learned to use in a public forum. Samples of extracts depicting the use of assertions are presented.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Negation and the role of gender and ethnic identity in the discourse of Malaysian children
- Requests: Voices of Malaysian children
- On learning to be assertive: Women and public discourse
- Malay ESL college students' spoken discourse: The use of formulaic expressions
- Function and role of laughter in Malaysian women's and men's talk
- Patterns of repeats in Malaysian English
- Some peculiarities of Malaysian Iyer English
- The first keynote address of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the UMNO general assembly
- Levels of explicitness in political speeches
- Talking to older Malaysians: A case study
- Linguistic resources as evaluators in English and Chinese research articles
- Book reviews
Articles in the same Issue
- Preface
- Negation and the role of gender and ethnic identity in the discourse of Malaysian children
- Requests: Voices of Malaysian children
- On learning to be assertive: Women and public discourse
- Malay ESL college students' spoken discourse: The use of formulaic expressions
- Function and role of laughter in Malaysian women's and men's talk
- Patterns of repeats in Malaysian English
- Some peculiarities of Malaysian Iyer English
- The first keynote address of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the UMNO general assembly
- Levels of explicitness in political speeches
- Talking to older Malaysians: A case study
- Linguistic resources as evaluators in English and Chinese research articles
- Book reviews