<p>In this essay, I have investigated whether players of World of Warcraft change their language to suit the gender of the character they play. I have researched if there are gender differences that correspond to what is defined as male and female language in mixed-sex conversations. Chat-logs, collected during four participant observations, were used for making an analysis based primarily on research by Coates (1993) and Yale (2007). Seven features were selected for analysis: amount of participation, hedges, questions, directives and commands, taboo language, compliments and grammar. It was possible to discover gender differences, but these were not consistent in all areas of research. For example, female characters had a higher contribution than males, as well as a higher use of hedges and tag-questions among males, which contradicts previous research. The lack of consistency might be due to the fact that the participants do not specifically consider all areas as typically female or male, or their unawareness of these tendencies. We also need to consider disagreement in previous gender studies as well as folklinguistic belief. The explanation of the lack of consistent differences may be a more equal relationship between males and females in this context, or due to thepossibility that the participants, who are usually male, make use of their normal male language.</p>

In this essay, I have investigated whether players of World of Warcraft change their language to suit the gender of the character they play. I have researched if there are gender differences that correspond to what is defined as male and female language in mixed-sex conversations. Chat-logs, collected during four participant observations, were used for making an analysis based primarily on research by Coates (1993) and Yale (2007). Seven features were selected for analysis: amount of participation, hedges, questions, directives and commands, taboo language, compliments and grammar. It was possible to discover gender differences, but these were not consistent in all areas of research. For example, female characters had a higher contribution than males, as well as a higher use of hedges and tag-questions among males, which contradicts previous research. The lack of consistency might be due to the fact that the participants do not specifically consider all areas as typically female or male, or their unawareness of these tendencies. We also need to consider disagreement in previous gender studies as well as folklinguistic belief. The explanation of the lack of consistent differences may be a more equal relationship between males and females in this context, or due to thepossibility that the participants, who are usually male, make use of their normal male language.

The study aimed to analyze females and males in mixed-sex conversations and same-sex conversations using cooperative speech, competitive speech, interruptions, and similarities and differences in their communication styles in the Tv series modern family. Men and women are said to use different speech styles regarding cooperative, competitive, and interruptions. I used three conversations taken from Season 1 Episode 24, Family Portrait, for mixed-sex conversations in my analysis. I also used three same-sex discussions taken from Season 3, Episode 5, Hit and Run, and Season 1, Episode 11, Up all night. The result shows similarities in both same-sex and mixed-sex conversations regarding women’s use of cooperative speech styles and men’s use of competitive speech styles and interruptions. However, my study found differences regarding women in mixed-sex and Same-sex conversations when it comes to interruptions. Women interrupt in mixed-sex discussions and not in same-sex discussions. Therefore, my analysis of the series modern family is in line with previous research on gender and language.