A New Approach to the Study of Gender: A Case Study of Iraq

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate sociolinguistics as one approach for studying how gender determines language use, verbal superiority, the ability to employee selective attention to inhibit the impact of interference on the use of language. The study employs a cognitive approach to the interrogation of this research subject. The study, although it is largely informed by empirical literature available on the subject, is also vastly informed by the experimental finding. An experimental design, specifically a Stroop task, was employed to elucidate how language use, verbal ability, and the capacity to inhibit the automaticity of language differs across the gender spectrum. The study found that there is a statistically significant correlation between genders in terms of language use, verbal ability, and the capacity to inhibit visual interference, as well as the automaticity of language in the identification of colors. The research concurs with the initial hypothetical assumption that sociolinguistic parameters are effective in studying gender but are by no means the only factors that determine the differences between males' and females' linguistic variation and change. From that perspective, the research recommends the use of both sociolinguistic and cognitive approaches when studying linguistics.