Communication Issues between Men and Women

Bjornberg 1 Chad Bjornberg Critique Paper English 102 22 June 2011 The Differences of Understanding Deborah Tannen has written many books regarding communication issues between men and wemon. She has an extraordinary background which includes a PhD in linguistics from Berkeley, and currently holds a position at Georgetown University as a professor of linguistics. Aside from her profession, Tannen has published numerous specialized articles and books on language and linguistics which has placed her now as a best-selling author. In this article, ‘Sex, Lies, and Conversation’ which was published in the Washington Post in 1990, scrutinizes over the question of why it’s so hard for men and wemon to talk to each other while married. Tannen provides strong supporting information which is backed up with relevanat case studies such as when wemon who complain that their husbands don’t talk to them, habitual stages depict how male and females communicate at a young age through peer interactions, and also covers analytical research explaining why married couples typically act differently given certain environments. It is mentioned in the article that wives frequently complain that their husbands don’t talk, to them especially in the private setting of their home. Tannen makes a great point in her research that most wives want their husbands to be, first and foremost, conversational partners, though few husbands tend to lack conversation material while at home. In the beginning of the article, the author introduces with a highlight from a

Bjornberg 2 wemons group taken place in a suburban Virginia living room in which the wemon invited men to join in. One of the men that showed particular interest in the group discussion participated while his wife sat silently beside him. Later on in conversation that man agreed that men do generally not talk to their wives while at home. His response was that she always seemed to bring up conversation, where in opposition he rarely had