A CULTURAL APPROACH TO MALE-FEMALE DIFFERENCES IN COMMUNICATION

Viorica LIFARI Universitatea de Stat din Moldova

Rezumat

This work is an attempt to determine and analyse the differences in the speaking patterns of men and women in cross-sex and cross- ethnic communication. This topic is widely discussed nowadays as the women and men attempt to interact as equals in cross-sex conversations but they do not play the same roles in interaction. Historically men and women have different experiences and operate in different social contexts thus developing different genres of speech. At the same time women’s speeches are considered to be more emotional while men’s ones more rational. This study has a challenging character as it not only implies cross-sex conversations but it also goes further to the level of cross-ethnic dialogue. The research data include friendly dialogues between Moldovans, Russians, English and Turkish people. Keywords: cross-sex communication, cross-ethnic communication, speaking patterns, differences, community of practice.