Introduction

This chapter considers gender differences and language use in Samoan society. It will argue that, whereas there are linguistic differences between men's and women's speech, the differences are minor in comparison to what is shared. The similarities in language structure and behavior can be accounted for in part by Gumperz's prediction that sharing of linguistic features will be sensitive to frequency and intimacy of interpersonal contact (1968). More particular to the Samoan case, social rank interacts with gender in complex ways as a social constraint affecting language variation. For certain linguistic features and for certain social settings, relative age and political status are more powerful predictors of usage patterns than gender. Men and women of relatively high rank will speak differently from men and women of lower rank. This appears to be true for expression of sympathy in narratives and for use of case marking in family conversations. Gender joins age and political status as an important social variable in accounting for case marking in conversations outside one's family. It takes precedence over other social variables in accounting for one linguistic behavior – word-order preferences (preferences for ordering of the major constituents – subject, verb, and object).