It's finally been proved, women do not talk more than men, writes Martha Roberts. Both sexes spout an average of about 16,000 words a day, as reported today. Most linguists believe that the notion of women gibbering on while men stay silent is unfounded, but this is the first time the idea has been tested with a large, and realistic enough, sample to prove it.
But before we get too carried away and throw out all our Mars and Venus type thoughts in favour of some newly revealed asexual linguistic world, the researchers make it clear that it's not all gender equality.
Earlier analysis of the same data showed that while men and women may talk the same amount, they clearly talk about quite different things."Women talk about people and men talk about places and objects. Men talk about their cars and yards, with women it's more he, she, they," explained James Pennebaker, one of the lead researchers on the study.
Maybe this is where the perceived breakdown in communication between the sexes happens. It's not in the amount each sex is talking, but in the simple fact that we're talking about different things.
Out of interest, Prof Pennebaker, who has listened to countless hours of taped conversations, says that, in general, "women's conversations are more interesting to listen to".
