One 1975 book blamed 'sort of' and tag questions for keeping women powerless

Robin Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place catalogued a 'women's language' - hedges like 'sort of,' tag questions like 'isn't it?', rising intonation on statements - arguing they signal uncertainty because women were socially powerless, not because of any innate trait. The book launched an entire subfield of language-and-gender research, though later linguists challenged how universal her patterns actually were.

— Robin Lakoff, Language and Woman's Place — Harper & Row, 1975; originally Language in Society, 1973
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