Sexism in Language: Do Fiction Writers Assign Agentive and Patient Roles Equally to Male and Female Characters?
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| Title: | Sexism in Language: Do Fiction Writers Assign Agentive and Patient Roles Equally to Male and Female Characters? |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Ochieng, Dunlop1 dunotis@yahoo.com |
| Source: | Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies. Oct2012, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p20-47. 28p. 4 Charts, 5 Graphs. |
| Subject Terms: | Sexism in language, Gender differences in language, Literary characters, Social role, Stereotypes, Sex discrimination |
| Abstract: | Problem Statement: Studies have shown that language is used discriminatorily to women and men. Hence, there have been movements against gender biased language-the movements which are reported so successful especially in the West. Purpose of Study: This paper however argues that discrimination stems from speakers' minds; and hence performing gender neutral language alone does not confirm gender neutrality of the performer. The reliable way of judging gender neutrality would then be studying the speakers' minds. Method: The study applied psychoanalytic literary criticism as a gateway to the unconscious minds of American authors-to find out how gender neutral they were at cognitive level. Through psychoanalytic literary criticism, authors' suppressed desires would find their way out onto their works in a distorted form. Along these lines, the study assessed the equality in assigning agentive and patient semantic roles between males and females in American fictions-to find out who between males and females were frequently assigned agentive and patient roles of the reciprocal verbs: kiss, hug, marry, and divorce. Findings: The study found out that males were assigned more agentive roles in kiss and hug, and females in divorce. Moreover, both were assigned almost equal roles in marry. Conclusion: The implication of the findings is that speakers' unconscious mind is basically gender biased along gender stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies is the property of Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 83863037 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Sexism in Language: Do Fiction Writers Assign Agentive and Patient Roles Equally to Male and Female Characters? – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ochieng%2C+Dunlop%22">Ochieng, Dunlop</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> dunotis@yahoo.com</i> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Language+%26+Linguistics+Studies%22">Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies</searchLink>. Oct2012, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p20-47. 28p. 4 Charts, 5 Graphs. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sexism+in+language%22">Sexism in language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gender+differences+in+language%22">Gender differences in language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literary+characters%22">Literary characters</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+role%22">Social role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Stereotypes%22">Stereotypes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sex+discrimination%22">Sex discrimination</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Problem Statement: Studies have shown that language is used discriminatorily to women and men. Hence, there have been movements against gender biased language-the movements which are reported so successful especially in the West. Purpose of Study: This paper however argues that discrimination stems from speakers' minds; and hence performing gender neutral language alone does not confirm gender neutrality of the performer. The reliable way of judging gender neutrality would then be studying the speakers' minds. Method: The study applied psychoanalytic literary criticism as a gateway to the unconscious minds of American authors-to find out how gender neutral they were at cognitive level. Through psychoanalytic literary criticism, authors' suppressed desires would find their way out onto their works in a distorted form. Along these lines, the study assessed the equality in assigning agentive and patient semantic roles between males and females in American fictions-to find out who between males and females were frequently assigned agentive and patient roles of the reciprocal verbs: kiss, hug, marry, and divorce. Findings: The study found out that males were assigned more agentive roles in kiss and hug, and females in divorce. Moreover, both were assigned almost equal roles in marry. Conclusion: The implication of the findings is that speakers' unconscious mind is basically gender biased along gender stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies is the property of Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 28 StartPage: 20 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Sexism in language Type: general – SubjectFull: Gender differences in language Type: general – SubjectFull: Literary characters Type: general – SubjectFull: Social role Type: general – SubjectFull: Stereotypes Type: general – SubjectFull: Sex discrimination Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Sexism in Language: Do Fiction Writers Assign Agentive and Patient Roles Equally to Male and Female Characters? Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ochieng, Dunlop IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 10 Text: Oct2012 Type: published Y: 2012 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 1305578X Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 8 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of Language & Linguistics Studies Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
