Like many other social issues concerning gender, language also comes with gendered stereotypes and limitations which results in difference and inequality in speech, based on gender. According to folk-linguistic beliefs and a variety of linguists, women are believed to speak in a specific way in which using swear words is not considered ideal. In this context, folk-linguistic beliefs are general speculations concerning language which is grounded on personal opinions and misconceptions. One common misconception remains that women swear less as foul language is considered as an emotion of anger, associated with masculinity rather than femininity. This research was carried out quantitatively and qualitatively using discourse analysis. Male and female characters from the series True Bloodon HBO were examined by analyzing the difference in frequency of swear words uttered by both genders. This study aims to determine if men swear more than women in the series and whether the theory of dominance can provide an explanation for the linguistic behavior of the male and female characters of the series. The quantitative data collected from the series was later discussed alongside some of the theories, in particular, the theory of dominance. The results suggest that the female character Tara in the series swears the most and the results fall in disagreement with folk-linguistic beliefs and Lakoffs (1973) claims stating that women use fewer expletives than men. Also, the linguistic behavior of the characters in the series does not confirm the theory of dominance no specific linguistic attributes concerning gender are spotted as there is no evidence of men appearing different in terms of power, dominance, or defiance in terms of language in the series.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-45967 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Kaur Sapra, Navneet |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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