English Language
Joe Collins
17 June y
Proposal
To what extent do gender perceptions affect language used by Politicians in spoken Discourse?
The view that Gender is a social construct, whist accepting too that there are physiological differences, stems to close analysis of society in the modern day. As a result, one of the most prominent professions that help ascertain the views of society are Politicians as they actively interpret the views of the masses and with consequence reflect this in their language use; particularly in their spoken discourse.
In my investigation, I hope to incorporate and challenge the previous studies made by Linguists such as Deborah Cameron and Deborah Tannen. These will also be aligned with traditional and modern voting behaviour in the UK to assess the contexts and responses Politicians make to the assumed receivers. Therefore, I hope to assess the subjects in both a combative and pacifist climate, to control this as an independent variable responsive for context, and isolate solely language use and gender as the dependent variable. Moreover, I note that political ideology may also be responsible for language variation and so may dilute the evidence found to be the sole product of gender. Therefore, I will assess a male and female from the three main pillars of the political spectrum; a Socialist, Liberalist and Conservative. This, in conjunction with the two climates the data will be collected from should isolate Gender as the dependent variable and make for an effective assessment.
As the key principle to the investigation is acting in the knowledge that Gender is a social construct, I will also be assessing two people whom identify as Transgender and have taken part in political campaigns as the representative principle is still relevant; these being Eddie Izzard and Nikki Sinclair. This will then be cross-examined with the pre-existing data collection, and allow me to challenge or support gender perceptions as the...