Language and gender in light of the roles of female parliamentarians in Jordan

Other Title(s)

المرأة و اللغة في ضوء الأدوار التي تضطلع بها النساء البرلمانيات في الأردن

Dissertant

al-Sawalqah, Ghassab Muhammad

Thesis advisor

Kanakri, Mahmud Ali

Comitee Members

al-Ghazw, Manal Muhammad Hamdan
al-Jarrah, Muhammad Ali
al-Salman, Mahmud Ahmad

University

Mutah University

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

University Country

Jordan

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2007

English Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the speech of female parliamentarian throughout their interaction and to delineate the salient patterns of communication and multiple identities and check if they match up with the earlier studies or not.

The analysis of women discourse is discussed in the light of different theories including Layoff's Deficit theory which ascribes the subordination of women in their workplace or society to specific patterns in language.

Tannin's theory of male dominance in verbal interaction is another example where people are perceived through a lens of gender polarization.

Using Antaki and Widdicombe's (1998) approach to the study of identity of female parliamentarian and the use of Critical Discourse Analysis's strategies as proposed by Wodak (1997).

In their narratives.

I arrive at realization and explanation which deflect the attribution of blame away from the female language.

The selected abundant data were compiled through different tools, the first of which is a semi-structured personal interview, the second and third are ready-made aired interviews, and a specific questionnaire to mirror whatever patterns included in them.

The study concludes that the patterns of communication have been dismissed as a stereotypical obsession.

Hedges, intensifiers, softeners, vagueness and emotive witness no statistical significance amongst women or in cross-gender interactions neither interruption instantiation nor style of communication in the work place does.

It is revealed that multiple identities which are at work including local, professional, religious, human, organizational together with some kinds of identity categories (e.g.

age, marital status, parenthood) appear to dominate gender issues and discourse.

Often the overlap of gender roles and images with organizational pressures and local identities makes a greater impact in norms and values of the discourse of the female parliamentarians than socially conditioned gender behavior, which means that female parliamentarians position self-present and define themselves mostly with the help of identities other than gender.

All these identities are used to attend to the local projects of the self during the interaction at hand and not as intellectual hegemony (in the sense of Schell off 1997) where the researcher's concerns about what is relevant to the participants is imposed onto the analysis.

Accordingly it is sensible to look at holistic behavior and interactions than to try to identify the variables of gender in isolation.

Main Subjects

Languages & Comparative Literature

Topics

• Jordan
• Languages
• Discourse analysis
• Sex differences

No. of Pages

162

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-304384