A CORPUS LINGUISTICS-BASED EXAMINATION OF GENDER REPRESENTATION IN MEDIA TEXTS

Abstract

This paper analyses how gender has been represented in modern media texts using the corpus linguistics perspective. Media is an influential institution which reflects and constructs the culture ideologies and its approach to gender is an essential point of interest. This paper uses frequency, keyword, collocation and concordance analysis of a self-compiled corpus of Pakistani English-language newspapers (Dawn, The News International, Daily Times) to investigate both lexical and semantic patterns related to male and female representation. By using the interpretive lens of feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA) the research investigates the ways, in which linguistic decisions either support or oppose gender stereotypes in the population discourse. The results show that there is a major bias in the ratio of references to men and women, as men are frequently attributed with power, leadership, and rationality, whereas women are referred to domesticity, beauty and victimhood. Gendered patterns of assessment characterizing the nature of collocational networks normalize patriarchal values. The analysis practices corpus-based approaches with discourse-oriented interpretation that enables the research to give a comprehensive overview of gender identities construction across Pakistani media texts. The analysis makes a contribution to corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS), and points to the ongoing nature of linguistic sexism in mass media, as well as to the need to have more equalized practices in representation.