Gendered Language in the Print Media - Essay Example

1. GENDERED LANGUAGE IN THE PRINT MEDIA The following table shows some of the methods of referring to individuals in print media. The references have been taken from The New York Times daily, dated August 19, 2007 and Slates online magazine dated, May 13, 2008. S.No Individual Given as Information Function 1. Neil Spalding Full name a British motor sports journalist and the author 2. Nicky Hayden Last name Hayden American 3. Kenny Roberts, Junior. Kenny Jr. - Son of Kenny Roberts Senior 4. Ian Schrager Mr.Schrager - the master of the ultrahip hotel 5. Bill Marriott Full name a strait-laced septuagenarian - 6. Amanda Bird Ms. Bird 25 (age) 7. Robert Snyder Full name Professor Professor of journalism 8. Mr. Newman Mr.Newman 39 (age) 9. Christy Simpson Full name 34(age), a strawberry blonde(description) Brand new wife and also a marketing manager 10. Andrew Tanner Full name a managing partner of Tao Yoga & Tai Chi 11. David Cross Full name A guest, A comedian 12. Mary Costello Full name Spokeswoman A Spokeswoman for Bovis Lend Lease 13. Catherine McVay Hughes Full name Chairwoman Chairwoman of its World Trade Center redevelopment committee 14. Viktoria Baklanova Full name 40 (age) a resident of 90 West St. 15. Carly Fiorina Full name businesswoman the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard 16. Roy Romer Romer Chairman Former DNC Chairman 17. Steve Kerr Kerr The Suns' general manager 18. Mike D'Antoni D'Antoni The Suns' successful coach. Skip to next paragraph 19. Walsh Walsh The team president 20. Mohammed al-Qahtani Full name Hijacker ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS The findings show that indeed there are a lot of usages that distinguishes the gender. By using, 'he', 'his' or 'him' as a generic pronoun when the referent's gender is unknown or irrelevant, writers misrepresents the species as male. The word septuagenarian is used as a general term to denote a seventy year old person, either male or female. Similarly there are a lot of nouns which are not gender-specific. But at the same time there are three examples where a woman holding a particular post is denoted by a feminine term, like, chairwoman, businesswoman and spokeswoman, and another example of addressing as chairman. Actually, these are examples of gendered language in the print media. The proper way to address is calling them Chairperson, businessperson or spokesperson respectively. Similarly, wife and husband are commonly used, which can be substituted by spouse r better-half. 'Actor' and 'artist' has now become the common way to address male and female actors alike. Author, the word generally representing male writers, is being replaced by the word 'writer'. Authoress is rarely used to address female writers. 2. SOCIOLINGUISTIC ISSUES WITH HAWAIIAN ENGLISH Hawaii Pidgin English, Hawaii Creole English, or simply Pidgin, is a creole language based in part on English used by most "local" residents of Hawaii. Pidgin sounds very familiar, as it is partly English, but the roots are also from the Hawaiian language and the languages that were spoken by the plantation workers, who came to Hawaii in the 19th century. Pidgin has some Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese and other influences. The origins of pidgin and negative terms used to describe it have led to shaping attitudes toward the language and its speakers. Kachru (1992) notes that Local Varieties are often barely accepted in their own environment, where it seems that the interaction between language and that environment is not seen as an adequate reason for deviation from the metropolitan norm, the so-called Prestige Variety. Pidgin is a language, just as English is a language. There are social advantages to being able to speak pidgin, just as there are social advantages to being able to speak Standard English. There is plenty of room for pidgin and English to coexist peacefully and be mutually enriching. Hawaii Creole speakers have mixed feelings about the Creole language. Hawaii Creole has often been denigrated as a sub-standard form of English. But it has to be realized that the Creole is a language separate from, but similar in appearance to, English. Pidgin speakers are aware that negative, insulting and racist attitudes to pidgin are still in existence. The key sociolinguistic issues that are to be considered important from the subject point of view are the fluency of use, cultural symbol and pride associated. Native speakers are more fluent from their own natural language than a standard language that should be forced. Even though the metropolitan people have negative attitudes towards the use of native language, in the rural level there must be a positive attitude because of the social advantages it provides. POSSIBLE OUTCOMES OF RESEARCH The research on local variety of Hawaiian English done to analyze whether there is a positive or negative attitude on the use of Hawaiian English basically involves the analysis of general success or failure of the language. In the rural areas of Hawaii people can possibly oppose to Standard English policy as it only paves way to linguistic imperialism. They can argue based on facts that quicker learning and better understanding for students is possible only with native language. Also, another argument might be that the native language is a representation of cultural ethnicity. Failure to preserve it may lead to extinction of the language. This is also the reason why many people voiced their opposition to the State Board Of Education's policy of 'Standard English and oral communication'. But on the other hand, because of views on native Hawaiian English as to be inferior, a section of the people may even desire to learn and speak and hear Standard English although the number of such people might be less in rural areas. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A literature review of indigenous language usage should be conducted initially to collect data regarding the importance of the language. An analysis of the historical and political events that led to the development of the rural patterns of use should be conducted to obtain evidence in support or against the attitude toward Hawaiian English. The evidences must be compared with the current opinions in the localities. This can be done by conducting surveys and case studies. With such a research conducted there can be a clearer idea as to the attitude of the community toward Hawaiian English. SOME PATTERNS OF USE BY DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES Even though the Pidgin English sounds like a simplified, broken version of English, it is actually not. Linguists call it Hawaiian Creole English. It has its own vocabulary and grammar. There's even a Pidgin dictionary on the market and a New Testament Bible called "Da Jesus Book," which is entirely written in Pidgin. There are different patterns of use of Hawaiian English by the local communities. Some usages are given below. Eh, howzit : Hey, how's it going Wassamattah you : What's the matter Cannah talk da kine : Can't you speak Pidgin The ethnically mixed plantation work crew was influenced by Filipino grammatical pattern of Hawaiian English. Their usage had sentences can begin with a verb. For example: "go already the boss" (boss has gone already) Middle class men and women have a pattern of usage. Sentences giving a location use the word ste (stay): Example, Da cat stay in da house: The cat's in the house. Another common patternis the use of the word, 'get' for 'there is/are'. Example: Get too much tourist nowadays means 'There are too many tourists nowadays'. Past tense is commonly indicated by using wen before the verb. The sentence 'Dey wen paint his skin' means 'They painted his skin' Even though studies on language attitudes in Hawaii converge on the finding that there is a negative attitude toward the Creole variety of English and a positive one toward Standard English from the educational perspective, the results were only based on the studies conducted in urban areas. While the results can be taken as a confirmation of community stereotypes in Hawaii, however, there is more to be described in the dynamic interrelationship of language attitudes and linguistic variation. CONCLUSION The work has attempted to understand, first, the use of gendered language in the print media and secondly, a brief study of the Hawaiian English usage pattern in the rural communities and also, the sociolinguistic issues associated with the Pidgin English has been done. The suitable research methodology is suggested and the possible outcomes of the research have been presented within the context of the essay. APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 2 REFERENCES The New York Times [online] .August 19, 2007. The New York Times Comapany, New York. Viewed May 14, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/ Slate [online] May 13, 2008. Washington Post, Newsweek Interactive Co. Washngton. Viewed May 14, 2008 from http://www.slate.com/ Cheshire. J1991. English Around the World: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kachru .B 1992.The Other Tongue: English across Cultures Illinois: University of Illinois Press Hawaii's Creole English n.d, Language Varieties Network, Honolulu. Viewed May 14, 2008 from http://www2.hawaii.edu/gavinm/hcegrammar.htm Read More