Methodology
In my investigation, I will
focus on Language and Gender theory, paying particular focus to Deborah Tannen. She suggests that men and women acquire different traits in language. For example, men are more concerned about Status, Independence, Advice, Information, Order and Conflict. They are more prestigious, always looking to provide logical and hard evidence in a situation. This contrasts against women who possess kind, sympathetic and soft characteristics.
In order to do so, I am going
to gather data from the presidential debates from 2016. By looking at the
speeches that both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump have made in response to the
same questions, I will be able to analyse the transcripts which will enable me to evaluate Tannen's theory. I will look at the phonetics of their speech, the specific lexis they
use, discourse markers, grammar as well as the pragmatics of their speech.
While doing this, I will apply it to Deborah Tannen's theory.
I will also analyse how both
male and females cope well under pressure. Because of the nature of the debate,
it will be interesting to see what techniques the candidates do to cope with
the on-the-spot questions and comments.
Comparability
Because I am looking at two
candidates running for the same position of the 2016 election for president, a
lot of the factors will be the same. Trump and Clinton would be in the same
environment on the same day, with the same questions being asked. This way, the
only factors that are different are their beliefs and the fact that Trump is a
man and Clinton is a woman. Both are hoping to gain full support of the American people, and will use different techniques to do so.
Reliability
Because not all sources found
on the internet are reliable, I will look at videos on Youtube of the real life
debates. Instead of picking a transcript of their speeches online and analysing
this, I am going to transcribe certain sections of their speeches myself so
that I know all of the utterances were actually spoken by the candidates.
Ethics
In the circumstances of my
investigation, considering whether my research is ethical is reasonably easy.
Because the candidates already know they are being filmed and broadcasted
everywhere, it is not necessary to ask for this permission because they will
have already been informed about what will happen.
Some good considerations. Consider what else may not be comparable that might affect their language use. How much data? Also it's not really possible to challenge Cameron in that her theory suggests we "do" gender so if they speek differently, it may not be because of their genes but because they are "performing" a gender role. I think it is an interesting area to explore, so I just wouldn't use the verb "challenge" - it may be interesting to compare them both against Tannen's pairings or other gender theories in the course of your analysis to try and determine which elements of speech are traditionally viewed as male or female and who is using them and to what degree, then try to suggest why in context. Try and put it in a political and social context in the introduction section of your investigation to show why it is data and theory worth investigating.
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