Gender parity or “informed consent” in media representations of science and technology? A corpus-based discourse approach
-
Alcina Pereira de Sousa
Dr Alcina Pereira de Sousa is tenured Assistant Professor of English Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Madeira, Portugal, where she has been course director, Erasmus coordinator and member of Scientific Board of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, among other roles, since 1993. Her main academic interests include discourse analysis, intercultural pragmatics, corpus-based approaches, stylistics and critical and creative reading in a foreign language, linguistics/literature interface, as well as language and identity, on which she has supervised MA and PhD dissertations, done research in national and international projects and delivered talks as a visiting scholar worldwide. She is a founding member of the
European Network for Intercultural Education Activities (ENIEDA), as well as a member of editorial and scientific boards of a number of academic journals and scholarly associations in Portugal and abroad. She is also vice-president of theScientific Research Association of the Atlantic (AICA).
and
João Silva
João Bernardo Silva graduated from the University of Madeira, Portugal, with a BA in Languages and Business Studies and completed his MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK (2017) where he is due to undertake doctoral research funded by the Nottingham Vice- Chancellor’s Grant for Research Excellence. He is a member of AICA and ENIEDA and his research interests include literary linguistics, discourse studies, communication in tourism and the teaching and learning of critical language skills.
Abstract
The present article offers a contrastive analysis of articles published online by two media outlets of two different countries (Portugal and the USA) dealing with science, technology and interrelated topics. In so doing, the goal is to explore the role played by gender dynamics in the pragmatic strategies which underlie the communication of scientific knowledge to the wider audiences by the mainstream media. The multi-layered interpretative approach centred on corpus-based (critical) discourse analysis and visual semiotics adopted in this paper, it is argued, allows for a more holistic understanding of the role played by the media in the perpetuation of power imbalance and gender stereotypes among their readership(s), better understood here as discursive communities, and their everyday communicative practices. It is further suggested that an analysis of how knowledge is mediatized can offer ways into understanding wider cultural patterns and values.
About the authors
Dr Alcina Pereira de Sousa is tenured Assistant Professor of English Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Madeira, Portugal, where she has been course director, Erasmus coordinator and member of Scientific Board of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, among other roles, since 1993. Her main academic interests include discourse analysis, intercultural pragmatics, corpus-based approaches, stylistics and critical and creative reading in a foreign language, linguistics/literature interface, as well as language and identity, on which she has supervised MA and PhD dissertations, done research in national and international projects and delivered talks as a visiting scholar worldwide. She is a founding member of the European Network for Intercultural Education Activities (ENIEDA), as well as a member of editorial and scientific boards of a number of academic journals and scholarly associations in Portugal and abroad. She is also vice-president of the Scientific Research Association of the Atlantic (AICA).
João Bernardo Silva graduated from the University of Madeira, Portugal, with a BA in Languages and Business Studies and completed his MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK (2017) where he is due to undertake doctoral research funded by the Nottingham Vice- Chancellor’s Grant for Research Excellence. He is a member of AICA and ENIEDA and his research interests include literary linguistics, discourse studies, communication in tourism and the teaching and learning of critical language skills.
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List of proper nouns in the Newsweek corpus
| Male | Female | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John | 27 | Adrian | 2 | Winfrey | 26 | Jules | 1 |
| Richard | 16 | Bruce | 2 | Deborah | 25 | Katy | 1 |
| Steve | 15 | Edward | 2 | Jessica | 24 | Larisa | 1 |
| Robert | 13 | Gus | 2 | Hannah | 21 | Leigh | 1 |
| Scott | 12 | Hugh | 2 | Henrietta | 10 | Lena | 1 |
| Travis | 12 | Iain | 2 | Ivanka | 6 | Margo | 1 |
| Evan | 10 | Jacob | 2 | Rebecca | 6 | Margaret | 1 |
| Barack | 9 | Joe | 2 | Lacey | 6 | Meredith | 1 |
| David | 9 | Joel | 2 | Ophra | 5 | Michele | 1 |
| Andrew | 8 | Johan | 2 | Sarah | 5 | Peggy | 1 |
| Seth | 8 | Jonathan | 2 | Amber | 3 | Serena | 1 |
| Thomas | 8 | Kyle | 2 | Angela | 3 | Stefanie | 1 |
| Adam | 7 | Marvin | 2 | Janice | 3 | Tracy | 1 |
| Ajit | 7 | Mitchell | 2 | Kelly | 2 | ||
| Chris | 7 | Sheldon | 2 | Kellyanne | 1 | ||
| Michael | 7 | Stevie | 2 | Allison | 2 | ||
| Jim | 6 | Vladimir | 2 | Ashley | 2 | ||
| Stephen | 6 | Andrei | 1 | Connie | 2 | ||
| Tim | 6 | Arthur | 1 | Cristina | 2 | ||
| Alexander | 5 | Barry | 1 | Elizabeth | 2 | ||
| Christopher | 5 | Benjamin | 1 | Evelyn | 2 | ||
| Clayton | 5 | Boris | 1 | Hillary | 2 | ||
| Jack | 5 | Boyd | 1 | Jane | 2 | ||
| James | 5 | Carlos | 1 | Katrina | 2 | ||
| Jose | 5 | Charles | 1 | Kristina | 2 | ||
| Martin | 5 | Charlie | 1 | Lydia | 2 | ||
| Steven | 5 | Ethan | 1 | Rachel | 2 | ||
| Brian | 5 | Harvey | 1 | Susan | 2 | ||
| Gary | 4 | Heiko | 1 | Valery | 2 | ||
| George | 4 | Henrik | 1 | Ada | 1 | ||
| Neil | 4 | Jeremy | 1 | Alexa | 1 | ||
| Patrick | 4 | Jonathon | 1 | Anna | 1 | ||
| Paul | 4 | Jordan | 1 | Anne | 1 | ||
| Peter | 4 | Josh | 1 | Ariel | 1 | ||
| Sergio | 4 | Julian | 1 | Carolyn | 1 | ||
| Albert | 3 | Ken | 1 | Caroline | 1 | ||
| Allen | 3 | Kevin | 1 | Christine | 1 | ||
| Craig | 3 | Larry | 1 | Clare | 1 | ||
| Dave | 3 | Leonard | 1 | Claudine | 1 | ||
| Ian | 3 | Logan | 1 | Dana | 1 | ||
| Jason | 3 | Luke | 1 | Emily | 1 | ||
| Jerry | 3 | Marcos | 1 | Eva | 1 | ||
| Joseph | 3 | Rudolph | 1 | Heloisa | 1 | ||
| Justin | 3 | Russel | 1 | Jenny | 1 | ||
| Nathan | 3 | Stanley | 1 | Joanna | 1 | ||
| Vincent | 3 | Stuart | 1 | Josie | 1 | ||
List of proper nouns in the Sábado corpus
| Male | Female | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José | 46 | Kenneth | 2 | Susana | 28 | Julie | 1 |
| George | 44 | Martin | 2 | Ana | 27 | Katherine | 1 |
| Manuel | 41 | Matthew | 2 | Maria | 22 | Kerstin | 1 |
| Jorge | 30 | Simon | 2 | Leonor | 18 | Lianne | 1 |
| Ricardo | 29 | Steven | 2 | Alexandra | 14 | Madaleine | 1 |
| Miguel | 28 | Tiago | 2 | Andrea | 11 | Magda | 1 |
| Pedro | 28 | Tomás | 2 | Lucília | 11 | Matilde | 1 |
| João | 24 | Zachary | 2 | Cátia | 10 | Maxine | 1 |
| Paulo | 24 | Alexander | 1 | Melissa | 9 | Michaela | 1 |
| David | 18 | Alfred | 1 | Rita | 8 | Miley | 1 |
| Mário | 14 | Andrew | 1 | Catarina | 6 | Nadine | 1 |
| Alexandre | 13 | Angus | 1 | Cláudia | 5 | Renata | 1 |
| Marcelo | 12 | Anthony | 1 | Fátima | 5 | Rihanna | 1 |
| Mário | 12 | Dinis | 1 | Isabel | 5 | Mahove | 1 |
| Adalberto | 11 | Gonçalo | 1 | Marisa | 4 | Sandra | 1 |
| Fernando | 9 | Guilherme | 1 | Carolina | 3 | Sónia | 1 |
| Mark | 9 | Heiko | 1 | Junko | 3 | Susan | 1 |
| Alfredo | 6 | Inácio | 1 | Luísa | 3 | ||
| Gaspar | 6 | Joaquim | 1 | Mafalda | 3 | ||
| Jeremy | 6 | José | 1 | Margaret | 3 | ||
| Michel | 6 | Joshua | 1 | Marie | 3 | ||
| Robert | 6 | Julian | 1 | Marta | 3 | ||
| André | 5 | Juncker | 1 | Phyllis | 3 | ||
| Marcos | 5 | Keith | 1 | Tânia | |||
| Vinnie | 13 | Ken | 1 | Dita | 1 | ||
| Peter | 5 | Kitamura | 1 | Hayley | 2 | ||
| Piotr | 5 | Luciano | 1 | Inês | 2 | ||
| Álvaro | 4 | Matias | 1 | Joana | 2 | ||
| Ângelo | 4 | Matthieu | 1 | Mariana | 2 | ||
| Benoit | 4 | Nelson | 1 | Maribel | 2 | ||
| Diogo | 4 | Kees | 1 | Rebecca | 2 | ||
| Michael | 4 | Rakesh | 1 | Angela | 1 | ||
| Percy | 4 | Raphael | 1 | Angelina | 1 | ||
| Artur | 3 | Ricard | 1 | Anna | 1 | ||
| Corrine | 3 | Richard | 1 | Anne | 1 | ||
| Heitor | 3 | Samuel | 1 | Célia | 1 | ||
| Shigeru | 3 | Sebastian | 1 | Daniele | 1 | ||
| Junichi | 5 | Silvestre | 1 | Fazidah | 1 | ||
| Andy | 2 | Silvério | 1 | Filipa | 1 | ||
| Quartz | 4 | Stephen | 1 | Fiona | 1 | ||
| Jeff | 2 | Timothy | 1 | Helen | 1 | ||
| Joe | 2 | Tomás | 1 | Helena | 1 | ||
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Towards equivalence links between senses in plWordNet and Princeton WordNet
- Mediating terror through narratives A corpus-based approach to media translation
- Stance and intersubjective positioning across scientific discourse genres: Negative and modal epistemic discourse strategies
- Gender parity or “informed consent” in media representations of science and technology? A corpus-based discourse approach
- I-identity vs we-identity in language and discourse: Anglo-Slavonic perspectives
- Review
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Towards equivalence links between senses in plWordNet and Princeton WordNet
- Mediating terror through narratives A corpus-based approach to media translation
- Stance and intersubjective positioning across scientific discourse genres: Negative and modal epistemic discourse strategies
- Gender parity or “informed consent” in media representations of science and technology? A corpus-based discourse approach
- I-identity vs we-identity in language and discourse: Anglo-Slavonic perspectives
- Review
