The Effect of Gender on the Verbal Proceses of Ideational Metafunction in Missing Soluch and Suvashun

Abstract

Gender linguistics focuses on the diversity of male and female’s speech. In functional grammar, it is assumed that language expresses individuals’ worldview and ideology through the ideational metafunction. Considering gender and worldview, each individual uses a particular manner of expression which shows his/her thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The present study, focusing on the ideational metafunction, compares and explains the frequency and manner of using verbal processes such as “command and order”, “expressing emotions and feelings”, “swearing and insulting”, “damn and curse”, through considering the gender of the authors and the characters of their novels: Missing Soluch and Suvashun. The results indicated that the speaker and addressee’s gender are the most influential factors in verbal differences, which, by its own account, is affected by the atmosphere of the story. In fact, the power and the superior social status of men allow them to use more imperious, hostile, and impolite verbal processes. In addition, the feminine emotions and fragility, the fear raised from an inferior position in the community, and the cultural stereotypes dominating the setting of the story demanded the female characters to be obedient and silent, and sometimes use damn and curse.