This research is aimed at studying the relationships between modern popular culture and the English language. In particular, I intend to describe the change that feminist movement brought to the lexicon, like for instance, the arrival of gender-neutral language. In addition to that, it is of the crucial importance to explore the underlying causes of this phenomenon.
Expected difficulties
It is necessary to take into consideration that this investigation involves a wide scope of activities. As it has already been mentioned, the research should describe the influence of feminist movement on the English language. The main difficulty is how to describe this phenomenon in oral conversation, especially the frequency of its occurrence. Additionally, it is not easy to combine various forms of data collection, some methods can be disregarded, which may have detrimental effects on the validity of the data.
Methodology
As it has been pointed out this investigation has to cover a great number of aspects. To some extent, it belongs to the field of anthropological linguistics; therefore, it combines research methods of these two disciplines. In this respect, I would like to say that in this case, research techniques can be classified according to two criteria, first, the field of science, and secondly, the relationship between quality and quantity.
Regarding linguistic research methods, I can single out the following, descriptive analysis and observation (probably, it would be better to say recording). Sociological methods will include, interview (structured and unstructured,), statistical survey, using grading scale (or Likert scale, as it is also known).
Now that we have enumerated the research methods, that can be employed, it is of the utmost importance to describe their peculiarities, their advantages, and disadvantages, especially within the context of this investigation. Regarding descriptive analysis, we should mention that it has always been one of the most productive methods in linguistics. However, one should always clearly state the description unit. In this case, we should focus our attention on the vocabulary, especially gender-marked and gender-neutral words, for example, the names of many professions, neologisms, gendered titles, and stereotypical gender-based adjectives. We should analyze the tendencies in the present day usage of these words (approximately. 300 hundred examples). Speaking about the sources, we can mention dictionaries, newspaper, and magazine articles. However, the preference should be given to the specialized dictionaries. We can also use Internet (especially different search engines) in order to ascertain the frequency of gender-marked and gender-neutral vocabulary (Duranti, p. 22).
The subject of descriptive analysis should not only be written communications, we can also analyze oral speech. In what way does feministic movement influence oral communication? It is quite possible to compare and contrast the usage of gender-neutral vocabulary in written and oral speech. If there is any difference what is the reason for such phenomenon.
Moreover, this research should trace the development of this phenomenon for instance within the period of the last two decades. The special attention should be given to the proportion of gender-marked to gender-neutral words, whether this ratio has changed over the last twenty years and to what extent.
Another linguistic research method that I intend to employ is observation. The main purpose is to gather information in everyday speech. It should be mentioned that this method has several disadvantages. First, it is the so-called “observer effect”. The main problem is that people usually change their behavior (including verbal communication), when they know that they are being watched (or recorded). Moreover, the observer can be biased in his judgment, and therefore he or she may distort the information. As far as the subjects of this experiment are concerned, it is worth mentioning that these people should belong to various age and social groups, because otherwise the validity of the data can be easily questioned.
Another aspect of this research work is to identify the main causes of this phenomenon. For that reason, I intend to employ several sociological research methods, for example, interview (oral and written, structured and unstructured). It is supposed to reflect the views of the public as to the causes of changes in the modern English language. Besides, this research has to answer the question, whether people perceive these changes in the vocabulary as the positive or negative phenomenon. Naturally, interview as a research method has its pros and cons. First, it belongs to qualitative techniques; therefore, it can be biased or prejudiced. The interview can distort the answer of the respondent, or probably misinterpret it. Secondly, the respondent may feel uncomfortable, talking to a stranger. However, this method has certain advantages; for example, an interviewer can ask probing questions and verify some data or facts, which is impossible if we are speaking about questionnaire. The respondents should be representatives of various age and social groups groups. This is the indispensible condition. Another aspect of this issue that we can study by means of the interview is the attitude of men and women to these changes, whether they share common views or not.
Another qualitative method that I would like to employ is the structured interview. It should be mentioned that it is not as time-consuming as the oral interview. Secondly, in this way, we can practically eliminate interviewer effect, which is very important, because respondents can express their thoughts and ideas more freely. Nevertheless, this method has several drawbacks, for instance, the interview cannot put probing questions, and the respondent cannot ask for specifications. Thus, it is necessary to design the questionnaire in such a way that we could avoid any ambiguity. As it is widely known, there are several types of questions, usually used in the structured interview, yes or no questions, multiple-choice questions, and scaling questions.
We should focus our attention on Likert scale. Its main peculiarity is that respondents can fully express their attitude towards the statement. The questions are usually put in the following way A) Strongly Agree; B) Agree; C) Neither Agree not Disagree: D) Disagree; E) Strongly Disagree. Such technique gives opportunity for more objective evaluation. As regards this particular research, this scale can be used to describe the public opinion as to the changes in the English vocabulary. It can be done in the following way.
The arrival of gender-neural vocabulary is a natural process:
1) Strongly Agree; 2) Agree; 3) Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4) Disagree; 5) Strongly Disagree
Such changes have positive effects on the process of communication.
1) Strongly Agree; 2) Agree; 3) Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4) Disagree; 5) Strongly Disagree
Likhert scale usually contains several items, when the procedure is complete; items can be analyzed either separately, or in connection with each other, so they create a group of items.
In this essay, I intend to combine various modes of data collection, such as for instance, telephone, mail online and personal surveys. Certainly, cost-effectiveness of these modes varies. The preference should be given to online surveys, because they are less expensive, and the researcher can easily receive feedback.
If we speak about in-home or personal surveys, it should be mentioned that such method of gathering information is rather time-consuming. However, it allows the researcher to better evaluate the validity of information (Leung, p. 51).
Telephone survey has several advantages for example; we can reduce the interviewer effect to a minimum, but such method requires sufficient financial support, because otherwise the number of respondents can be very limited. In conclusion, I would like to say that, one should successfully integrate various methods in order to carry out such research.
Conclusions
The peculiarities of the research, I intend to conduct, necessitate usage of various research techniques and modes of data collection. This work can throw light on many aspects of modern popular culture, especially the changes in present day English. Its results can be of some importance for linguistics, feminist study, psychology, and sociology. This research can show how new trends in popular culture affect our language and consequently our way of thinking.
Abstract
The research work is aimed at studying the influence of feminist movement on the vocabulary of the English language. It investigates the root causes of this cultural and linguistic phenomenon. Additionally, the research analyzes the public opinion as to this issue.
Bibliography
- Duranti, Alessandro. “Linguistic Anthropology”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Conrad Phillip Kottak. “Cultural Anthropology” Random House, 2000.
- Leung, Wai-Ching, “Conducting a Survey”, in Student BMJ, (British Medical Journal, Student Edition), 2001