(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a critical discourse analysis on gender biased language in the guardian com

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ KIM THOA

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON GENDER-BIASED LANGUAGE
IN THE GUARDIAN.COM
PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGƠN PHÊ PHÁN VỀ NGƠN NGỮ CÓ SỰ KỲ THỊ VỀ GIỚI
TRÊN TỜ BÁO THE GUARDIAN.COM
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01

HANOI – 2017


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ KIM THOA

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON GENDER-BIASED LANGUAGE
IN THE GUARDIAN.COM
PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGƠN PHÊ PHÁN VỀ NGƠN NGỮ CÓ SỰ KỲ THỊ VỀ
GIỚI TRÊN TỜ BÁO THE GUARDIAN.COM

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201.01
Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HANOI - 2017


DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled “A critical discourse analysis on genderbiased language in theguardian.com) has been carried out in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Art at the University of Languages and
International Studies. This work is original and all the sources that I have used or
quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references.

Hanoi – 2017
Nguyễn Thị Kim Thoa

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the period of completing the Master thesis, the author has received the support
of a great number of people.
First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Huynh Anh Tuan, my
supervisor, who has generously given me insightful guidance and valuable feedback
during the process of carrying out the thesis, without which this thesis would be far
from completed.
I would also like to give my sincere gratitude to all of the lecturers at ULIS –VNU,
Hanoi for their scholarly knowledge and enthusiasm in their lectures.
My profound thanks are also to all my friends and classmates in the cohort 23, who
have always stayed by my side, given me constructive comments and perked me up

every time I need.
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family for their immeasurable support
and continual encouragement.
The Master thesis could not have been fulfilled without them.

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ABSTRACT
The study examines gender-biased language in the Olympic Games 2012 in
theguardian.com. From the perspective of critical discourse analysis, the article
explores how the news coverage of male and female athletes of the Olympic Games
2012 consistently perpetuates an ideology of gender inequality in language.
The research approach is critical discourse analysis and the research method is
qualitative method. Fairclough‟s (2001) three-dimensional model was selected and
adopted as the model of analysis. Specifically, the sports news from theguardian.com
of the Olympic Games 2012 were explored through two linguistic levels: morphemes
and words & phrases. At morphemes level, -man element and personal titles were
investigated; whereas, at words & phrases level, gender-marked modifiers, gendermarking, overestimation and underestimation of Olympians were examined.
The analysis reveals that the existence of gender inequality was embedded in sports
news at both morphemes and lexemes level. There exist certain differences between the
demonstration of male and female athletes. While male Olympians are portrayed in
terms which identify athletic achievement with masculinity, female Olympians are
depicted as less competent than male Olympians.
This study contributes to knowledge in the field of language and gender, especially
language use in the online newspaper and can be followed up by similar studies in
other topics such as politics, fashion, business and advertisement.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ....................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iii
PART A: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 3

1. Rationale of the research .......................................................................................... 3
2. Scope of the research ............................................................................................... 3
3. Aims and objectives of the research ........................................................................ 4
4. Research questions ................................................................................................... 4
5. Significance of the research ..................................................................................... 4
6. Research methodology ............................................................................................. 4
7. Organization of the research .................................................................................... 5
PART B: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 6

1.1. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) ....................................................................... 6
1.1.1. Definition ....................................................................................................... 6
1.1.2. Fairclough‟s three-dimensional framework ................................................... 6
1.2. Language and gender ............................................................................................ 7
1.3. Sexism ................................................................................................................... 7
1.4. Linguistics markers of gender bias ....................................................................... 8
1.4.1. Morphemes ..................................................................................................... 8
1.4.1.1. -man element .......................................................................................... 8
1.4.1.2. Personal titles .......................................................................................... 8
1.4.2. Words and phrases ......................................................................................... 9
1.4.2.1. Gender-marked modifiers ....................................................................... 9
1.4.2.2. Gender marking ..................................................................................... 10
1.4.2.3. Underestimation and overestimation .................................................... 11

1.4.2.3.1. Underestimation ............................................................................. 11
1.4.2.3.2. Overestimation ............................................................................... 11
1.5. Related studies .................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 13

2.1. Research questions .............................................................................................. 13
2.2. Research approach .............................................................................................. 13
2.3. Research method ................................................................................................. 13
2.4. Setting of the research ......................................................................................... 14
2.5. Data collection .................................................................................................... 14
2.6. Data collection procedure ................................................................................... 14
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2.7. Data analytical framework .................................................................................. 14
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................... 16

3.1. Morphemes .......................................................................................................... 16
3.1.1. –man elements .............................................................................................. 16
3.1.1.1. Sportsman/ sportsperson ....................................................................... 16
3.1.1.2. Sportsmanship / sportspersonship ......................................................... 17
3.1.2. Personal titles ............................................................................................... 18
3.2. Words and phrases .............................................................................................. 18
3.2.1. Gender-marked modifiers ............................................................................ 19
3.2.2. Gender marking ............................................................................................ 20
3.2.3. Underestimation and overestimation ........................................................... 20
3.2.3.1. Underestimation .................................................................................... 20
3.2.3.1.1. Emphasizing the appearance of female Olympians ....................... 20
3.2.3.1.2. Suspecting the great female Olympians‟ potential and outstanding
performance. ................................................................................................... 21

3.2.3.2. Overestimation ...................................................................................... 22
PART C: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 23

1. A summary of findings........................................................................................... 23
2. Limitation and recommendation for further studies .............................................. 24
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................ 25

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the research
On elucidating language used in newspapers, it came to the researcher‟s notice that
sports commentaries on both male and female sportspeople could be a representative
source of gender inequality which has been existing in a field which used to be
dominated by men. First of all, regarding the relationship between sports and
newspapers, like every other subject in the modern society, sports and newspaper are
linked directly as newspapers spread updated news/ reports/ commentaries about sports
to interested readers. During the spotlight of mass media, sports have changed
dramatically. It is important to study how the media represent male athletes, female
athletes and sporting events because the media help shape society‟s beliefs about them
(Duncan, Jensen, & Messner, 1993). The topic as to how gender inequality is presented
in sports news is still a persistent problem. It is because gender is more than a role
assigned or assumed to men and women, and more than an individual characteristic of
males and females. Gender identity is a social construct that is formed as individuals go
through socialization process in their society and culture.
There were a number of studies on gendered language, however, few attempts have so
far been made in analyzing language and gender in online newspaper related to sports.
Therefore, this study attempts to explore how gender are represented on sports in
London Olympic Games 2012 in the light of critical discourse analysis (CDA).

2. Scope of the research
In this study, I would give spotlight on investigating gender-biased language on the
online news of The guardian in the Olympic Games 2012 from July 27, 2012 to
August 12, 2012. Gender-biased language in sports news can be examined in different
units of meaning of linguistic expressions ranging from morphemes, lexemes and
sentences. Due to the constraint of time and the limited length of a minor thesis, this

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paper focuses on two main aspects that may show evidence of gender-biased language
which are morphemes and words & phrases.
3. Aims and objectives of the research
The study primarily aims to identify whether there exists gender biased language in
The Guardian newspaper on reporting male and female athletes participating in the
Olympic Games 2012.
To achieve this aim, the study sought to achieve the following objectives:
-

to identify how genders are linguistically represented by the media

-

to investigate whether these representations construct gender inequality

4. Research questions
In order to address two objectives, the study is intended to answer two corresponding
research questions as follow:
(i) How are female athletes and male athletes presented at the linguistic levels in
Theguardian.com in the Olympic Games 2012?

(ii) To what extent do these gender representations construct the gender
inequality in sports?
5. Significance of the research
This study is expected to provide both theoretical and practical significance. In terms
of theatrical benefit, the findings of this study are expected to enrich the knowledge
about critical discourse analysis. In terms of practical benefits, this study is intended to
identify whether or not gender-biased language exists in an English newspaper. Raising
awareness of, minimizing and generally eliminating gender-biased language for a more
equal community are the reasons of conducting the paper.
6. Research methodology
In terms of research method, the study employs qualitative method to arrive at a
thorough analysis of the data collected.

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Data collected are synthesized and analyzed using the framework of CDA. CDA will
be applied as an approach in the process of text analysis to uncover hidden ideologies
regarding the use of language to express gender equality. Three phases of CDA given
by Fairclough (2001), which will be presented in the paper, are used as the framework
in analyzing the language in the news.
This study exploits data from news reports in English on The Guardian online
newspaper. All the news reports in the study are selected during the time period from
July 27, 2012 to August 12, 2012.
7. Organization of the research
The study consists of three parts.
Part A: Introduction
Part B: Development
Chapter 1: Literature Review
Chapter 2: Methodology

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion
Part C: Conclusion

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an evolution from the Critical Linguistics
developed in the 1970s by a group of linguists at the University of East Anglia
including Fowler et al. (1979) and Kress and Hodge (1979).
1.1.1. Definition
CDA is a type of analytical research that involves the analysis of how text and talk in
political and social context enact, reproduce and resist inequality, social power abuse
and dominance (Van Dijk, 2003). According to Van Dijk (2003), CDA does not have a
unitary theoretical framework, but has more of shared perspectives encompassing a
range of approaches rather than a step-by-step process. Fiske (1994) has claimed that
“our words are never neutral” because they convey how we see ourselves, specifically,
our identity, knowledge, values and beliefs.
1.1.2. Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework
Fairclough (1989) claimed that discourse constitutes three dimensions which he labeled
as texts, interactions (process of production, process of interpretation), and contexts
(social conditions of production, social conditions of interpretation). Corresponding to
the three dimensions of discourse, Fairclough (1989) distinguishes three phases of
conducting CDA, namely description, interpretation, and explanation of the text.
Stage 1: Description
Description is the stage which is concerned with formal properties of the text. In other
words, the description focuses on three aspects: vocabulary, grammar and textual
structure (Fairclough, 2001).

Stage 2: Interpretation
This stage deals with the relationship between text and interaction. At this stage, text
can be seen as a resource in the interpretation process. The features of text and context
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(situational and intertextual context) serve as cues for being interpreted on the basis of
a background of common-sense assumptions (Member Resources - MR).
Stage 3: Explanation
The explanation stage involves the relationship between social context and the social
determination of the processes of production and interpretation of their social effect.
These social determinations and effects are mediated by MR: that is social structures
shape MR while MR in turn shapes discourses; and discourses sustain or change MR,
which in turn sustains or changes structures. At this stage, usually the underlying
ideological perspectives are exposed.
1.2. Language and gender
Since the 1960s, the sociolinguistics have explored the relationship between language
and gender. The relationship between language and gender is presented through three
books: Male/Female Language (Key, 1975), Language and Woman’s Place (Lakoff,
1975) and Difference and Dominance (1975). These very first studies have focused on
distinguishing different aspects of sex and gender. Sex has to with biological
differences between men and women, whereas gender is culturally constructed, and its
attributes can change depending on time and society (Lowe-Morne, 2002). For
instance, childbearing and breastfeeding pertains to sex because they are permanent
roles of women, while tree-cutting or cooking belongs to gender. Lowe-Morne
emphasizes that gender is not synonymous to women/men as many people are made to
believe.
1.3. Sexism
Sexism refers to usage of language to treat men or women, especially women, unfairly
on the basis of their sex. In other words, “sexism” refers to the existence of certain

elements in a language that help expressing bias in favor of one sex on the other.
Kramarae and Treichler (1985) pointed out that sexism is defined as a social
relationship in which males have authority and power over females.
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Gender-biased language (or sexist language) is the language that treats a certain gender
more favorably over another. In most cases in English, the bias is in favor of men
rather than women. Similarly, Cameron (1985, p.72) defines sexist language as
language that contains a lexicon and a grammatical structure that excludes insults or
trivializes women. Gender-biased language is part of discriminatory language.
1.4. Linguistics markers of gender bias
Gender bias is represented by different linguistic levels. The levels of morphemes and
words & phrases which are the focus of the study are defined to lead the subsequent
process of data collection.
1.4.1. Morphemes
Anything meaningful in language is a linguistic expression. Linguistic expression may
be of various length. There are three units of meaning: morphemes (which may be less
than a word), lexemes (words and idioms) and sentences. A lexeme may consist of one
or more meaningful unit, called morphemes.
1.4.1.1. -man element
Words that contains -man element are commonly used in English texts. This study is
preoccupied with function of “-man” words. Traditionally, some occupational titles
have been explicitly marked for the dominated group of males. Therefore, the job titles
often end with -man and seem to be male-dominated occupations. According to Doyle
(1998), occupational titles ending with -man have traditionally been considered as
generic term addressing to a male or a female.
1.4.1.2. Personal titles
The title of a person is placed in front of a person‟s name and it indicates the marital
status. The personal titles that are of interest for this study are Mr., Mrs., Miss and Ms.

Naugon (2002) claimed that Mr. denotes that the subject is male, it makes him keep his
original identity allotted him at birth, without revealing to the public his marital status.
As confirmed by Infante (2001), Mrs. identifies a woman in relation to a male. The
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married women use the titles with their spouse‟s last name but retaining their first
name.
The use of the title Mrs. for a married woman can be analysed as a way of modifying a
woman‟s name or making her a “property” of her man. In Miller and Swift view
(1976), because marriage does not affect men‟s name, men can maintain their family
tradition but their female counterparts cannot. Looking at women from their husbands‟
point of view has sexist connotation because they are “owned” by men who do not
have their status themselves.
The personal title dilemma seems to favour men more than it does women and can be
avoid by using neutral personal titles.
1.4.2. Words and phrases
In linguistics, a word is the smallest element that can be uttered in isolation with
objective or practical meaning. Words can be put together to build larger elements of
language, such as phrases. In other words, phrases are a small group of words standing
together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause.
At the words and phrases level, we analyze the date basing on gender-marked
modifiers, gender marking and overestimation & underestimation. In sports news,
underestimation of women and overestimation of men can be exposed through the use
of words and phrases. The sportswriters often direct negative demonstration to women
and positive demonstrations to men through patterns of exploiting words and
expression. These negative demonstrations can be the underestimation to female
athletes or women‟s sports, meanwhile, men‟s sports and males‟ peers receive
sportswriter‟s favor which is hardly granted to even great women.
1.4.2.1. Gender-marked modifiers

Gender inequality are mostly seen in occupation words. The use of these modifiers
suggests that the occupation in question is solely for men or women and a woman or

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man who dabbles into such a profession or field of attempt is an intruder, a quack or a
second rated professional.
Some names of jobs are gender-marked even though the words are neutral in form. For
example, doctor has been thought of as a male job for so long that if a doctor is a
woman, some people say woman doctor or lady doctor. Using woman, female, male,
lady, etc. as a modifier before the name of jobs diminishes a person‟s prestige, drawing
attention to their sex (e.g. “male nurse”, “female athlete”, “female manager”). It is
believed that people are surprised when the athlete is a woman or the nurse who check
you in the hospital is a man. The focus on these opposing sexisms has been on
discrimination against women rather than men.
1.4.2.2. Gender marking
Gender discrimination can be easily found at many aspects of culture at different
levels. In sport, female athletes have been unfortunate recipients of most gender bias.
The term “gender marking” was first used by Gill (2000), which refers to the use of
Women‟s Final Four in NCAA Division I basketball as in comparison with the Men‟s
Division I Tournament, which is simply called the Final Four. Similarly, the NBA
refers to National Basketball Association) for the male athlete while the female‟s is
called WNBA (Women‟s National Basketball Association).
The female athletes are trivialized through the asymmetrical gender marking whereby
the male is described as an unmarked category and the female as a marked one. While
men‟s sports events are defined as simply athletic events, women are marked and
identified as “women‟s” athletic events. In other words, men are considered as the
norm, the universal while the women are identified as “other”. As Messner, Duncan,
and Jensen (1993, p.127) note, gender marking women‟s athletics renders the women‟s

game as “the other, derivative, and by implication, inferior to the men‟s.”

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1.4.2.3. Underestimation and overestimation
1.4.2.3.1. Underestimation
Females athletes are often underrepresented and underestimated in sports news when
compared to their male counterparts, which may be interpreted by the mass audience as
a sign that women are inferior in the sports domain. The audience may see this underrepresentation of female athletes as a sign that women‟s sports are not as significant or
exciting as men‟s sports (Knight & Giuliano, 2001).
1.4.2.3.2. Overestimation
While sportswriters usually direct the underestimation to women athletes, men peers
often receive sportswriters‟ favour like overestimation which is hardly granted to even
great women. Overestimation of men often focuses on men‟s brilliant talent.
The evidences of overestimation over male athletes in sports news could be found out
in the Ngo and Tran‟s study (2014). The sportswriter James Richardson complimented
Gareth Bale – a football player by flying lexemes such as “Prince of Wales” and
“prince of goals”. It can be interpreted as the symbol of nobility because in European
countries, “prince” means nobleman. It implied that Gareth Bale was really the symbol
of Wales and the representative of Wales as well. Obviously, the sportswriter
overestimate to the footballer Gareth Bale. Whereas, the fly words such as princess,
princess of goals have not yet been used for the women. His review significantly
influences on the reader‟s mind.
1.5. Related studies
Messer (1988) and Rowe and Brown (1994) have elaborated on the idea that the sports
realm remains a site where gender inequality is accepted as a norm. From an early age
men and women are socialized differently. To be specific, while men are taught to
watch or play sports, women are taught that sporting activities are only for men. The
media highlights masculinity by showing the physical appearance of an athlete, the

pose of an athlete, with the written text which accompanies a photograph. Whisenant,
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Pederson and Obenour (2002) showed that not only are women athletes
underrepresented, trivialized and sexualized but the media emphasizes the femininity
of athletes. The women athletes are not covered as much as the men.
In sport, gender bias can be found at all levels and in all aspects of culture. Females
have been the unfortunate recipients of most gender bias in sport. Gill (2000) uses the
term “gender marking,” which refers to the use of Women‟s Final Four in NCAA
Division I basketball as opposed to the Men‟s Division I Tournament, which is simply
called the Final Four. The question has been raised is that why the women‟s
tournament needs to be marked but not the men‟s. Similarly, the LPGA refers to the
Ladies Professional Golf Association but the men‟s is simply called the PGA
(Professional Golf Association). The NBA (National Basketball Association) and
WNBA (Women‟s National Basketball Association) follow suit.
In Vietnam, some researchers have been concerned about the relation between
language and gender. Nguyen Van Khang (2000) discussed sex discrimination in
language which might be found in such categories as words with male factor showing
male dominance, the use of titles like Mr., Mrs. and Miss and the use of he instead of
she.
Tran Xuan Diep is the pioneer linguist who studied sexism in language. In his work
entitled Sự kỳ thị giới tính trong ngôn ngữ qua cứ liệu tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt (Sexism
in language through English and Vietnamese databases). Diep (2002) pointed out that
the sexism might be found in the use of he, his and him to refer both sexes in some
cases.
Pham Thi Thanh Xuan (2011) conducted the study “Sexism in English and Vietnam”
on the contrastive analysis perspectives. This study focuses on sexist language includes
words and phrases that devalue, ignore or stereotype members of either sex. Gendermarked modifiers are also investigated in the research.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
The aim of this chapter is to explain various procedures and techniques that were used
to yield answers to the research questions in Chapter 1. The methodology used in the
study will be reviewed and data collection will be presented.
This chapter discusses two main levels of linguistic expressions which are morphemes
and words & phrases and gives description of their importance. The data analytical
framework is constructed and then presented.
2.1. Research questions
To accommodate the methodology for the research, it is necessary to refer back to the
two research questions posed in the first chapter, which are:
(i)

How are female athletes and male athletes presented at the linguistic levels
in Theguardian.com in the Olympic Games 2012?

(ii)

To what extent do these gender representations construct the gender
inequality in sports?

To come up with the answers for these two research questions, a research approach has
been adopted.
2.2. Research approach
The study adopts the critical discourse analysis approach. By applying suitable
linguistic tools, CDA aims to reveal ideology that is normally hidden through the
habitualization of discourse. In this study, the gender representations are examined
thoroughly to uncover the hidden gender inequality.

2.3. Research method
Qualitative method is used to conduct the paper. Qualitative method is the collection
and analysis examples for the sake of revealing the hidden meaning under those written
words and understanding the implication of the discourse. With the purpose of
answering how questions, qualitative approach serves as the most relevant research
method to this paper.
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2.4. Setting of the research
The Olympic Games or Olympics are leading sporting events featuring summer and
winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world
participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games are held every four years,
with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two
years apart.
2.5. Data collection
The research uses data obtained from the online The guardian newspaper. In this study,
the daily Guardian was monitored in the period from July 27, 2012 to August 12, 2012
– when London The Olympic Games 2012 took place. The target population for the
study include items of the online the guardian newspaper captured during a period of
these 17 days.
2.6. Data collection procedure
The procedure has several phases. First of all, Google was chosen as a tool for
searching the data. Secondly, the Advanced search was utilized to take data from The
guardian newspaper only in the specific period of time. By using the formula site:
www.theguardian.com/sport and choosing the period between 27 July and 12 August,
all the newspapers needed were shown.
2.7. Data analytical framework
As the research focuses on gender-biased language in sports news, the sentences that
contain gender-biased language are selected for analytical purpose. The analysis is

implemented on the basis of Fairclough‟s three-dimensional framework for studying
discourse. Data analysis follows three-phases process: description, interpretation and
explanation.

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Personal Titles
Morphemes
-man element
Gender biased
language

Gender-marked
modifiers
Words &
phrases

Gender-marking

Overestimation &
underestimation

Description

Interpretation

Explanation

Figure 1: Data analytical framework

In the phase of description, the research would particularly emphasize the use of such
semantic units as morphemes and words and phrases in the sentences showing genderbias. At the morpheme level, the research would examine the -man element and
personal titles. At the words and phrases level, gender-marked modifiers, gender
marking and overestimation & underestimation are explored.
In the phase of interpretation, critical discourse analysts are concerned with how texts
are produced as a process of meaning construction. Therefore, by analyzing the
semantic meanings different language units, such as morphemes and words & phrases,
we are able to identify how the ideology of gender inequality in this news report is
being produced.
Last but not least, in the stage of explanation, a critical discourse analyst accounts for
the influence of socio-cultural contexts such as situational contexts affecting the way
gender-bias language are represented in sports news. Grounding on the description and
interpretation of the news texts, we will finally find out the answer to what extent these
gender representations construct gender inequality in The Olympic Games 2012.
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CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter focuses on presenting the research findings generated from the process of
synthesizing and analyzing texts in The Guardian online newspaper in terms of
morphemes and lexemes as presented in the previous chapter. Discussion on how
gender bias is presented through language and implications will be made in
triangulating with previous papers in the same field.
3.1. Morphemes
There are a variety of approaches to studying languages and genders, and one of them
is to investigate how men and women are referred to and talked about (Lindquist,
2009). Upon studying how female athletes and male athletes are presented at the
morpheme level, the use of -man words or its plural form as –men and personal titles
including Mr., Sir, Miss, Ms. and Mrs. in the articles written during The Olympic

Games 2012 is generated and presented as below.
3.1.1. –man elements
A number of –man elements have often been considered as generic terms and widely
used in English language, regularly without the user‟s awareness of its gender
indication. In other words, words including -man have been used for a long time to
address either a male or a female.
3.1.1.1. Sportsman/ sportsperson
Today, the use of “-man” ending in the era where advocates have been fighting for
gender equality should be avoided where possible. Clearly, to avoid gender bias, -man
words can be avoided by using neutral terms with –person morpheme, exemplified by
sportsperson. The study examines whether gender-neutral occupational titles have fact
increased in usage and whom they tend to be used for.
However, the researched articles suggested otherwise. Specifically, sportsman was
used in 9 articles in total, sportsmen was used in 4 articles, while there is only one

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attempt of using sportsperson was recorded in any articles. Here are some quotes from
the articles where sportsman, sportsmen and sportsperson was used.
It is important to note that, the use of sportsman or sportsmen are both for male
referents, which, in these articles, is excluded from gender bias due to the fact that the
people mentioned in the articles are all males. However, in the context using sportsmen
to refer to the West Indies cricket team, which might be hard to be distinguished in
terms of genders by international readers. In that case, sportsmen do not only show the
position/ status of the referent but also carries gender implication and helps readers
know that they are men.
Overall, there are no cases in which a woman is mentioned in this use of –man
morpheme. Therefore, it can be concluded that –man words in these articles are merely
used to show the status/ job title rather than implying about the gender. In cases when

readers fail to recognize whether the name is for men or women, they may
misunderstand or take it for granted that sportsmen is referring to men, say, that is
men‟s name. The number of “sportsperson” used in the collected data is less than that
of “sportsman”. In all, there are not many news using sportsperson or
sportman/sportsmen. Instead, the term “athletes” are used in the news more frequently.
3.1.1.2. Sportsmanship / sportspersonship
The term sportsmanship was used in 7 articles versus zero usage of the term
sportspersonship.
The habitude of using term sportsmanship maintained in the news in The Olympic
Games 2012. An expected development of substituting the previously mentioned term
with the term sportspersonship, i.e. one that does not contain the generic man element
and is nowadays oftentimes applied, did not happen. Term sportspersonship has not
once been used in any news of the Olympic Games 2012.
The term sportsman and sportsmanship, gender-marked nouns, are still used in this
event to refer to male, female athletes and the conduct of them. The usage of non17


gender-marked terms like sportsperson have been used but not on a large scale while
there is no case using sportspersonship.
3.1.2. Personal titles
The newspaper also perpetuates gender differences by way of personal titles. Personal
titles are opposed to professional titles in that while that latter in most cases apply to
both sexes, such as Doctor, Professor as in Dr James or Professor Kim, the former
makes clear distinction between men and women. In some cases, no titles are attached
to a named personality. The author aims to present the personality as a neutral figure,
with no emphasis on gender or sex when using zero titles, whereas the use of a
personal titles might put emphasis on the sex or marital status of the individual.
With the help of the neutral Ms., the personalities in (11) and (12) are presented as
females and without emphasis on their marital status. There is no data on using Miss to
refer to the unmarried woman. “Miss” only appears in Miss World and Miss Chinese

Taipei, which is the title given for a woman who wins a beauty contest. The use of
Mrs. in (15) and (16) identifies the referent who is married and puts emphasis on her
dependence on a man. This does not happen to men because Mr. has no connotation of
marital status.
Overall, the use of personal titles in the media present cases of gender-neutrality and
gender-bias. In the case of gender-bias, woman prove to be victims in instances when
their marital status is exposed as in the title Mrs. In other examples, they are dependent
on the male in the way of adopting the name of their spouses.
3.2. Words and phrases
In the Olympic Games 2012, the journalists sometimes direct negative demonstrations
of emotion to female athletes and positive demonstration to male athletes through
lexemes. The negative demonstrations are the underestimation of women; meanwhile,
men receive the overestimation.

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3.2.1. Gender-marked modifiers
Sometimes we modify nouns that refer to jobs or position to denote the gender of the
person holding that position. In sports, modifying the word “athlete” or any profession
with a feminine adjective “suggest that a woman holding that position is marked – in
some way unnatural and that it is natural for men to hold it” (Lakoff). The study
examines whether “female athlete(s)” is used in sports news in Olympic Games 2012.
In total, female athlete or female athletes were used in 27 articles, while male athlete
and male athletes were found in 6 articles.
Some of these example of female athlete(s) (examples 19-23) mentions the first time
those sportswomen attending the Olympic Games 2012. The reason is that the 2012
Games had more female competitors than previous Games and were the first Games
where every national team had at least one female athlete. These examples are
excluded from gender bias. Besides, there are also some cases excluded from gender

bias because of mentioning both sexes like the examples (24) & (25) as follow.
It is believed that people who are successful in life are supposed to be males, not
females. The neutral words like athlete(s), player(s), Olympian are supposed to refer to
male. When the male athletes gained the great achievement, there appear these
expressions such as “all-time greatest athlete”, “the greatest runner”, “the greatest
Olympian”, “the greatest ever player”. There was no “male athlete(s)”, “male
runner(s)” or “male Olympian(s)”. Whereas, when female athletes also received
similar achievement, there appears the use of “female” as a modifier before the head
noun of the occupation words. For instance, “the greatest female distance runners”,
“the greatest all-round female athlete”, "the best woman's fighter", “the best female
boxer”. These examples show that the word female or woman used as a modifier,
which not only clarifies the gender of the group of people being mentioned (runner,
athlete, fighter, boxer), but also considers female as a second category.

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When the number of female athletes participating, the Olympic Games increase
regularly, it assumes that people get more comfortable with the changes that both
genders took part in sports. However, the fact does not support this assumption. The
society‟s perception of men and women occupying what were traditionally seen as
female jobs and vice versa is hard to change. This usage should be discouraged as
much as possible, as it draws attention to gender.
3.2.2. Gender marking
Women‟s events were gender marked numerous times, such as referring to a football
game as the “women‟s Olympic football final”, while men‟s events were rarely gender
marked. This gender marking presented men‟s events as the norm, while women‟s
events were marked as other and implied as inferior.
Sports

Men‟s football
Men‟s soccer
Men‟s basketball
Men‟s boxing
Men‟s hockey
Men‟s judo
Men‟s tennis

Times

24
4
31
7
14
2
4

Sports

Times

Women‟s football
Women‟s soccer
Women‟s basketball
Women‟s boxing
Women‟s hockey
Women‟s judo
Women‟s tennis

44
27
20
24
32
8
6

Table 1: Gender marking in news from The Guardian

3.2.3. Underestimation and overestimation
3.2.3.1. Underestimation
In English online news reports, the underestimation of women can be expressed
through words and phrases which have never been used for men.
3.2.3.1.1. Emphasizing the appearance of female Olympians
While women‟s equality socially and professionally has changed for the better over the
years, the Olympic media coverage of women‟s sports show that women are viewed
and valued more for their physical appearance than for their strength and their
accomplishments out on the track, court, or field.
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