EXAMINING GENDER REPRESENTATION THROUGH CORPUS STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF NADIA HASHIMI’S THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL

Abstract

The present study presents a corpus stylistic analysis of Nadia Hashimi's novel, the Pearl that broke its shell (2014) following Dale Spender’s theoretical framework of male dominance to examine gender representation in the novel. Methodology adopted for the current study is a mixed method approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods for analysis of the data. The study aims to identify and explore adjectives and verbs associated with male and female gender in the selected novel. The frequency and concordances of targeted lexical items were obtained from the corpus created from the text of the novel by utilizing a software Ant Conc version 4.2.0 and then these items were later analyzed qualitatively. The findings reveal that the author portrays men as oppressive, brutal and dominant and represents women as submissive, oppressed and morally self-sure. 21% of the total adjectives associated with both genders represent men as physically strong and authoritative, 19% express their ferocious characteristics, 35% of the total adjectives represent women as subdued and subjugated, although, 25% of the adjectives depict woman's strong character and sturdy nature. Moreover, there are three hundred eighty-eight (388) verbs are utilized that express the actions of both men and women. In which, 22% verbs depict the misogynistic actions of men, 32% of the total verbs characterizes women’s suppression and express them as victims. However, 46% of total verbs denote women's determination. The research brings positive insights and open new paths for future researchers to understand gender representation in any specific context.