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A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary by Male and Female EFL Learners

Received: 13 May 2015    Accepted: 20 May 2015    Published: 6 June 2015
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Abstract

Research on the relationship between gender and language has been a challenging inquiry as being closely related to social issues. Particular interest has mainly been in whether women and men use the language differently. Also gender and language related studies have mainly concentrated on the identification and characterization of male/female language and how language users speak and write in ways that reflect their genders. For instance, Newman, Groom, Handelman and Pennebaker (2008) state that women use more words related to psychological and social processes (emotions, sensations, friends, family, etc.) whereas men referred to object properties and impersonal topics. In language learning, besides it is generally believed that females learn and speak a language better and faster (Zhuanglin, 1989), it is still a mystery to what extend males and females express their genders when using a foreign language. This particular corpus-based study investigates gender differences in using feeling and emotion vocabulary in argumentative essays by EFL learners. Results indicate that, unlike the related statements about gender and language in general, male learners tended to use more feeling and emotion vocabulary than female learners in their written L2 productions. In addition, learners from different L1 backgrounds displayed similar tendency in categorical usage of emotional words.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 3, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12
Page(s) 203-209
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Learner Corpus, Gender Differences in Language, Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary

References
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    M. Pınar Babanoğlu. (2015). A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary by Male and Female EFL Learners. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 3(4), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12

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    M. Pınar Babanoğlu. A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary by Male and Female EFL Learners. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2015, 3(4), 203-209. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12

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    AMA Style

    M. Pınar Babanoğlu. A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary by Male and Female EFL Learners. Int J Lang Linguist. 2015;3(4):203-209. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12,
      author = {M. Pınar Babanoğlu},
      title = {A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Feelings and Emotions Vocabulary by Male and Female EFL Learners},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {3},
      number = {4},
      pages = {203-209},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20150304.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20150304.12},
      abstract = {Research on the relationship between gender and language has been a challenging inquiry as being closely related to social issues. Particular interest has mainly been in whether women and men use the language differently. Also gender and language related studies have mainly concentrated on the identification and characterization of male/female language and how language users speak and write in ways that reflect their genders. For instance, Newman, Groom, Handelman and Pennebaker (2008) state that women use more words related to psychological and social processes (emotions, sensations, friends, family, etc.) whereas men referred to object properties and impersonal topics. In language learning, besides it is generally believed that females learn and speak a language better and faster (Zhuanglin, 1989), it is still a mystery to what extend males and females express their genders when using a foreign language. This particular corpus-based study investigates gender differences in using feeling and emotion vocabulary in argumentative essays by EFL learners. Results indicate that, unlike the related statements about gender and language in general, male learners tended to use more feeling and emotion vocabulary than female learners in their written L2 productions. In addition, learners from different L1 backgrounds displayed similar tendency in categorical usage of emotional words.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    AB  - Research on the relationship between gender and language has been a challenging inquiry as being closely related to social issues. Particular interest has mainly been in whether women and men use the language differently. Also gender and language related studies have mainly concentrated on the identification and characterization of male/female language and how language users speak and write in ways that reflect their genders. For instance, Newman, Groom, Handelman and Pennebaker (2008) state that women use more words related to psychological and social processes (emotions, sensations, friends, family, etc.) whereas men referred to object properties and impersonal topics. In language learning, besides it is generally believed that females learn and speak a language better and faster (Zhuanglin, 1989), it is still a mystery to what extend males and females express their genders when using a foreign language. This particular corpus-based study investigates gender differences in using feeling and emotion vocabulary in argumentative essays by EFL learners. Results indicate that, unlike the related statements about gender and language in general, male learners tended to use more feeling and emotion vocabulary than female learners in their written L2 productions. In addition, learners from different L1 backgrounds displayed similar tendency in categorical usage of emotional words.
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