Document Type : Original Article
Author
Department of English Language, College of Education, Garmian University, Kurdistan Region - Iraq
Abstract
Human beings are the only species using languages ,thereupon, the goal may not be the only viewpoint of linguistics studies, but more have to be people-oriented. Nonetheless, the most substantial distinction between humans is a gender difference. In the use of Language, humans will have their gender trait. consequently leading to gender differences in Language. The main objective of this study in the field of sociolinguistics is to investigate gender differences in the use of language. These differences are viewed from several aspects, including linguistic features, turn-taking, and speech rate. Taking political speeches as corpus data, using Mike Pence's (a male politician) and Kamala Harris's (a female politician) vice presidential debate, which lasted 90 minutes on October 7, 2020, as a selected political speech. The study aims to answer questions such as: Do the men and the women have differences practically in using political discourse? Moreover, Which specific variable is used more than the other by the two groups? To reach the aim of the study, a content descriptive analysis of the transcribed form of the debate is applied. During the analysis of the collected data, number significant conclusions are gained. The female politician is exposed to be less breaking the rules of turn-taking, speaking less, and take more extended time than The male politician. The male politicians are more culturally oriented and extravagant, invading the stage more than the female. Also, the female politicians focus on direct quotations to provide support for their answers. The male politicians focus on paraphrasing to show power and dominance.
Keywords
)