A Sociolinguistic Study on Women’s Language in Turkish Novels

Abstract

The universe of this study is the novels written in Turkish literature from 1923 to the present day. When the sample was created, non-ideological novels were determined and expert opinion was applied. The speeches of the female characters in the selected 19 novels were prepared as Word files and uploaded to the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Counting (LIWC) program. The LIWC program used in our study is a computer-based program designed to measure psychological processes. This study was created by allowing individuals to make comparisons by comprehensively categorizing their language use and thus being able to use it from a socially linguistic point of view. In light of the data obtained, first the speeches of female characters in novels written before and after 1970 were compared, and then the speeches of female characters of male and female authors were compared. In this way, in addition to reflecting Turkish society’s perception of women put forward by male and female authors, the study also tried to determine how this perception is shaped according to their own gender. In addition, with women reaching an acceptable position in social life, reflections of the changing perception of women have also emerged. The results of the study show that female and male authors’ perception of women is different and that the use of women’s language is shaped according to their social position. However, with women taking a greater role in social life, their use of language has changed and women have become able to express themselves better.