A Transitivity Analysis of Two Political Articles: An Investigation of Gender Variations in Political Media Discourse

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to use transitivity analysis to investigate gender variations in political media discourse from the point of view of male and female columnists. To attain this purpose, this paper adopts a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Halliday’s theory of transitivity process types. Literature shows that gender variation is one of the key elements affecting language. However, variation in gender studies, particularly in article writing, has not been recently addressed in relation to transitivity analysis. To scrutinize types of transitivity involving material, mental, relational, verbal, existential, and behavioral processes, qualitative and quantitative methods were deployed to achieve a deep understanding of transitivity process types. Paired Sample T-Test has also been employed to investigate whether there is a significant difference in gender variations pertaining to frequencies of process types of transitivity. The results revealed that the material process has been the most frequent process used by female and male political columnists and has highly dominated the discourse in both articles. In addition, the finding showed that there is no significant difference in gender variations pertaining to the frequencies of process types of transitivity. Analyzing participants’ roles and circumstances elements could provide more pertinent data for further research.