Language In Pakistani Crime Reporting: Use Of Gender Specific Adjectives

Abstract

Newspapers use language as a tool to create power structures based on gender; and it is through specific vocabulary that they present men and women as different stereotypes in the society. Through language choices not only men and women are presented as different but also as unequal: the former is powerful while the later is powerless, the former is independent while the later is dependant. The present paper attempts to analyze news reporting in the Pakistani print media with special focus on the relationship between gender and language used in crime report headings. It is examined how gender specific adjectives are used to create the reality of women as weak, subdued, and submissive; while men are projected as empowered, dominant and authoritative. Out of the selected four newspapers two are English (Dawn and The News) while two are Urdu (Jang and Khabrain). From these newspapers the headings of crime reports that project the relationship between gender and choice of adjectives, have been sorted out and analyzed under two categories: category ‘A’ deals with adjectives used for men while category ‘B’ deals with adjectives used for women.