Linguistic Analysis of the Gender Representation in Jane Austen's Novel, Persuasion, Using Systemic Functional Grammar

Abstract

This work explores the relationship between linguistic structures and socially constructed meanings in a text. It employs the transitivity framework of Halliday in order to expose the ideological position and power relations in a classic literary work, especially from a systemic functional perspective. It also tries to find common ground between systemic functional grammar and a narrative. The presence of certain recurring linguistic features in a literary text gives insights into how such linguistic features create meanings and effects. The grammatical structures in a literary work are suggestive of some special meanings and effects. Consequently, in-depth analyses of these grammatical structures in this classic literary work lead to a more realistic understanding of the conventional gender role assigned to the two main characters (the heroin and the protagonist) of Jane Austen's last finished novel Persuasion.