Abstracts - Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa

MARIA KREBBER, UNIVERSITY OF LISBON, ILTEC, PORTUGALTHE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER DIFFERENCEThis paper sets out to examine how gender differences are discursively constructedin the process of female identity performance. Developed within the context of alarger PHD research project, the analysis is based on a corpus of five interviews withwomen, who were questioned about social changes, gender equality, genderrelations and maternity.As a framework for the analysis, the theoretical-methodological assumptions ofCritical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1993) and Systemic Functional Grammar(Halliday 1994, Eggins 1994) were followed. The transitivity system, in particular theProcess-Participants structure, was the analytical instrument used, since it allowedus to look at how “women” and “men” are constructed as models that the speakeridentifies with or dissociates herself from.A first examination of the corpus shows i) that gender difference remains a keyissue in society, helping individuals of both sexes to construct who they are toothers, that is, their (gendered) identity; and ii) that biological factors, such asmaternity, play a crucial role in the construction of this difference.ReferencesFairclough N. (1993): Discourse and Social Change. CambridgeHalliday, M. A. K. ²(1994): An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Eggins, S. (1994): An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Pinter.PAPER SESSION 3C - ROOM 3 - TUESDAY, 26 JULYISFC38 Book of Abstracts Page 129 Lisbon, July 2011