Discourse Analysis in Language and Gender Studies

Abstract

This paper examines the role of discourse analysis in language and gender studies, highlighting the significant shift from descriptive and comparative approaches to a constructionist and discourse-oriented perspective. Drawing on the distinction between sex and gender, the paper argues that gender is not a fixed biological attribute but is socially constructed through practice, interaction, and discourse. The development of language and gender studies is examined in terms of three major stages: the descriptive-comparative stage, the model-based  stage with the deficit, dominance, and difference models, and the constructionist-discursive stage. The paper also discusses key analytical approaches, including Critical Discourse Analysis, the Discourse-Historical Approach, Interactional Sociolinguistics, Discursive Psychology, and Multimodal Discourse Analysis. From this perspective, discourse is understood not merely as a reflection of social reality but as a site where gendered power relations are constructed, maintained, negotiated, and challenged. The paper therefore affirms the methodological importance of discourse analysis in revealing gender ideology and explaining how gender identities are produced within specific social and communicative contexts.