Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers

Thesis (PhD (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2024.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Taljard, Elsabe (Elizabeth)
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613458856411136
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Taljard, Elsabe (Elizabeth)
author_browse Taljard, Elsabe (Elizabeth)
author_facet Taljard, Elsabe (Elizabeth)
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2024.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/101036
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:28.597Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/101036 Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers Taljard, Elsabe (Elizabeth) lungile.mncwango@up.ac.za Mncwango, Lungile UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Corpus linguistics Gender stereotypes Isolezwe IsiZulu newspapers Thesis (PhD (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2024. The challenge of fostering an equitable society continues to persist, as the disproportionate depictions of women and men are still an issue in the South African communities. Consequently, gender issues have been a significant area of research in language studies and various other disciplines both in South Africa and internationally. This study investigates how women are depicted compared to their male counterparts in the two major isiZulu newspapers, Ilanga (The Sun) and Isolezwe (The Eye of the Nation). It aims to investigate the social implications of the ways in which women and men are depicted, by reflecting on unequal power relations and/or social inequalities, and stereotyping of women and men, employing the methodological approach that combines Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The following search terms were selected for analysis: owesifazane ‘woman,’ abesifazane ‘women,’ owesilisa ‘man,’ abesilisa ‘men,’ indoda ‘man/married man,’ amadoda ‘men/married men,’ umfazi ‘woman/married woman,’ abafazi ‘women/married women,’ intokazi ‘young woman,’ izintokazi ‘young women,’ insizwa ‘young man’ and izinsizwa ‘young men.’ The Ilanga corpus consists of 970 files with articles ranging from 2014 to 2017, resulting in a corpus of over 4 million words, while the Isolezwe corpus consists of 489 files with articles ranging from 2015 to 2017, resulting in a corpus of over 7 million words. The findings indicate that both newspapers consistently privilege certain ideological perspectives (women as victims and men as perpetrators) whilst undermining others (women and men empowerment). Most of the depictions centre around women as victims of crime and violence and on men as perpetrators of those crimes and violence, reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes of depicting women as weak, helpless victims and men as aggressive, violent criminals. Based on these findings, it is recommended that newspapers dedicate sections or series to narratives of empowerment for both genders – male and female, highlighting achievements that transcend traditional stereotypes, such as professional success, community leadership roles, and overcoming challenges. Corpus linguistics tools should be regularly utilized to monitor changes over time. This monitoring should focus on tracking shifts in the frequency and context of gender-related terms. mz2026 African Languages PhD (African Languages) Unrestricted Faculty of Humanities SDG-05: Gender equality 2025-02-19T06:29:26Z 2025-02-19T06:29:26Z 2025-05 2024-10 Thesis * A2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101036 Disclaimer Letter en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Corpus linguistics
Gender stereotypes
Isolezwe
IsiZulu newspapers
Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers
title Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers
title_full Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers
title_fullStr Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers
title_full_unstemmed Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers
title_short Corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis : the depiction of men and women in selected isiZulu newspapers
title_sort corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis the depiction of men and women in selected isizulu newspapers
topic UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Corpus linguistics
Gender stereotypes
Isolezwe
IsiZulu newspapers
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101036