Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May: An Evolution of Feminist Pragmatics in Prime Minister's Questions

玛格丽特·撒切尔和特蕾莎·梅：首相提问中女权主义实用主义的演变

• 批准号: 2530670
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Nottingham Trent University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2530670
• 关键词: Margaret; Thatcher; Theresa; May; Evolution

The purpose of this study is to explore feminine linguistic behaviours demonstrated by female Prime Ministers of the British government and determine if there has been any change in this use of language over time. Given that Butler (1988: 528) argues that female speakers may be reprimanded for constructing a masculine identity, and engaging with political debate is an inherently masculine performance, it is expected that female politicians must carefully moderate their language so as to adhere to conventional standards of femininity without compromising their political competency. As the presence of female politicians in government becomes more normalised, it is possible that the need to conform to stereotypical standards of femininity is lessened. This provides the potential for two complementary areas of study: how the use of feminine linguistic behaviours has evolved, and the variation in ways these behaviours are perceived. To explore how the use of feminine linguistic behaviours has evolved, I propose a case study of behaviours used in Prime Minister's Questions by Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, during their respective premierships. To explore how perceptions of feminine linguistic behaviours from female Prime Ministers has changed over time, I propose a qualitative analysis of newspaper articles from The Guardian, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Daily Mirror, published in response to the behaviours exhibited by Thatcher and May.This study will use critical discourse analysis and a pragmatic approach to constructions of gender identity in political discourse.It can be difficult for female politicians to construct a feminine identity, given that politics is a male-dominated field and the need to conform to conventional behaviour results in a masculine performance (Walsh, 2001: 1; Lovenduski, 2012: 322). Additionally, research shows that female authority figures of any profession may find themselves trapped in a double bind; since femininity is historically associated with subordination, women must compromise between being perceived as feminine and incompetent, or be negatively evaluated for being unfeminine, albeit authoritative (Carli, 1999: 94; Holmes, 2006: 6; Schnurr, 2008: 301). As such, it is necessary for female political leaders to carefully navigate their performances of gender. They must maintain a feminine performance, so as to endear themselves to potential voters (Panagopoulos, 2004: 148; Lakoff, 2005: 180). There is also the need to use more aggressive, stereotypically masculine linguistic behaviours in order to conform with the conventions of political debate and present as competent leaders (Harris, 2001: 466; Lovenduski, 2014: 148). Shaw (2000: 416; 2006: 97) has concluded that these contrasting needs result in female politicians being disadvantaged, due to a decreased ability to match the linguistic behaviours of their male contemporaries. However, more recent research from Cameron and Shaw (2016: 31) suggests that an increased number of women in government is resulting in female politicians' language becoming less regulated. This would suggest that a feminist pragmatic analysis of the linguistic choices of female Prime Ministers would show an evolution in language use, in response to the ways in which perceptions of female political leaders have changed over time.

本研究的目的是探讨英国政府的女首相所表现出的女性语言行为，并确定随着时间的推移，这种语言的使用是否有任何变化。Butler（1988：528）认为，女性演讲者可能会因为构建男性身份而受到谴责，而参与政治辩论本身就是一种男性化的表现，因此女性政治家必须谨慎地调整自己的语言，以便在不损害其政治能力的情况下坚持传统的女性标准。随着女性政治家在政府中的存在变得更加正常化，遵守陈规定型的女性标准的必要性可能会减少。这为两个互补的研究领域提供了可能性：女性语言行为的使用是如何演变的，以及这些行为被感知的方式的变化。为了探讨女性语言行为的使用是如何演变的，我提出了一个案例研究的行为在首相的问题由玛格丽特撒切尔和特蕾莎梅，在他们各自的总理。为了探索女性总理对女性语言行为的看法如何随着时间的推移而变化，我提出了一个定性分析，来自《卫报》、《每日电讯报》、《每日邮报》和《每日镜报》的报纸文章，本研究将运用批评性话语分析和语用学的方法来研究政治话语中的性别身份建构。鉴于政治是一个男性主导的领域，需要遵循传统行为导致男性的表现，女性政治家构建女性身份（沃尔什，2001年：1; Lojanuski，2012年：322）。此外，研究表明，任何职业的女性权威人物都可能发现自己陷入了双重困境;由于女性气质在历史上与从属地位有关，妇女必须在被视为女性和无能之间做出妥协，或者因为缺乏女性气质而受到负面评价，尽管权威（Carli，1999：94; Holmes，2006：6; Schnurr，2008：301）。因此，女性政治领导人有必要仔细把握其性别表现。她们必须保持女性化的表现，以赢得潜在选民的喜爱（Panagopoulos，2004：148; Lakoff，2005：180）。还需要使用更具攻击性的、陈规定型的男性语言行为，以符合政治辩论的惯例，并表现为有能力的领导人（Harris，2001：466; Lojanuski，2014：148）。肖（2000年：416; 2006年度：97）得出的结论是，这些截然不同的需求导致女性政治家处于不利地位，因为她们在语言行为上与同时代男性相匹配的能力下降。然而，卡梅隆和肖（2016：31）最近的研究表明，政府中女性人数的增加导致女性政治家的语言变得不那么规范。这将表明，女性总理的语言选择的女权主义者的语用分析将显示在语言使用的演变，在回应的方式，女性政治领导人的看法随着时间的推移发生了变化。