An analysis of language use in blogs of female undergraduates

Abstract

This study attempts to identify the features of language use in blogs by female undergraduates. Lakoff's hypothesis was adapted as the framework in this study. The features of women's speech were taken from Lakoff's book, 'Language and Women's Place'. Thus, this research would look at writing in blogs. However, only four features were selected. They were lexical hedges, tag questions, intensifiers and avoidance of strong I swear words. 10 female undergraduates were selected as subjects. Three entries were selected from each subject. The instruments used for collecting the data included blog entries by subjects and online interviews to verify the findings. The methods used for the data analysis were qualitative and quantitative analysis. It was found that the first three features were found in their language in blogs. They are lexical hedges, tag questions, and intensifiers. For avoidance of strong swear words, Lakoff stated that women avoid the use of strong words, but in this study, women were found to be using strong words in their writing. Then, the interview conducted reveals the hidden reasons why they use those features. The findings in this study hopes to benefit other linguists to conduct similar studies.