Expressive Language and Gender Framing in Celebrity Talk Shows

This paper examines gender diff erences in employing linguistic expressive means in celebrity talk show interviews on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It aims to investigate how female and male celebrities use phonetic, morphological, lexical, semantic, and syntactic means to construct gender identities in media discourse. Framing theory and media discourse analysis approaches were used as a methodological basis of this research. Ninety-eight examples taken from 20 interviews were qualitatively analysed. The results show that both genders tend to use semantic strategies. Still, males prefer phonetic and syntactic structure, and females prefer lexical means, which testifi es to the attempt to conform to the created gender expectations of the public. The study contributes to the general research on the role of expressive language in creating gendered public selves within the intersection of linguistics, gender, and media. Key words: expressive means, gender discourse analysis, framing theory, media linguistics, celebrity talk shows, public persona construction

Discourse analysis · Persona · Public discourse · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Media, Gender, and Advertising