“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me”: Gender Performativity and Modal Verbs in the Corpus of English Philosophy Texts

Susana-Luisa Costa-Otero

doi:10.58859/rael.v23i1.576

Authors

Susana-Luisa Costa-Otero University of A Coruña

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58859/rael.v23i1.576

Keywords:

corpus linguistics, gender performativity, modal verbs, scientific writing, eighteenth century

Abstract

Gender is a social construction that determines how we behave and, consequently, how we communicate. Even though scientific writing is characterized by its objectivity, it is undeniable that authors use some strategies, consciously or unconsciously, that express their attitude towards their texts. Such strategies include, among others, the use of modal verbs. This paper analyses their use, modality and meaning in eighteenth-century English scientific writing and establishes a comparison between male and female philosophy texts to discover to what extent women contribute to or react against the canon. The data for this small-scale study are taken from the Coruña Corpus of English Scientific Writing, in particular, from the Corpus of English Philosophy Texts. Quantitative and qualitative techniques have been considered for the analysis.

Author Biography

Susana-Luisa Costa-Otero, University of A Coruña

Susana-Luisa Costa-Otero is a PhD student at the University of A Coruna. She graduated in English and Spanish Language and Literature at that same university in 2021. In 2022, she obtained an MA from the University of Santiago de Compostela. She is interested in corpus linguistics and synchronic and diachronic grammar.

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