scholarly journals The changing language of women on The Big Bang Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Dennin

AbstractThis study focuses on how linguistic markers are utilized by women in media to highlight stereotypes and reinforce systems of oppression. Using data from the popular television program The Big Bang Theory, the speech patterns of the three main female characters, Penny, Amy, and Bernadette, were analyzed. It was found that changes in the speed and pitch of the dialog delivered by these characters correlated with the characters enacting certain female stereotypes that are not at the forefront of their personalities. The stereotypes of the traditionally feminine woman, overly aggressive woman, and ditzy blond are key in maintaining the inferior status of women. The stereotype of the traditionally feminine woman serves as an example of how women are supposed to act out their female identity, the overly aggressive stereotype is a warning against utilizing emotions outside of a traditional feminine community of practice, and the ditzy blond stereotype is used to provide proof of the inferiority of women and justify the continued subjugation of them.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olusiji Lasekan

The primary purpose of this study is to identify academic cultural themes in the popular television sitcom The Big Bang Theory in order to enhance doctoral students’ awareness and acquisition of Ph.D. competencies through formalized and explicit instruction. The secondary aim is to assess the impact of the selected academic themes on doctoral students’ acquisition of Ph.D. competencies in an English for Academic Conversation (EAC) classroom. Drawing upon the concept of thematic learning instruction, a qualitative research method involving six clusters of Ph.D. competency reference framework developed by Durette and others was adopted to identify the academic cultural themes depicted by the sitcom’s main characters. This is followed by evaluating the effectiveness of an EAC course in fostering learners’ Ph.D. competencies using selected identified academic cultural themes. The result showed that the sitcom’s main characters demonstrate the personal and professional skills commonly possessed by a competent academic as an individual or group. This is evidenced as all the thirty-four identified skills traverse the six clusters of Ph.D. competencies devised by Durette and colleagues in 2016. Also, the impact assessment results revealed that the course fostered learners’ Ph.D. competencies as they shared knowledge, past experience, and action plans of every selected academic theme. This work contributes to existing knowledge of doctoral competencies vital to promoting competency-based Ph.D. programs in higher education.


1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM LANE CRAIG

John Taylor complains that the Kalam cosmological argument gives the appearance of being a swift and simple demonstration of the existence of a Creator of the universe, whereas in fact a convincing argument involving the premiss that the universe began to exist is very difficult to achieve. But Taylor's proffered defeaters of the premisses of the philosophical arguments for the beginning of the universe are themselves typically undercut due to Taylor's inadvertence to alternatives open to the defender of the Kalam arguments. With respect to empirical confirmation of the universe's beginning Taylor is forced into an anti-realist position on the Big Bang theory, but without sufficient warrant for singling out the theory as non-realistic. Therefore, despite the virtue of simplicity of form, the Kalam cosmological argument has not been defeated by Taylor's all too swift refutation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitor Martins Menezes ◽  
Aline Orvalho Pereira ◽  
Giuliana Coutinho Vitiello ◽  
Celi Rodrigues Chaves Dominguez

Tertium ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lendita Kryeziu

Language is a powerful communication tool. A skilful person uses words and manipulates them for different purposes; be that for persuading clients in buying different products or joining a congregation; soothing aggravated patients and consoling people who lost their loved ones. Language is used for teaching, informing, entertaining and making people laugh. Many public speakers, teachers, politicians and leaders use humour for breaking the ice and engaging the audience into listening. Moreover, nowadays a vast number of sitcoms are popular among different age groups based on the topics, genre and the audience’s field of interest. One such series which has caught the interest of a broader audience on Netflix is The Big Bang Theory. The usage of idioms, wordplays, puns, rhyming structures, pop culture language and scientific jargon, permeated with humour, are widely spread into the characters’ daily conversations through entire episodes. From the linguistic point of view, the corpus of The Big Bang Theory episodes will be thoroughly analysed for finding the relevance of using idioms, wordplays, puns and other structures in transmitting humorous messages to the audience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
Siti Sarah Fitriani ◽  
Chairina Nasir ◽  
Farrah Fajrianti Fonna

Purpose of the study: This study aimed at finding out the types of illocutionary acts which create humor effect in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory Episode The Thespian Catalyst (S04E14). Methodology: A descriptive qualitative study with the pragmatic approach of illocutionary acts suggested by Searle (1975) was undertaken by observing the utterances spoken by all the characters in the sitcom. Main findings: The results of the study showed that there were four types of illocutionary acts found in the sitcom; assertive, directive, commissive, and expressive. Those illocutionary acts also flouted the maxim of Cooperative Principles, i.e. quality and relevance. In conclusion, it can be known that the humor that occurred in the sitcom is the result of the way the characters conveyed illocutionary acts that also have flouted the maxim as in the Cooperative Principles. Applications of this study: This study is expected to be a reference for other studies in the field of pragmatics particularly in illocutionary acts. Novelty/Originality of this study:This current study, however, would discuss The Big Bang Theory sitcom by using the Illocutionary Act framework proposed by Searle (1975).


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