Negotiating Gender Through Language In Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice
Abstract
This study examines the intersection of feminist literary criticism and sociolinguistics in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. While traditional scholarship focuses on thematic elements of patriarchy, this paper investigates the linguistic mechanisms—specifically politeness strategies, modality, and irony—used by Elizabeth Bennet to negotiate gendered expectations. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, the findings reveal that language serves as a primary site of resistance, allowing the protagonist to assert agency within the restrictive social hierarchies of the 19th century.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Gender Studies in Language
American and British Literature Analysis
Discourse Analysis in Language Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- International Journal Of Literature And Languages
- Volume
- 06
- Issue
- 01
- Pages
- 52–54
- Publication date
- 11 January 2026