APPLYING SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR (SFL) ON BRAIN SEX TEXT

Transcription

1 APPLYING SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR (SFL) ON BRAIN SEX TEXT

2 GENDER Women do what they do because of what they are! (not because they are Female) E.g. A female judge vs. A male judge Same social identity: judges Same social practice: judging E.g. A female professor vs. A male student Different social identity: professor / student Different social practice: lecturing / listening

3 LANGUAGE AND GENDER Are dependent, not on gender, but on social constructions The beliefs are expressed on the ground of scientific research, religion, and even natural phenomena.

4 BRAIN SEX: THE REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN BY ANNE MOIR, PH.D. AND DAVID JESSEL. DELL PUBLISHING (PAPERBACK), NEW YORK, Men are different from women. They are equal only in their common membership of the same species, humankind. The sexes are different because their brains are different. The brain, the chief administrative and emotional organ of life, is differently constructed in men and in women; it processes information in a different way, which results in different perceptions, priorities and behaviour. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of scientific research into what makes the sexes different. The findings of some researchers have been, if not suppressed, at least quietly shelved because of their potential social impact. The truth is that virtually every professional scientist and researcher into the subject has concluded that the brains of men and women are different. There has seldom been a greater divide between what intelligent, enlightened opinion presumes - that men and women have the same brain - and what science knows - that they do not.

5 THE BRAIN SEX TEXT The authors make a very general, broad, and strong claim about the origin of the differences between men and women.

6 THE BRAIN SEX TEXT Background (Nature vs Nurture) the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature" in the sense of nativism or innatism) as compared to an individual's personal experiences ("nurture" in the sense of empiricism or behaviorism) in causing individual differences, especially in behavioral traits.

7 THE BRAIN SEX TEXT Background (Nature vs Nurture) One of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology. Each of these sides have good points that it's really hard to decide whether a person's development is predisposed in his DNA, or a majority of it is influenced by this life experiences and his environment. As of now, we know that both nature and nurture play important roles in human development, but we have not known yet whether we are developed majorly because of nature or due to nurture.

8 THE BRAIN SEX TEXT Background (implications of Nature vs Nurture) women s status when compared to men s Women s rights Inferiority of women vs superiority of men (strength, intelligence, temperament, skills, and capabilities) Has nature designed women to be less equal to men?

9 THE BRAIN SEX TEXT Background (implications of Nature vs Nurture) Feminism Women and men are only different in physical terms of height and strength Women and men are equal in intelligence, temperament, skills, and capabilities, and any differences observed in these areas were the result only of nurture-social conditioning and expectations.

10 THE BRAIN SEX TEXT Background (implications of Nature vs Nurture) Bio-medical and technological advances allow to study the human brain. The text was written in 1989, when some of these research started to reveal that, in fact, men and women are not born equal as their brains developed differently. The nature argument was rising its head once again. The argument was a threat to years of movements for women s equality. The authors of the Brain Sex discourse knew the impact of their book and the controversy it will provoke.

11 ANALYSING THE BRAIN SEX TEXT FOLLOWING SFL

12 BRAIN SEX: THE REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN BY ANNE MOIR, PH.D. AND DAVID JESSEL. DELL PUBLISHING (PAPERBACK), NEW YORK, Men are different from women. They are equal only in their common membership of the same species, humankind. The sexes are different because their brains are different. The brain, the chief administrative and emotional organ of life, is differently constructed in men and in women; it processes information in a different way, which results in different perceptions, priorities and behaviour. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of scientific research into what makes the sexes different. The findings of some researchers have been, if not suppressed, at least quietly shelved because of their potential social impact. The truth is that virtually every professional scientist and researcher into the subject has concluded that the brains of men and women are different. There has seldom been a greater divide between what intelligent, enlightened opinion presumes - that men and women have the same brain - and what science knows - that they do not.

13 ANALYSING THE BRAIN SEX TEXT

14 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Express speaker/writers ideas, experiences, attitudes (stances) Make sure that what they are communicating is cohesive and coherent Answers the question: who is doing what to whom, when, where, and how? Who and whom Participants Nouns/pronouns Is doing what Processes Verbs (actions/states) When, where, and how circumstances Adverbs, prepositional and adverbial phrases

15 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Classifying participants Men / women / brain Science/scientist Others (unidentified) Men women The sexes They their brains The brain it different perceptions priorities and behaviour they some researchers every professional scientist and researcher an explosion of scientific research findings science intelligent, enlightened opinion divide

16 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Classifying processes Mental Material

17 Clause Men are different from women. They are equal only in their common membership of the same species, humankind. The sexes are different because their brains are different. The brain, the chief administrative and emotional organ of life, is differently constructed in men and in women Process it processes information in a different way, Mental which results in different perceptions, priorities and behaviour. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of scientific research into what makes the sexes different. The findings of some researchers have been, a) if not suppressed, Material (passive) b) at least quietly shelved because of their Material (passive) potential social impact. The truth is a) that virtually every professional scientist and Mental researcher into the subject has concluded b) that the brains of men and women are different. There has seldom been a greater divide between what intelligent, enlightened opinion presumes that men and women have the same brain and what science knows that they do not [have the same brain]. Mental Mental

18 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Material processes and participants What voice predominates in the material processes? Active or passive? Why do you think the authors might have chosen to use that voice? Since the authors have not identified the actors, can you guess who they are? Is this important to know/ why?

19 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Material processes and participants Clause Process The findings of some researchers have been, a) if not suppressed, Material (passive) b) at least quietly shelved because of their potential social impact. Material (passive)

20 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Mental processes and participants Who or are the Sensers? Is the Senser always a conscious being? If not, what is standing in for the conscious Senser? Why?

21 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION Mental processes and participants Clause it processes information in a different way, a) that virtually every professional scientist and researcher into the subject has concluded between what intelligent, enlightened opinion presumes and what science knows Process Mental Mental Mental Mental

22 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION processes and participants What do the relational processes in this discourse focus on? What basic stance/position towards gender difference is revealed by this choice? What groups might agree with the position taken here? What groups might oppose it?

23 ESTABLISHING THE IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION processes and participants Clause Process Men are different from women. They are equal only in their common membership of the same species, humankind. The sexes are different because their brains are different. The brain, the chief administrative and emotional organ of life, is differently constructed in men and in women which results in different perceptions, priorities and behaviour. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of scientific research into what makes the sexes different. The truth is b) that the brains of men and women are different. There has seldom been a greater divide that men and women have the same brain that they do not [have the same brain].

24 ESTABLISHING THE INTERPERSONAL METAFUNCTION (concerned with speech-function, exchange structure, expression of attitude, etc.) Men / women / brain Science/scientist Others (unidentified) Men women The sexes They their brains The brain it different perceptions priorities and behaviour they some researchers every professional scientist and researcher an explosion of scientific research findings science intelligent, enlightened opinion divide

25 BRAIN SEX: THE REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN BY ANNE MOIR, PH.D. AND DAVID JESSEL. DELL PUBLISHING (PAPERBACK), NEW YORK, Men are different from women. They are equal only in their common membership of the same species, humankind. The sexes are different because their brains are different. The brain, the chief administrative and emotional organ of life, is differently constructed in men and in women; it processes information in a different way, which results in different perceptions, priorities and behaviour. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of scientific research into what makes the sexes different. The findings of some researchers have been, if not suppressed, at least quietly shelved because of their potential social impact. The truth is that virtually every professional scientist and researcher into the subject has concluded that the brains of men and women are different. There has seldom been a greater divide between what intelligent, enlightened opinion presumes - that men and women have the same brain - and what science knows - that they do not.

26 the personal relationships involved in a text between writer/speaker and reader/listener. o the absence of first-person pronouns: the authors distance themselves from the debate. o the near absence of modal verbs. (except the case of The findings of some researchers have been, if not suppressed, at least quietly shelved because of their potential social impact. and virtually ) o the mood of the text (only declarative clauses; no interrogatives or imperatives).

27 ESTABLISHING THE TEXTUAL METAFUNCTION (how the text is structured as a message, e.g., themestructure, given/new, rhetorical structure etc.) theme Men and women brain Science and scientists chain p.1) Men...women - They - their -The sexes - their brains p.2) men and in women p.3) the sexes p.4) the brains of men and women - men and women - they p.1) brains p.2) The brain - organ - it p.3) p.4) the brains - brain p.1) p.2) p.3) scientific research - The findings of some researchers - their p.4) every professional scientist and researcher opinion - science

28 BRAIN SEX: THE REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN BY ANNE MOIR, PH.D. AND DAVID JESSEL. DELL PUBLISHING (PAPERBACK), NEW YORK, Men are different from women. They are equal only in their common membership of the same species, humankind. The sexes are different because their brains are different. The brain, the chief administrative and emotional organ of life, is differently constructed in men and in women; it processes information in a different way, which results in different perceptions, priorities and behaviour. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of scientific research into what makes the sexes different. The findings of some researchers have been, if not suppressed, at least quietly shelved because of their potential social impact. The truth is that virtually every professional scientist and researcher into the subject has concluded that the brains of men and women are different. There has seldom been a greater divide between what intelligent, enlightened opinion presumes - that men and women have the same brain - and what science knows - that they do not.

29