Hedges, Boosters and Tag Questions in The Big Bang Theory: A Gender Perspective

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the overall frequency of hedges, boosters and tag questions in a selected number of episodes of the TV show The Big Bang Theory, and whether or not there are any gender related differences. Some previous research into this field of sociolinguistics has shown that women tend to use these forms more frequently than men, albeit the majority of this research has been in other discourses than the present one, while some has shown no gender variation concerning frequency. This present study finds that the female characters used all these three features slightly more frequently in the researched material, albeit where tag questions are concerned, only a marginally higher frequency was detected and thus showed no statistical significance. This study also suggests that there seem to exist gender discrepancies in usage of the said linguistic devices to some extent in the analyzed data, most which correspond with previous research. Since the language used in media, such as TV, has significant linguistic influence, and furthermore, has the ability to reflect both cultural and social values and attitudes, further sociolinguistic research in this field is of importance.