A Corpus-based Study of Endearment Terms in Sheraz’s Selected Novels

Abstract

Based on Wardhaugh and Fuller (2014) and Yang’s (2010) ideas in relation to use and function of endearment terms, the present study delves deeply into the use of endearment terms in Qaisra Sheraz’s Novels Corpus (QSNC). With an aim to see how endearment terms work to detain gender stereotypes in a literary text the researcher utilizes the theory of benevolent sexism as proposed by Glick and Fiske (2001) and extended by Boasso et al., (2012). The main objective of the study is to examine how the endearment terms like dear, darling, honey and love have been used by Qaisra Sheraz in her selected novels. Following a mix method approach, the researcher has collected the data from QSNC. Close reading and note-taking techniques have been applied in this research and data have been collected following a purposive sampling technique. Data collection was followed by data display and data discussion leading to conclusion drawing. The study has found a total number of 144 endearment terms out of which 69 terms (48%) are used by females for females, 51 terms (35%) are used by male for female characters while only 24 terms (17%) are used to address male characters by female characters. Not a single endearment term is used by any male character to address any male character. The findings indicate that “dear” with a percentage of 65 % occurrences in the corpus is the most frequently used endearment term in the corpus. “Darling” is the second most frequent term used for 30% times while “love” and “honey” appear with 3% and 2% respectively. The choice of these terms is based on the level of intimacy and the domain of love and family is covered by these terms.