Language and Gender in Inaam Kachachi’s “The American Granddaughter” and Ali Bader’s “The Cloud Player” According to Robin Lakoff’s DSL Theory (Focusing on the Lexical Level)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

2 Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of International Languages and Cultures, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

4 Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, University of Tehran, Farabi Campus, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Feminist writing is one of the prominent concepts discussed within the framework of contemporary literary criticism and has become a central focus for linguists and sociologists alike. Women’s literature emerged as a result of women’s efforts to achieve equality in rights with men and has constituted a vital element of feminist criticism since the mid‑twentieth century. Robin Lakoff is considered one of the most distinguished linguists in this field. She argues that feminine and masculine writing display clear linguistic differences that stem not only from internal factors related to the author but also from external ones such as gender, race, and geographical environment. This study applies Lakoff’s Depth of Sexed Language (DSL) Theory to Inaam Kachachi’s “The American Granddaughter” and Ali Badr’s “The Cloud Player”, employing a descriptive‑analytical method with a specific focus on the lexical level. The main objective is to determine the extent to which the two novels embody patterns of feminine and masculine writing and to identify the areas of similarity and divergence between them regarding language and gender. The findings reveal essential distinctions between feminine and masculine language and indicate that the linguistic texture of narrative discourse is profoundly affected by the author’s gender. In most cases, the lexical criteria of both feminine and masculine writing correspond to Lakoff’s theoretical framework; however, certain passages show exceptions that do not conform to this alignment. Such exceptional cases can be interpreted through external contextual factors—including the writer’s social environment, prevailing historical and cultural conditions, and the nature of events treated in the literary text.

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References

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Ebn-Almoqaffa in Narrative and Poetry (Formerly known as Quarterly of Arabic Language and Literature
Volume 22, Issue 2
July 2026
Pages 193-209

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