| Indexicals as a property of language reflect social identities (e.g., gender) and realities that are constituted by particular ideologies and acts in a particular society. As such, linguistic analysis of gender indexicals in text enables one to come to an understanding of the social reality of gender. From this perspective, the present study attempted to explore how gender identities were constructed, contested, and reproduced within computer-mediated communication (CMC), which has become a popular communication means among Koreans. The objective of this study is to understand the social reality of gender identity and the ideological work of gender indexicals in the construction of gender identities by looking at the usages of gender indexicals in CMC that has distinctive features in terms of communication.; The study was implemented with data samples from two e-bulletin boards (www.changbi.com and www.moonji.com), applying Halliday's framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and Fairclough's socially- and linguistically-oriented discourse analysis. More precisely, gender transitivity, modality, and textuality in Korean CMC discourse were delineated, considering the semiotic context of CMC and the influence of cultural and rhetorical conventions on CMC. Analysis of the empirical data provided support for the claims that many researchers have made in theoretical formats. In other words, the findings supported what many have argued—that gender impacts online discussions and that men talk more and do so differently than women who are online. However, the findings also supported the idea that it can be problematic to generalize any rhetorical feature as women's and men's discourse styles because it seemed that other factors (e.g., discourse genres and the user's rhetorical preferences) operated in the creation of different rhetorical modes in a message. Moreover, the rhetorical environment of the e-community (e.g., an adversarial or amicable atmosphere) seemed to play a vital role in the usages of gender indexicals.; Therefore, in order to accurately theorize gender indexicality in CMC, further studies need to be designed in a more specified genre, taking the following elements into consideration: members (their ages, gender, social status, and other characters), purposes, and the discourse genres of an e-community. While generalizations can be problematic, one thing was clear: gender indexicals in the data samples reflected certain socio-cultural conventions in Korean society by which traditional gender roles claimed as inequality can be reinforced. |
