Comparative Analysis of Gender-Related Words in a Parallel Corpora of 'Bumi Manusia'
University of Indonesia
ABSTRACT
In literary criticism, the representation of gender in text production from the reader's perception has been a long and continuous debate. This comparative analysis using parallel corpora is a study to break down and compare the two languages attempts in delivering the similar semantic goals. The main focus is on gender related words in the novel Bumi Manusia or This Earth of Mankind', a fictional novel by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, in both Bahasa Indonesia and English. Quantitative analysis supported with qualitative detailing is used to detect and analyze attitude-conveying terms as specified in the Appraisal Theory. Preliminary evaluation indicates that there is a difference in patterns between Bahasa Indonesia and English which conveys each languages distinction in representing gender and identity. This also poses a question of how much is lost in the translation in terms of semantic scaling. This paper can be scaled into both synchronic and diachronic comparative analysis of general language comprehension using notably bigger parallel corpora.
KEYWORDS
attitude, Appraisal Theory, literary translation, corpus linguistics, gender representation