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Women's Language Features Used by Meghan Markle in the
“Archetypes” Podcast
Athirah Batrisya Mohd Yusoff
1
, Amri Muaz Azmimurad
2*
, Anis Marjan Azmimurad
3
1,2
English Department, Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam,
Selangor, Malaysia
3
Dungun Vocational College, Jalan Paka, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu
*Corresponding Author
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.924ILEIID0014
Received: 23 September 2025; Accepted: 30 September 2025; Published: 29 October 2025
ABSTRACT
In her influential 1975 article "Language and Woman's Place," linguist Robin Lakoff argues that differences in
speech between men and women reflect and perpetuate women's societal status. This study aims to explore the
women’s language features used by Meghan Markle in the "Archetypes" podcast. Employing a conceptual
content analysis approach, the study analyses and describes the data in terms of words and sentences. It applies
Lakoff's theory of ten types of women's language features to effectively identify, analyse, and explain the
linguistic characteristics present in Markle's communication. The findings reveal that the most prominent
women's language feature in Meghan Markle's speech is the use of emphatic stress, followed by lexical hedges,
intensifiers, and the use of rising intonation on declaratives. These linguistic traits perform diverse functions,
ranging from seeking confirmation and expressing politeness to emphasising crucial ideas. The results of this
study have significant implications. For educators in English and Linguistics, the findings can inspire the use
of diverse media, such as podcasts, to create more engaging teaching and learning experiences. Students
interested in sociolinguistics can gain deeper insights into the study of women's language features.
Additionally, future researchers in the field of language and gender, particularly those exploring women's
languages, can use this research as a valuable reference to enrich discussions on this topic and advance their
own studies.
Keywords: women’s language feature, podcast, Lakoffs theory, archetypes
INTRODUCTION
Language appears to have two primary functions: it is a tool for human communication, and it also serves as a
means of declaring one's identity or distinguishing oneself from others (Parab, 2015; Jaspal, 2009). In addition,
one’s linguistic behaviour such as pronunciation, intonation, and other aspects of speech communicates
complex social meanings. The various social groups with which people identify, the social roles they adopt, the
occasionally contradictory ideals they uphold, and their intentions are all communicated through language.
People utilise these to either exert or cede control (Parab, 2015; Holmes, 1997). As numerous researchers have
shown in their recent work, language is used to portray people's various social identities. In any given
interaction, people utilise its symbolic power to build a particular identity, as well as to demonstrate their
conformity with or against conventionalised norms and values (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 1995; Cameron,
1995 cited in Holmes 1997).
In social context, language influences the way individuals present themselves and how they are perceived by
others as group members. In the year 2023, a minority group of Americans were found listening and involving
in media venue such as podcast. This growth highlights the importance of verbal contact for social analysis
(McKeown & Dixon, 2017). Stance-taking, which covers evaluation, positioning, and alignment, indexes
social identities throughout continuous contact (Schrauf, López De Victoria, and Diaz, 2020). As a result,
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conversations and dialogues are now taking place as the platform to negotiate and contest identities. The
research on gendered communication often looks at how women’s communication style is assessed and how
this assessment relates to their involvement in the communication.
It was also demonstrated that the characteristics associated with women, namely vocal fry, can elicit more
rigorous assessments of professionalism and credibility in comparison to men. This indicates that gendered
listening expectations exist (Chao & Bursten, 2021). In order to avoid displaying weaknesses in
communication, women actively employ communication elements such as intensifiers, hedges, and tag
question. This action also helps them to put more structure in their rapport and stand in conversation. The
integration of these elements is more prominent in podcast especially by the hosts when they want to
emphasize points during the session. However, the is a risk of biasness in the audience that can interpret this as
inconsistency or informality.
The study of language in relation to gender research has progressed quite dramatically since the 1960s. A
linguist named Robin Lakoff took the first step in the in-depth research of this relationship through her seminal
book (1975) titled “Language and Woman’s Place”. Sociolinguists have performed extensive studies since the
publication of "Language and Woman's Place" to explore the validity of the book's assertions. Some research
backs up Lakoff's claims (Crosby & Nyquist, 1977), while other research contradicts them (Dubois & Crouch,
1975). This prompts Lakoff to amend, clarify, and withdraw some elements of her argument.
Despite podcast listening is emerging quickly, studies on linguistic area rarely explore the speech of well-
known hosts and guests. Podcasts have become a transformative and accessible medium, allowing
participatory and decentralized conversations that reach diverse audiences and blend seamlessly into daily
routines (Spinelli & Dann, 2019). The trend suggests that around one-fifth of the UK population now listens to
podcasts weekly (Tobin & Guadagno, 2022). However, in comparison to ordinary speech, celebrity spoken
discourse is not as thoroughly examined. As a result, the stakes are high, and little is known about how
prominent leaders use linguistic traits to construct identity and credibility.
Secondly, numerous previous research focuses on carefully regulated or scripted speech rather than the
impromptu, turn-by-turn conversation that characterizes many podcasts. Decontextualized perception tasks
strip away the broader discursive and interactional context that shapes how utterances and actions are
interpreted. This can flatten the dynamic, multimodal, and sequential nature of real interactions, making it
difficult to capture how meaning and social affordances emerge in context (Trujillo & Holler, 2023) Without
the social stakes of in-person discussion, these designs extract judgments about appropriateness or correctness.
As a result, nothing is known about how tag questions, intensifiers, and hedges differ depending on the topic
and role in an interview.
Problem Statement
Studies of gender and language have often sampled men as standards or extrapolated from mixed-gender
samples that do not adequately represent women's media discourse. Recent research confirms that listener
perceptions can be affected by documenting penalties associated with gender indexing traits such voice fry
(Chao & Bursten, 2021). The practical job women undertake when communicating to millions of people in real
time is not mapped by such studies. This often ignores its importance. As a result, important dynamics of
emphasis, rapport, and position in women's speech are still not well understood in high-profile contexts.
In addition, previous studies only put the focus on scripted materials such as movies, talk shows and
interviews. This puts a neglection on the potential of podcast as the other main materials. This research took a
novel approach by exploring the linguistic analysis within the context of the "Archetypes" podcast. The main
focal point of the podcast is the discussions of the history of stereotypes against women. The podcast was
hosted by Meghan Markle, one of the most influential women in the society. By examining Markle's language
patterns in this specific podcast, the research contributed to the broader discourse on gender and language use.
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Research Objectives
The objective of this study is to examine the use of women’s language features by Meghan Markle in the
Archetypes podcast, focusing on their occurrence, dominance, and communicative functions in unscripted
spoken discourse. This objective aims to explore how these linguistic features contribute to communication
elements in a high-profile media context. The research questions for this study are outlined as follows:
1. What are the features of women’s language used by Meghan Markle in the Archetypes podcast?
2. What is the most dominant linguistic feature of women’s language used by Meghan Markle in the
Archetypes podcast?
3. What are the functions of the features of women’s language and the most dominant function of women’s
language features in the Archetypes podcast by Meghan Markle?
LITERATURE REVIEW
A program for examining the ways in which gendered power manifests in everyday speech was laid out in
Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place (1975). It proposed a group of characteristics, including hedges,
intensifiers, tag questions, empty adjectives, rising intonation, hypercorrect grammar, super polite forms,
avoidance of strong swear words, and precise colour terms. These terms collectively indicate social
positioning. Although the framework was created based on reflective observation, subsequent research has
made it clearer how these characteristics interact.
For example, rather than only indicating hesitancy, tag questions might seek alignment and structure discourse
(Martínez Caro, 2020). In addition, stance-taking connects these forms to identity work throughout the moment
(Schrauf, pez De Victoria, & Diaz, 2020). Evaluations are never just linguistic; listeners’ values and
prejudices also influence the adoption of gendered styles (Weissler, 2022). In unscripted podcast talk, these
resources are audible moment by moment, so pragmatic functions become visible.
By demonstrating how particular characteristics do social labour across contexts and modalities, research
applies or amends Lakoff's assertions. For instance, analyses of tag questions show not only seeming
ambiguity but also epistemic and participatory roles in unplanned discourse (Martínez Caro, 2020). Perception
research further highlights the social costs of gendered performance by demonstrating that female indexed
voice features can elicit harsher assessments of professionalism or competence (Chao & Bursten, 2021).
Similarly, listeners experience quantifiable processing costs when they encounter stereotype-incongruent
language, demonstrating that meaning is mediated by audience parameters (Hammond Thrasher & Järvikivi,
2023). These trends are significant for Archetypes, where a well-known female host employs communication
elements in a live discourse. Consequently, Lakoffs features provide a tractable lens, while contemporary
evidence warns that their interpretation depends on discourse function and listener stance.
According to Lakoff (1975) and Martínez Caro (2020), Lakoffs framework lays out how these elements such
as tag questions, hedges, intensifiers, increasing intonation, and refraining from using harsh profanity influence
stance in real-time conversation. Weissler (2022) claimed that listeners’ perspective affects how the elements
are evaluated. Chao and Bursten (2021) added that women’s approaches can develop relationships as well as
inviting criticism in public discourse. In contrast, scripted experiments rarely capture timing, overlap, and
repair, which are highlighted in unplanned podcast discussion. This raises methodological issues with regard
to audience posture and context. As a result, in unplanned circumstances, gaps continue. Using Archetypes
through this perspective examines how characteristics group together, how functions change between subjects,
and how dominance manifests in usage.
The distribution of hedging across social parameters in ordinary speech has been traced by corpus studies. In
order to track approximators and shields in spontaneous talks, one study used Spoken BNC2014 to create six
sub corpora by gender, age, and education. It discovered that shields predominate and differ by social
grouping. However, their use necessitates close context annotation. A complementary BNC-based approach,
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which is a corpus study that uses spoken component sampling, compared how hedges were used by men and
women in British English speech. This study revealed gendered heterogeneity and significant functional
overlap.
Together, experimental and corpus research demonstrate how discourse marking hedges and fillers influence
understanding. During online word recognition, an eye tracking experiment revealed that discourse marker
activates cohort competition, exhibiting real-time processing effects. In contrast, the BASE seminars dataset's
corpus research manually concorded "I mean," "I think," "you see," and "you know," demonstrating that "you
know" is the most common and multipurpose phrase in academic discourse. The combined evidence points to
fillers or discourse markers as essential resources.
Research also tracks the ways in which women use interactional resources in institutional contexts. Tag
questions were mostly employed by instructors to stress or confirm rather than to hedge. "You know" and "I
mean" help with audience control and coherence. According to COCA-based corpus analysis, hedged
performatives such as I must acknowledge and I must say regulate rapport and position in American
spoken media. These results show that women's public discourse combines affiliation and emphasis. Thus, this
calls for a careful sampling when extrapolating across genres.
Multimodal coordination is now recognized as a source of interactional distinctions in conversation analysis.
Eye tracking and multi-camera video were combined in a study that demonstrated how gaze and manual
gestures control turn transitions, with gestures speeding up handovers in face-to-face communication.
However, a corpus of university seminars showed that tag questions are generally instructor-driven and
frequently result in no verbal response, indicating uneven roles. Method articles also highlight the difficulties
in organizing speaker and turn level data for large-scale analysis. Thus, multimodality and contextual roles
work together to shape conversational organization.
Systematic distinctions are highlighted by comparative work across genres and mediums. Compared to
unstructured conversation, interpreted English exhibits fewer hedges, indicating that institutional objectives
and processing limitations limit mitigation. Strategic interpersonal and ideational decisions that prioritize
clarity above interactive scaffolding are evident in public monologic speech, such as official addresses. In the
meantime, multifunctional discourse cues that coordinate audience alignment and turn taking are documented
in academic spoken corpora. Because of this, conversational practices vary depending on the production
demand and the participation framework, and transparent coding and genre-sensitive sampling are necessary
for reliable comparisons.
Numerous significant correlations are revealed by the evaluated studies. While gendered assessments continue
to exist in public settings, hedges, fillers, and discourse markers are repeatedly found to be multipurpose tools
for controlling posture and interaction across strands. Claims of politeness or weakness are complicated by the
persistent pattern of women's linguistic characteristics being read biasedly rather than functionally. In terms of
methodology, a lot of research uses data that is scripted or based on corpora, which restricts our understanding
of real-time bargaining in high-profile contexts like podcasts. Therefore, there are still gaps in our
understanding of unscripted, celebrity-hosted discourse where audience expectations and identity collide with
conversational methods. By filling these gaps, theoretical explanations of women's language can be improved,
and pragmatic roles in real-world, high-stakes communication can be better understood.
Meghan Markle's speech in the "Archetypes" podcast serves as the main source of information for the
conceptual framework. Several aspects of her language use are identified and categorized as part of a
linguistic characteristics study of this speech. The framework's central focus is on women's language features,
which are a collection of linguistic characteristics often seen in female speakers. These characteristics, as
shown in the diagram, consist of but are not restricted to
Hedges: Words or phrases that soften or weaken a statement (e.g., "sort of," "kind of," "maybe").
Tag Questions: Short questions added to the end of a statement, seeking confirmation or agreement (e.g.,
"It's a nice day, isn't it?").
Intensifiers: Words that amplify or emphasize a statement (e.g., "very," "really," "so").
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Polite Forms: Expressions used to show deference or respect (e.g., "please," "thank you").
Apologies: Expressions of regret or remorse.
Qualifiers: Words or phrases that limit or restrict the scope of a statement (e.g., "generally," "usually").
Indirect Requests: Requests phrased in a roundabout or subtle manner (e.g., "Could you possibly pass the
salt?").
Empty Adjectives: Adjectives that lack specific descriptive content (e.g., "cute," "nice").
Hypercorrection: The use of language forms perceived as more correct or sophisticated than necessary.
Modal Verbs: Auxiliary verbs that express possibility, necessity, or permission (e.g., "might," "should,"
"can").
Repairs: Self-corrections or clarifications made during speech.
Compliments: Expressions of praise or admiration.
Minimal Responses: Short, noncommittal responses that indicate attention (e.g., "uh-huh," "mm-hmm").
Personal Pronouns: Pronouns that refer to the speaker or listener (e.g., "I," "you," "we").
Emotional Language: The use of words and phrases that express feelings or emotions.
Overlapping Speech: Instances where speakers talk simultaneously.
Rising Intonation: A pattern of speech where the pitch rises at the end of a statement, often used to
indicate a question or uncertainty.
This framework also includes the functions of women’s language features. These functions reflect the purposes
they serve in conversation or interaction. Several key functions mentioned are as follows:
Facilitating Conversation: Encouraging participation and maintaining a smooth flow of dialogue.
Expressing Uncertainty: Conveying a lack of confidence or conviction.
Seeking Confirmation: Soliciting agreement or validation from others.
Building Rapport: Establishing and maintaining positive relationships.
Softening Assertions: Reducing the forcefulness or directness of a statement.
Demonstrating Empathy: Showing understanding and compassion for others.
Avoiding Conflict: Minimizing the potential for disagreement or confrontation.
Maintaining Social Harmony: Promoting cooperation and goodwill.
This framework is integrated as the fundamental base of this research to explore Meghan Markle's most
prevalent language element in the podcast. This entails figuring out which linguistic element the host uses the
most frequently in her speech. Upon the completion of dominating feature identification, the specific purposes
are examined to project the way these elements affect Markles interactions and communication style with her
guests.
METHODOLOGY
This study employed conceptual content analysis as the main method of analysis. Conceptual content analysis
involves quantifying and studying specific concepts in textual data through the use of relevant words to
examine their consistency and frequency (Politz, 2023). This approach mixes the strengths of content analysis,
which focuses on analysing recorded human artefacts such as manuscripts, voice recordings, and journals
(Content Analysis, 2021).
Conceptual analysis also involves examining the subject matter by identifying specific words, concepts, or
themes and drawing conclusions based on emerging patterns (Wilson, 2016). Furthermore, the study adhered to
an established framework and guideline, which is Robin Lakoff's theory of women's language features, to
ensure the validity of the analysis. By employing this framework, the study maintains a structured and
systematic approach to the analysis, enhancing the reliability of the findings. The integration of content
analysis and conceptual analysis within the research design provided a robust methodology to explore and
interpret the language features used by Meghan Markle. This helps to contribute to the broader understanding
of language and gender dynamics.
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This research employs purposive sampling technique as only the podcast from Meghan Markles’s Archetypes
was selected as the main sample. Three out of twelve episodes of Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast was
selected as the sample for this study. Several studies that focus on qualitative analysis used focused samples to
achieve depth instead of breadth. This shows that it is acceptable to explore the phenomenon in depth using
small samples for detailed discourse analysis. This study prioritized rich and contextualized interpretation over
statistical generalization. This is to ensure that all the selected episodes of the podcast capture thematic and
linguistic diversity. The main instrument for this study is the conversion of podcast audio into text transcripts
using Spotifys transcription feature. This tool provides accurate speech-to-text conversion and includes
timestamps for easier coding. The titles of each episode that were analysed is as follows
Episode 2: The Duality of Diva with Mariah Carey
Episode 4: The Demystification of Dragon Lady with Margaret Cho
Episode 6: To ‘B’ or not to ‘B’? with Mellody Hobson & Victoria Jackson
Data Collection & Analysis
Data collection for this study employs a qualitative observation approach. This process involved identifying
and downloading three episodes in 2023, transcribing them via Spotify, and storing the raw text in Microsoft
Excel for organization. The data were analyzed using a qualitative analysis technique based on Miles and
Huberman’s interactive model, which includes three stages: data reduction, data display, and conclusion
drawing (Miles et al., 2020). First, utterances from Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast were segmented and
coded according to Lakoffs ten women’s language features. Coding was followed by tabulating frequencies
and mapping functions, ensuring systematic interpretation.
Data reduction is the process of “selecting, focusing, simplifying abstracting, and transforming the data that
appear in written-up field notes or transcriptions” (Miles & Huberman,1994). In this process, the researcher
has condensed and transformed the data so that relevant utterances by Meghan Markle can be made intelligible
based on the ten women’s language features found in the “Archetypes” podcast.
Once the data was reduced, the next step was displaying the data. According to Miles & Huberman (1994),
data display provided "an organised, compressed assembly of information that permits conclusion drawing..."
At this stage, the researcher has elaborated the utterances by Meghan Markle in the “Archetypes'' podcast
using Lakoffs theory of ten women’s language features, such as lexical hedges or fillers, tag questions, rising
intonations on declarative, empty adjectives, precise colour terms, intensifiers, hypercorrect grammar,
superpolite forms, avoidance of strong swear words and emphatic stress.
The final stage of the conclusion-drawing process involved revisiting the data as many times as necessary to
cross-check or verify these emergent conclusions (Miles & Huberman,1994). At this stage, the researcher has
examined the findings descriptively and concluded the meanings emerging from the data by relating them to
the research questions. Then, the researcher proceeded to test the validity of the findings.
Validity & Reliability
The researcher's task of both characterizing and interpreting observed social action (or behavior) within its
specific context is referred to as "thick description" (Ponterotto, 2006). Thick description was used to explain
the significance of each distinguishable feature of women's language in order to guarantee the validity and
reliability of the study. By presenting exact quotes from Meghan Markle's podcast transcripts and elaborating
on the conversational context of each linguistic feature, thick description was used in this study.
Peer review, also known as peer debriefing, is a popular reliability technique that entails asking knowledgeable
colleagues to examine coding choices and interpretations. It guarantees consistency in analysis and aids in
exposing researcher bias (McLeod, 2024; Delve, 2023). Peer review was implemented in this study with the
assistance of an expert who verified and rechecked the data to make sure that each utterance was correctly
classified based on the ten features and its functions. By examining whether the study's methodology is the
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same for various researchers and projects, the expert can further guarantee the study's qualitative reliability
(Creswell, 2014).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Women’s Language Features
Out of ten women’s language features, the eight features that have been identified in Meghan Markle’s speech
in the “Archetypes” podcast include lexical hedge or fillers; tag questions; rising intonation on declaratives;
empty adjectives; intensifiers; hypercorrect grammar; avoidance of strong swear words and emphatic stress.
The frequency of occurrence (%) of each women’s language feature can be observed in the table below:
Table 1. Frequency of Occurrences of Women’s Language Features
Feature
Frequency of occurrences
Contextual example (excerpt)
Emphatic stress
33%
Of course it had ripple effects…” (Utterance
12)
Lexical hedges / fillers
30%
I think that’s really important… there might
be this persona… I mean, its not something
that I connect to.” (Utterance 1)
Intensifiers
21%
You were so famous and so beautiful… it
was so influential.” (Utterance 6)
Rising intonation on
declaratives
5%
…this quote from The Art of Warwas that
what it was?” (Utterance 4)
Empty adjectives
4%
She was so glamorous and fabulous and
talented.” (Utterance 9)
Tag questions
3%
“Maybe that was… part of the healing…
right?” (Utterance 10)
Avoidance of strong swear
words
3%
I’m just gonna call it The B-word’…”
(Utterance 11)
Hypercorrect grammar
1%
Victoria, she and her team of
researchers…” (Utterance 7)
Superpolite forms
0%
Precise colour terms
0%
Table 1 illustrates that emphatic stress is the most dominant women's language feature, accounting for 33% of
the total occurrences. Lexical hedges or fillers constitute the second most frequent feature, appearing in her
speech 30% of the time. Intensifiers make up 21% of the occurrences, while empty adjectives occur 4% of the
time. Rising intonation on declaratives occurred 5%, whereas avoidance of strong swear words and tag
questions each account for 3% of the occurrences. Hypercorrect grammar is observed in 1% of the instances.
Based on the analysis of 162 utterances, Markle's speech did not contain precise colour descriptors or
superpolite forms.
Most Dominant Language Features
Table 2. Excerpt for Empathic Stress
Example (excerpt)
Of course it had ripple effects…” (Utterance 12)
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“From worrier to warrior.” (Utterance 13)
The dominance of emphatic stress as the most prevalent women's language feature in Meghan Markle's speech
in the "Archetypes" podcast can be attributed to the genre and topics discussed in episodes two, four and six.
Markle's use of emphatic stress is consistent with the genre of the podcast, which delves into individual
narratives, self-reflection, and personal experiences. By using this rhetorical device, she emphasizes the
importance and impact of her statements and gives her storytelling a strong sense of authenticity and
conviction. This fits with the podcast's genre, which uses emotive and passionate storytelling to captivate and
engage listeners.
There are a number of reasons why Meghan Markle's speech from the examined episodes lacked superpolite
forms and specific color terms. First of all, it is possible that the subjects covered did not call for the use of
superpolitical language or terms with particular colors. It is also possible that the episodes concentrated more
on narrative and personal experiences, where these linguistic elements were not necessary. Furthermore,
Markle's communication preferences and style skew toward the linguistic traits of other women, namely
lexical hedges and emphatic stress, which were more prevalent in her speech. Since different people may have
different language patterns and preferences, individual variation and personal linguistic choices may also
contribute to the lack of these characteristics.
Functions of Meghan Markle’s Use of Women’s Language Features
Table 3. Functions of Women’s Language Features
Feature
Primary function (as found)
Contextual example (excerpt)
Lexical hedges / fillers
Soften assertion; invite
co-reasoning
I think… might… I mean…” (Utterance
1)
Rising intonation
Seek confirmation; hold the
floor
…was that what it was?” (Utterance 4)
Intensifiers
Boost evaluation / emphasis
So famous… so influential.” (Utterance 6)
Empty adjectives
Praise; build affiliation
Glamorous, fabulous, talented.”
(Utterance 9)
Tag questions
Elicit alignment / agreement
…part of the healing… right?” (Utterance
10)
Avoidance of strong swear
words
Maintain politeness /
inclusivity
“Call it ‘The B-word’…” (Utterance 11)
Hypercorrect grammar
Index precision / credibility
Victoria, she and her team…” (Utterance
7)
Emphatic stress
Amplify certainty and stance
Of course it had ripple effects…”;
worrier warrior.” (Utt. 12–13)
Table 3 shows feature’s function pairings with exemplar excerpts drawn from the transcripts. The analysis
indicates that hedges/fillers primarily softened claims and invited collaboration, while rising intonation sought
confirmation and kept turns open. Moreover, intensifiers foregrounded evaluation, empty adjectives amplified
praise and affiliation, and tag questions elicited alignment. The table also presents that avoidance of strong
swear words-maintained inclusivity, hypercorrect grammar indexed precision, and emphatic stress, being the
dominant function overall, amplified key ideas and stance. Together, these functions depict a host who
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manages rapport and emphasis simultaneously. In plain terms, Markle’s unscripted style weaves politeness and
passion that explains the strong audience engagement observed for narrative podcasting.
DISCUSSION
In the "Archetypes" podcast, Meghan Markle uses language in ways that both align with and deviate from the
traditional patterns for women's language laid out by Lakoff (1975). The most prevalent feature of women's
language, emphatic stress, is consistent with Lakoff's thinking on this topic. The purpose of Markle's emphatic
stress is to emphasise crucial points, express conviction, and highlight key ideas. This supports Lakoff's theory
that female language features help speakers better communicate their emotions and sense of self (Lakoff,
1975). Markle uses emphatic stress frequently in her speech throughout the podcast, reflecting her enthusiastic
hosting style and successfully drawing listeners in with emotive and passionate narratives.
Additionally, Markle uses lexical hedges to express hesitation, intensifiers to express admiration and amplify
her feelings, and refrains from using profanities. This is to make her podcast accessible and appealing to a
wider audience while she still adhering to societal norms and expectations of feminine propriety and
politeness. This finding is consistent with Lakoff's theory of women's language characteristics. Lakoff's
description of women's language patterns is supported by these linguistic behaviors, which highlight Markle's
communication's emphasis on courtesy, teamwork, and empathy.
Different theoretical perspectives are necessary to fully understand Markle's linguistic choices, even though
Lakoff's theory provides insightful information about the linguistic characteristics of women. For instance,
Tannen's (1993) research on gender and communication offers the terms "rapport talk" and "report talk."
While report talk concentrates on communicating information and asserting knowledge, rapport talk
emphasizes using language to create connections and emotional bonds. Due to her aim to foster a
compassionate and encouraging atmosphere for her guests and listeners, Markle employs rapport talk, which
may be why she uses lexical hedges and refrains from using strong profanity.
This study's application of Tannen's Genderlect Styles theory offers a different perspective on Markle's
communication objectives, and the role language plays in establishing rapport in her podcast exchanges. Her
use of lexical hedges and intensifiers aligns with the characteristics of "rapport talk," as she aims to establish a
friendly and supportive atmosphere when speaking with guests. Furthermore, Holmes' (1997) study on
politeness and gender shows how women frequently use linguistic features to preserve social harmony and
avert possible disputes. It is possible to interpret Markle's use of intensifiers to show her guests appreciation
and respect as a tactic for maintaining cordial relationships during conversations. Moreover, Markle may be
expressing a desire for simpler, more relatable language by avoiding superpolite forms and precise color terms.
This aligns with Holmes' (1997) notion of "solidarity politeness."
Spender's Gender and Power Theory (1980) explore how language is related to social power and gender. The
theory investigates how language can support and maintain gender-based power disparities in society.
Spender's theory can be used to analyze how Markle's language choices in the "Archetypes" podcast may
either challenge or reinforce the gender power dynamics that are currently in place. Her deliberate attempt to
conform to social norms regarding feminine language while projecting an image of authority and power could
be exemplified by her avoidance of strong profanity. Furthermore, as Markle negotiates conventional gender
norms in public discourse, Spender's theory put on the challenges about how her language use might affect
opinions of her as a strong female communicator.
The notion that language reinforces gender power disparities in society is one facet of Spender's theory that
can be connected to Markle's language use. It is possible to interpret Markle's deliberate attempt to uphold
social norms regarding feminine language while asserting her authority and power as the host as the reason
behind her avoidance of strong profanity in the podcast. The way women, especially those in positions of
power, negotiate traditional gender norms in public discourse to preserve respect and credibility is reflected in
this linguistic behavior. Markle may be enhancing her reputation as a strong female communicator by
avoiding profanity, which goes against the norm for how women should behave in public.
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One component of Spender's theory that can be applied to Markle's language use is the notion that language
reinforces gender power disparities in society. It is possible to read Markle's conscious attempt to uphold
traditional standards of feminine language while showcasing her authority and power as host by avoiding harsh
profanity in the podcast. This use of language illustrates how powerful women negotiate gender norms in
public discourse to preserve their respect and credibility. By staying away from strong profanity, Markle may
be enhancing her reputation as a strong female communicator and challenging preconceived ideas about how
women ought to speak in public. As society looks up or criticizes celebrities, it is undeniable that these public
figures hold power to influence society. Given the power they have over society, they have to be more mindful
of their utterances and choices of words that could either build or destroy them. As Markle is placed high in the
tier of public figure, it is understandable how she is being careful with the words she chose to use when
communicating to the public. These various theoretical perspectives, which go beyond Lakoff's framework,
offer complex interpretations of Markle's linguistic characteristics. Understanding the complex nature of
language and how it interacts with gender, social roles, communication goals, and power dynamics is made
possible by incorporating these viewpoints into this research.
CONCLUSION
In order to build affiliation while projecting stance, the findings theoretically build on Lakoff's framework by
demonstrating a rapport with resolve repertoire: listener ideologies and expectations filter the uptake of
boosters (like emphatic stress) and softeners (like hedges) that co-occur (Weissler, 2022). This means that
journalists, podcast hosts, and communication trainers can assist speakers in balancing strategically placed
emphasis for clarity with hedges for inclusivity (Depraetere and Kaltenböck, 2023). Additionally, some
performatives and stress patterns can emphasize meaning without coming across as harsh. Media speech
curriculum can instruct teachers on when to emphasize and when to hedge in narrative styles. Ultimately, the
findings suggest that a balanced combination of warmth and authority is necessary for effective public
speaking rather than having to choose between the two.
Methodologically, future research should use recent best practice pipelines for recording, structuring, and turn
level analysis, as well as extend samples across more episodes and include multimodal conversation data
(prosody, time, and gesture) (Yeomans et al., 2023). In practice, researchers might connect linguistic traits to
reach and engagement standards and compare presenters and guests across podcast genres, using information
from modern audiences to support sample frames. Theoretically, designs can refine assertions about gendered
evaluation by combining perceptual trials with corpus coding to explore how listener attitudes mediate
perceptions of hedges and emphasis. To put it briefly, a program that is listener-aware, multi-episode, and
blended would explain why and when softeners and boosters work in public audio. Such work would sharpen
guidance for media training while advancing theory on style, stance, and identity in digital speech.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
You can dedicate this section to give recognition and acknowledgement to those involved in your project
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