Exploring the Adjective 'Sick' in Men's vs. Women's Online Magazines: A Corpus Analysis
Abstract
The word "sick" has various meanings, including as a noun, adjective, and slang. As an adjective, it refers to being ill or nauseated, as in “sick days” or “sick to one’s stomach.” It can also express emotions like “sick with fear” or describe someone disturbed, as in “sick thoughts.” As a noun, it denotes those who are ill, like “the sick” in hospitals. In slang, “sick” signifies something impressive. Interestingly, men and women may use "sick" differently. For instance, in men’s magazines like GQ, "sick" is often slang, as in “10 sick leather jackets you can buy!” In women’s magazines like Elle, it’s more emotional, as in “A Sick Scam.” This study explores whether men use “sick” more in slang while women use it more emotionally. Corpus data from online magazines targeting men and women will be gathered, using the Word sketch to show the collocates grouped by the type of grammatical relation. This research investigates the use of “sick” in corpus, influences gender-based language preferences, examining how "sick" align with linguistic choices in men’s and women’s online magazines. This study aims to contribute to understanding gendered language use, testing the theory that men and women exhibit distinct language choices.
Date
2026-02-03Author
['Romadhona, Dwi Nurfitria', 'Keisya, Putri Sabina', 'Mufida, Zalefa']
Metadata
Show full item recordURI
https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jla/article/view/102166http://digilib.fisipol.ugm.ac.id/repo/handle/15717717/55080
