The Construction of a Feminized Adolescent: A Case Study of Institutional Discourse through Speech Act Analysis

Abstract

A recently released proclamation about the measure towards the phenomenon of ‘adolescent's feminization’ from the Ministry of Education of China has raised public controversy and performs as an instance of institutional discourse that enables the construction of a new social identity. This paper is a discourse analysis carried out upon such an institutional discourse that is entextualised as a public transcript to investigate the very question of how institution constructs social identity by an entextualised discourse. In this sense, the research critically adopts Norton and Hall' theory of identity construct and is further addressed through the lens of entextualisation. Specifically, the case is studied through the approach of speech act analysis, involving the analysis of locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. In this sense, the study will be presented as a new mode of identity construct through an integrated lens of speech act theory and the authorization of institutional discourse, with special regard to the public discourse of feminism. As a result, the power of the institution underlines the central place of inscription in the construction of institutional authority and enables the legitimacy of the institutionally defined identity of a feminized adolescent.