This study examines the intersection of feminist literary criticism and sociolinguistics in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. While traditional scholarship focuses on thematic elements of patriarchy, this paper investigates the linguistic mechanisms—specifically politeness strategies, modality, and irony—used by Elizabeth Bennet to negotiate gendered expectations. Drawing on Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory  and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, the findings reveal that language serves as a primary site of resistance, allowing the protagonist to assert agency within the restrictive social hierarchies of the 19th century.

Feminism, gender and language, feminist Linguistics, discourse analysis

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