This study analyses how discourse is used to represent gender in cultural wedding practicesrnamong the Oromo of Sakala District, Horo Guduru Wollega Zone. To do this, it embarks on arndetailed analysis of cultural wedding songs, proverbs, linguistic taboos and material symbolsrnduring the ceremony. The study is situated within the qualitative paradigm and uses qualitativernmethods of data collection; namely, observation, interviews and focus group discussions. Datarnwere collected ji'om observation of betrothed young couple, the parents' of the marrying couple,rnthe chorus ./i'om both sides, the young best men and the elderly people. The descriptions ofrncultural peljormances, events and activities were also blended with their analysis. Therndescriptions were accompanied by different photos and images of marriage ceremonyrnparticipants, material things, and settings. It also made use of interviews with men and women,rnmanying couple and their parents regarding gender representation practices in an arrangedrnmarriage through language for validation purposes. Moreover, focus group discussions withrnwomen and men were made to tap information about women '.I' and men '.I' perceptions of genderrnrepresentation practices.rnData collected through the above tools were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)rnand Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Arguing from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)rntheoretical position, this thesis seeks to analyse how marriage partner relationships ofrndominance, power and control are constitufed and expressed in the discourse practices ofrnarranged marriage. The thesis also applied the tenets of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) tornanalyse clauses and multimodal texts mainly./i'om the pOint of transitivity, modality and themernbased on the objective and Research Questions. Thematic approach has been used in order tornfocus on the presentation and analysis of the data.rnThe findings of the study indicated that the dominant representations noted for men throughrncultural wedding songs show their commanding nature and holders of dominant positions withinrnmarriage, negotiators of propositions, and orchestrators of actions who have the final say inrnmaking things done in marriage life. However, while both men and some women constructrnwomen within deficit discourses, wedding songs do not match with eilher women's enacted