A Brief Study on Sexism in English and Chinese Proverbs from Cultural Perspective.docx

A Brief Study on Sexism in English and Chinese Proverbs from Cultural Perspective.docx

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ABriefStudyonSexisminEnglishandChineseProverbsfromCulturalPerspective

XXXX学院

本科生毕业设计（论文）

题目：

ABriefStudyonSexisminEnglishandChineseProverbsfromCulturalPerspective

外国语学院英语专业

学号

学生姓名

指导教师

二〇一二年五月

摘要

语言是社会现实的一种反映，必然会反映出人类社会各种社会观念。

而来源于生活的谚语又是语言的重要组成部分，可以反映人们在社会中的观念和行为。

因此语言和文化中所体现的性别歧视也在谚语中有所展现。

且从谚语中研究探索语言和文化中的性别歧视更具有广泛的代表性和极强的说服力。

和世界上其它语言一样，英语和汉语中也包含了大量的谚语。

英汉谚语源远流长，覆盖了人类文化的方方面面。

本论文首先分析了谚语与文化的关系，试图证明谚语中的性别歧视是文化现象的一种反映。

接着通过大量的举例和分类来详细的分析了英汉谚语中的性别歧视现象。

最后论文剖析了英汉谚语中产生性别歧视现象文化因素。

在人类早期，男尊女卑的思想盛行，男子在社会经济、政治、文化领域以及人们的传统观念中，总是处于比女性优越的地位,人们在观念上形成的对妇女特有的歧视观念慢慢形成并反映在语言中，尤其是谚语中。

通过本论文，作者希望人们能重视语言中的性别歧视，同时有助于人们找到有效的策略去减弱或消除语言以及日常生活中的性别歧视。

关键词：

性别歧视；谚语；文化因素

Abstract

Languageservesasasocialmirror,reflectingtheimplicitvalues,attitudesandprejudicesofthesociety.EnglishandChineseproverbs,asanessentialpartofthelanguage,comefromreallife,whichcanmoreorlessreflectpeople’sviewsandbehaviorsorsystemofthesociety,andofcourseprovidealittleglimpseoforcluestothesexisminlanguage.ThussexisminlanguageaswellascultureisalsoshowninProverbs.Andproverbsareamorerepresentativeandmorepersuasivevehicleofresearchingonsexdiscriminationinlanguageandculture.Likeotherlanguagesintheworld,EnglishandChinesecontainlargenumberofproverbshandeddownthroughgenerations,whichcoveravastrangeofhumanculture.

Tostartwith,thepaperanalysesrelationshipbetweenproverbsandculture,andtrytoprovethatsexisminproverbisamirrortothecultureandisareflectionofculture.ThenthepaperanalysessexisminEnglishandChineseproverbsingreaterdetailbyusinguniversalevidence.Finally,thepapertracestheculturalfactorsofsexisminEnglishandChineseproverbs.Inancienttime,thethoughtsthatmaleshostfemalesandthetreatmentofwomenasinferiorstomenareinvogue.Menarealwaysatsuperiorpositionstowomeninthesocialeconomy,inthepolitics,aswellasinthepeople’straditionalideas,sotheideaofsexdiscriminationhasreflectedinthelanguage,especiallyinproverbs.BythispaperwriterhopesthatitcanmakePeopletakeseriousconcernofsexisminlanguage,thushelpingpeoplefindsomeeffectivewaystolessen,orclearupsexisminlanguageanddailylife.

Keywords:

sexism;proverbs;culturalfactors

Contents

Chapter1Introduction

Languageisasocialphenomenon,andithasacloserelationshipwiththesociallife,thelanguageisusedinaspecificsocialgroupanditisnotonlythecarrieroftheideologicalcontent,butamirrorofsociallife,itrevealspeople’straditionalthoughtsthatsexdiscriminationagainstwomeninthesociety.Fromthedevelopmentandchangesofthelanguage,peoplecanconcludethatsexdiscriminationdoesnotonlyexistinChina,butinallthecountries.

Generally,menareidentifiedasstrongandpowerfulwhilethewomenarecaringandweak.Frombirth,thegenderisidentified.Thereforewecansaythosegenderdifferencesinlanguageexisteverywhere.Butwiththedevelopmentofsocietyandthefeministmovement,thegenderdifferencesbetweenmaleandfemalehaveacquirednewdefinitions,andtherearemoreandmoreresearcherswhoareinterestedinthesubject.Sexismisakindofdiscriminationbyonesexagainstanother,especiallybymalesagainstfemales;itpenetratesintoallaspectsofsociallife,includinglanguages.Andlanguageisamirrorthatreflectseverysideofhumansociety.Theproverbisaspecialformofexpressionandanimportantpartinthehistoricaldevelopmentoflanguage;itisoneimportantcomponentoflanguage;itreflectshumanculture,orthecustomsofhumanlife,whichcontainsexism.[1]Forexample,therearemanyproverbsaboutwomenmayrevealtheirweakness,romance,sensitivity,caring,andsexualattractiveness.Weknowthatanyformofsexistlanguagewillprobablyalienateoroffendsomesocialmemberorgroupwhetheronpurposeornot.Sointhisarticle,Iwilllistsomeexamplesofsexismandanalyzethereasonswhichcausesexism,aswellasstudythetrendofdevelopmentofsexisminEnglishandChineseProverbs.

Chapter2ABriefIntroductionofCultureandProverbs

2.1ABriefIntroductionofCulture 

Forthepurposesoffurtherdiscussionconcerningtherelationshipbetweencultureandproverbs,thetwotermscultureandproverbsmustbecarefullydefinedfirst.Followingaresomedefinitionofculture.

Thisisprobablythemostwidelyaccepteddefinitionofculture:

Cultureisthetotalaccumulationofbeliefs,customs,values,behaviors,institutionsandcommunicationpatternsthatareshared,learnedandpasseddownthroughthegenerationsinaidentifiablegroupofpeople.[2]

InLongmanModernEnglishDictionary,“culture”isdefinedas:

“thesocialandreligiousstructuresandintellectualandartisticmanifestationsetc.thatcharacterizeasociety”.

Kluckhohn’sdefinitionis:

“Cultureiswayofthinking,feeling,believing.Itisthegroup’sknowledgestoredup（inmemoryofman,inbooksandobjects）forfutureuse.”[3]

However,thereisnosuchdefinitionofculturethathasbeenwidelyacceptedbyallpeople.Becauseitismultidimensional,complex,andallpervasive,theterm“culture”hasbeenwidelyemployedinsocialscienceandhasdifferentshadesofmeaningsindifferentdisciplinesandcontexts.Differentdefinitionsfocusondifferentaspectsandangles.Butgenerallyspeaking,itismostlyconcernedwithone’sconsciousandunconsciousoutlookonvalueandbehavior:

Consequently,theseoutlooksinfluenceandsometimesinstructourbehaviorswhetheritisinthefieldoflinguisticbehavior,paralinguisticbehaviorornon-verbalbehavior.

Tosummarizethesedefinitions,wecansayculturereferstothewholeofmaterialandspiritualwealthcreatedandaccumulatedbyhumanbeingsinthecourseofsocialdevelopment.Materialcultureisconcrete,tangibleandsubstantial,includingcities,houses,organizations,etc.whilespiritualcultureisabstract,intangibleandindiscernible,includingvalues,beliefsandcustoms.Bothmaterialandspiritualcultureplayamajorroleininfluencingpeople’sperceptionsofreality,thoughtandbehaviorpatterns.

2.2ABriefIntroductionofProverbs

Therearemanydefinitionsthathavebeensuggestedforproverbs.Herewriterlistsomeofthem.

Manyauthoritativedictionariesprovidevariousdefinitions.AccordingtoOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary（Fourthedition）,aproverbis“ashotwell-knownsayingthatstatesageneraltruthorgivesadvice”[4]CollinsCOBUILDAdvancedLearner’sEnglishDictionary’sdefinitiongoeslikethis“Aproverbisashortsentencethatpeopleoftenquote,whichgivesadviceortellsyousomethingaboutlift”[5]And《辞海》providesadefinitioninthiswaythat“谚语是熟语的一种，流传于民间的简练通俗而富有意义的语句，大多反映人民生活和斗争经验。

”[6]

Somescholarsalsoputforwardtheirowndefinitionsofproverbs.Forexample,ascholarsaid,“Proverbsaretraditionalsayings,eachofwhichexpressesacompleteideainsimpleandpleasantlanguage;theirteachingsarethefruitoftheagelessexperienceofthepeople.”[7]AnotherscholarGregoryTitelmangaveproverbsthefollowingdefinition，“Proverbsarethecollectivewisdomofallnations，ofallages，ofalltimes.Aproverbtypicallyexpressesacommonplacethoughtinthoughtinasuccinct,oftenmetaphoricalway.”[8]

Basedonthevariousdefinitionsofferedbydifferentdictionariesorscholars,weccandrawaconclusionthataproverbisakindoftraditionalsayingwhichusuallyexpressesatruthbasedoncommonsenseortheagelesshumanexperienceofthepeople.Itispopularlyknownandrepeatedbypeoplefromgenerationtogeneration.Andbeinganessentialpartoflanguage，itplaysanimportantroleinlanguage.Itisaspecialkindoflanguageform.Withoutproverb,alanguagewouldbecomecolorlessandboringbyleakingofvitalityandvividness.

2.3TheRelationshipbetweenCultureandProverbs

Beforewriterdiscussestherelationshipbetweencultureandproverbs,writershouldfirstdiscusstherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.Whatroledoescultureplayinthelanguage?

Wecansaythatlanguageisinfluencedbyculture,whilelanguagealsohassomeeffectsontherelatedculture.“Languageisapartofcultureandplaysaveryimportantroleinit.Somesocialscientistsconsideritasthekeystoneofculture.Withoutlanguage,theymaintain,culturewouldnotbepossible.Ontheotherhand,languageisinfluencedandshapedbyculture;itreflectsculture.Inthebroadestsense,languageisthesymbolicrepresentationofapeople,anditcompressestheirhistoricalculturalbackgroundsaswellastheirapproachtolifeandtheirwaysoflivingandthinking.”[9]Inanycultureorregion,Languagedoesnotendatthemeaningortheuseofwordsassociatedtoaculture;wordsrepresentbeliefs,history,andthecultureoftheiroriginandtheymustbeusedaccordingly.Moreovertherelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureisintrinsic,forthelanguageofasocietyisoneaspectofitscultureandculture,inreturn,hasinfluenceonlanguage.

Frommentionedabove,writercansafelysaythatlanguageandculturehaveanintimaterelationship.Sinceproverbsplayanimportantroleinlanguage,itisclearthatproverbsalsohaveacloserelationwithculture.Theyarealsoconsideredasareflectorofculture.Differentnationshavedifferentbeliefs,traditionalvalues,andlifestylesandsoon,andthesedifferenceswillbeembodiedintheirlanguagesseparately.Likewise,itleadstotheuniquenessofproverbsineachculture.

Tosumup,asanessentialpartoflanguage,proverbsandcultureinfluenceeachother.Proverbsareproductionsofourconceptualculturea