从女权主义看现代英语辞汇中的性别歧视现象.docx

从女权主义看现代英语辞汇中的性别歧视现象.docx

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从女权主义看现代英语辞汇中的性别歧视现象

《学术论文写作》

课程论文

题目：

从女权主义看现代英语词汇中的性别歧视现象

专业：

英语

学生姓名：

林渝茜

学号：

09096609

课程序号：

3397

编号：

30

完成时间：

2012年6月

成绩：

教师签名：

SexisminModernEnglishVocabularyFromTheFeministProspective

LinYuqian

Abstract:

SexismisbeingoneofthespeciallyusedlanguageformsinourEnglishlanguage.Nowdayswomanplaysamoreandmoreimportantroleinoursociety,studyingthesexismcanimproveabetterunderstandingatwesternfeminismandthesourceofEnglishvocabulary.ThisarticleisbasedonfeministpositiontoanalysisEnglishvocabulary,whichstudyfromseveralaspectsoftheconceptionofsexism:

thereflectionofsexisminEnglishvocabularyandtheinflunencyofthesexisminvocabulary.Thearticleisaimedtomakeoursocietytopaygreatattentiontofemale.Thesexismusedinourlanguagewillbedisapperedonlyifthesocietydivesttheconceptionofsexism.

Keywords:

Sexism;Feminist;Englishvocabulary

从女权主义看现代英语辞汇中的性别歧视现象

林渝茜

摘要：

性别歧视现象一直作为一种特殊的语言现象存在在英语语言中。

现现在，女性的在社会的地位也愈来愈重要，研究性别歧视在英语中有利于加深咱们对西方女权主义和英语辞汇的来源明白得。

本文从性别歧视的概念、性别歧视在英语辞汇中的表现和女权主义对性别歧视在辞汇中阻碍几个方面站在女性的立场具体分析性别歧视在英语辞汇中表现。

目的是为了引发社会对女性的重视，只有幸免社会中的性别歧视现象，性别歧视在语言运用才能够消失。

关键词：

性别歧视；女性立场；英语辞汇

SexisminModernEnglishVocabularyFromTheFeministProspective

EnglishDepartment2009（06）LinYuqian

1.Introduction

Thereisariddleaboutsexism:

Amanwenttravellingwithhisson,unfortunately,theymeetanaccidentontheroad.Themandeadatthesceneandhissonwasinjuredsoseriouslythatwassenttothehospital.Atthattimeadoctorsawthisboyatlastgaspandcried:

”Ohmygod,heismyson!

”Thisriddlewasaskingwhat’stherelationshipbetweentheboyandthedoctor?

Obviously,thedoctorwasthemotheroftheboy.Howevertherearestillalotofpeoplecouldnotsolvetheriddle,itisbecausetheyarelostintotheframedformulaofthinkingthatthedoctorisalwaysmale,peoplewillcallthem“womendoctors”iftheyarefemale.

AfamouslinguistBoashassaid:

“languagereflectsculture,culturedecideslanguage.ThereasonthatwhysexismisexistinginEnglishlanguageisbecausesexismisdeeplyrootedinoursociety”（Boas,164）.AndthewordsexismalsohasimportantconnectionwithFeminism.Intermofthis,feminismhasmadeagreatinflunencytothesexisminthemodernEnglish.Today,theattitudethatpeopletreatthosewordsarealsobecomedifferent.

2.Literaturereview

2.1Sexism

ThewordofsexismiscomeintobeingwithWesternfeminism,sointheitisanewwordinEnglishlanguage,inWebster’sNewInternationalDictionary,ithaswrittensexismisreferstotheunfairtreatmenttopeople,especiallywomen,becauseoftheirsex.AndinCihaiitisexplainedasanunreasonablesocialphenomenonthatwomanisrestrictedserverlyinfuthereducation,vocationalpromotionandemployment.Abovethese,wecanconcludethatthedifferentopinionindifferentcountryaboutsexismissame.Theyallpiontoutthatthereareunfairtreatmentsbetweenmanandwoman.Inthelate1960s,Anewforceofsociallinguistbegantofouceonthesubjectofsexisminlanguage.Thereareabundantresearchesofwordorder,manmadelanguage,semanticdegrogetion.

2.2Feminism

“Feminismisdifficulttodefinebecauseofthemanydifferentkindsoffeminisms,whichexisttoday.Howevermostfeministsholdabeliefthatwomenasagrouparetreatedoppressivelyanddifferentlyfrommen;theyaresubjecttopersonalandinstitutionaldiscrimination.（Chenhua,4）Thefeminsmhasappearedinmoderntimes,alotoffamousscholarsincludeModeFeminismintothreestages,Everystageshasitsowncharacters.Firstwasfrom1890-1920,whichwasvividandenergeticperiod,thegenderdiscriminationtothewomanbegantodisappear,andalargenumberoffeministandalargenumberoffemalerevolutionaryorganizationbegantobeorganized.Secondstagewasfrom1920to1960,becauseoftheeconomicdepression,feminismorganizationswereonthedecline.Thethirdstageisaftertheyearof1960,whichwasthemostradicalperiod.（Banner,23）

3.TheReflectionofSexisminEnglishvocabulary

3.1Morpheme

3.1.1Derivatives

“InEnglish,derivationalmorphemesaremainlyprefixesandsuffixes.Theseaffixesoftenchangethepartofthestem.Theaffixestherebyhelpustoidentifyrelationshipswithinwords”（WangRongpei,30）.TherearealotofnounsuffixusedinEnglishwhichespeciallyrefertowoman.“Amarkedandunmarkedtermisausefulconceptwhenanalyzingsexism.Itisaspecialkindofasymmetry.ItisquitecommoninEnglishforunmarked’termstorefertomales,whiletorefertoafemale，thetermsare‘marked’byaddingasuffix.”（Jinhong,1）.

Forexample:

-ness（princeandprincess,hostandhostess,lionandlioness,heirandheiress,waitorandwaitress,etc.）,–ine（heroandheroine）,–ette（ushereandusherette,maioreandmajorette,etc.）,and-trix（executorandexecutix,administratorandadministratrix）.Andalsoalotoffemalenameisalsoderivedfromman’snamewhichiatoaddsomesuffixes（-e,-le,-ine）,suchasLouise,JacquelineisderivedfromLouisandJacquel.

Inaword,ItisanphenomenoninEnglishvocabularythattheactoffemininesuffixationistocreateanunbalancedgenderpair,sinceitshowsthatthefemininenounderivesfromthemasculinewordandalsoreflectsfamaleisofthesecondaryorinferiorstatus.

3.1.2Compound

Therearenumbersofwordscompoundbyman-or–maninEnglishvocabulary,forinstant:

mankind,man-made,hairman,eongressman,foreman,postman,workmanand

sportsmanetc..Allthosenotonlycanrefertotheman,butcanbedescribeforwoman.

“StudiesbyKidd,SchneiderandHacker,amongmanyothers,allinvestigateaspectsofinformants’interpretationofmanand–mancompoundssupposedlyusedinagenericsense.Acommonfindingintheseprojectsisthatchildren（insomecasesalsoadults）haddifficultiesinterpretingthewordmanand–mancompoundsasgenerics.（Xulin,19）Forexample,aman-of-all-work,amanatthewheel,amanofmeans,themanhigherup,aleadingman,amanofweigh,amanofmark,amanofnote.Thesewordcanbeusedinbothmanandwomam.

3.2WordMeaning

InEnglishlanguage,Alotofwordsrepresentdifferentcareersordifferentsocialstatustitles,therearecorrespondenceinwordofmaleandfamale.Themalewordarealwayspositiveandoccupitional,butthefemalewordaresometimesbenegativeandsexual.Forexample

Governor（州长、省长、总督、司令）

Governess（地位低下的女教师、保姆）

Sir（先生、“爵士”）

Madam（夫人、太太、小姐、“鸨母”）

Master（主人、师傅、硕士）

Misteress（女主人、“情妇”）

Bechelor（未婚男子、单身汉、学士）

Spinster（未婚女子、老处女）

Wizad（奇才、有能力的人）

Wizard（巫婆、妖妇、丑姑娘）

Callboy（服务员、催场员）

Callgirl（电话应召妓女）

ThebeequivalentofmaleandfemaleisalsodifferentintheEnglishlanguage,forexample,

Publicman（担任公职的人）

Publicwoman（娼妓）

Manly（有男子刚强气质）

womanly（似女人、女人腔）

Unmenly（不像男子汉）

Unladylike（缺乏女子应有的举止、坏女人）

IntermsoftheimplicitmeaningofthesewordareallrevealthatwomenarediscriminatedinEnglishlinguistic.

3.3WordOrder

Wearealwayshearthat“Ladiesfirst”,butinEnglishlanguage,malewordisalwaysbethefirst,andpeoplearecommonlyfollowingtheprincipleof“manfirstwomansecond”inusinglanguage.Forinstant,maleandfemale;husbandandwife;manandwoman;heandshe;brotherandsister;sonanddaughter;boysandgirls;kingandqueen;AdamandEve;hostandhostess,etc..ThewordordersocommonamongEnglishvocabularythatwhenwefeeluncomfortableifweputthosefemalewordsfirst.

4.EffectsbyFeminisminEnglishVocabulary

UndertheruleanddiscriminationofthePatriarchalsociety,womenneverstopfightingfortheequalityoftheirrightandsocialstatus.Thewomen’sliberationmovementandfeminismmovementbringingoutinthe20Cisthemostinfluentialexemplificationforthat.Agroupofrenownedfeminist,feministliteraturecritics,suchasSimonedeBeauvoir,J.Kristeva,H.Cxous,VirqiniaWoolf,E.Showalter,allshowaseriouscritiqueonmasculinelanguage.Theythoughtthatavarietyofwords,phrasesandsomecommonidiomaticnegativeexpressions,whichdiscriminatefemale,notonlydepreciatetheimageofwomeninthelinguisticenvironment,butalsoaffectthevaluejudgmentofwomendirectlyorindirectly.（DongXibo,25）

4.1Replacethewordwithdecriminatory

WehaveanalysisedtherearelargeamontoffamalesuffixusedinEnglishvocabulary,nowdaysithasbeengraduallyreplaced.suchas-ess,-ette,-trixect.Forexample:

waitress→server

stewardesses→flightattendants;

aviatrix→aviator;

poetess→poet;

proprietress→proprietor;

sculptress→sculptor;

usherette→usher

4.2UseNewNeutral

Influncedbythefemanism,itbecomeanewtrendencytousenewneutralword.Forinstant,

chairman→chairwoman→chairperson

congressman→congresswoman→congressone/memberofcongress

postman→postwoman→postworker

Andman（men）andthewordorphrasethatcontain–manareCarefullyused

Generally,whenthesexisuncertainorincludesbothsexes,choosethefollowingwordsorphrasetoreplaceit.

man→humanbeing,human,person,individual

mankind→humankind,humanity,humans

manmade→syntheticartificial

manpower→workforce,staff,personnel,labor

maninthestreet→averageperson

businessman→businessperson

4.3Semanticmarking

Thesemanticfeministsregardmasculinepronounsasbeingambiguousanddiscriminatoryagainstwomenbecausetheycanbeinterpretedasbeingmasculine-specificorneutralandthusinsomecases,beinterpretedadnotreferringtowomenatall.（MaKe,169）

1.ChangeintoPluralForm

Forexample:

Sexist：

Whenbathingababy，neverleavehimunattended.

Revised：

Whenbathingbabies，neverleavethemunattended.

2.Usesynonymtoreplac