性别语言的对比分析.docx

性别语言的对比分析.docx

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性别语言的对比分析

ComparativeAnalysisofGenderDifferenceinLanguage

Abstract

Withtherisingofwesternfeminisminthelastcentury,therewasaclimaxontherelationbetweengenderandlanguage.Manyvaluableacademicworkshavecomeoutinsuccession,andlinguistsissuedtheirvariousviewsonthistopic.Inparticular,afterthepublishingofLacoffLanguageandWomen’sPlace,itcausedalargenumberoflinguists’refuterandcriticism,thedebateonthisissuewasbecomingmoreandmore.ManythanksareowntoLacofff,whoarousedtheattentionoflinguistsinthisfield.Itispreciselybecauseofthis,itpromotedthestudyinthiscircle.

ThispaperaimstodiscussthegenderdifferencesindailyEnglishexpressionandconversation.Inthistext,theauthortakesthemethodofinvestigationandstudy;trytogiveaclearexampletothenativegenderlanguageinEnglish,andthenanalyzethespecificdifferencesbetweenmaleandfemale.Theauthorhopesthatpeoplecanachievecross-gendercommunicationsuccessivelyafterreadingthispaper.

Keywords:

genderdifferencesinlanguage;expression;conversation;communication

Chapter1Introduction

Inthedailylife,wecanfindaninterestingphenomenonthattherewillbealotofcommunicationalmisunderstandingbetweenmaleandfemalethoughtheyhavesimilarculturebackground.Theyareusingthesamelanguage,andwhydotheyfailatlast?

Afterstudying,thelinguistsfoundthatitisbecauseofgenderdifferenceinlanguage.Duringthepasttwodecades,genderdifferencesinlanguagehavebeenbecomingafocusofsociallinguists.Itisthefactrecognizedbylinguisticcirclethatthecommunicatorsofdifferentgenderusedifferentvocabulary,expressionandspeechstyle.

1.1ReviewofthePreviousResearchonGenderandLanguage

Genderdifferencesinhumanlanguagehavebeenregardedasindispensableandimportantfactorsinlinguisticsstudiesbylinguistsandsociologists.

Fromthelastcentury,therehadbeenmanyworksongenderdifferenceathomeandabroad.Historiansandlinguistsbelievethatgenderlanguageisoneoftheeternalthemesthatexistinavarietyofculturesindifferentlanguages.

Contemporary,theexpertswhostudygenderlanguagefromthelinguisticpointofviewisJesperson.

HepointedouttheuseofEnglishinthephenomenonofgenderinhisbook“ThedevelopmentandstructureofEnglish”whichwaspublishedin1923.In1929,Sapirissued“ThelanguageformofmenandwomeninYanalanguage”.in1970s’Well-knownlinguists,suchas来科夫、Trudgill,Zimmerman,West,Bollingerin1980s,andsomeotherstudiesmadethegenderstudydeeperconstantly.

Contemporary,worksonthedifferencesingenderlanguagehaveparticularlydevotedtothevariousmanifestationsofgenderdifferenceinlanguage.TheUnitedStatesanthropologistsandlinguistsGregputforwardthatnewlanguagesubject–genderlinguisticsshouldbeestablished,causedextensiveattentionofthelinguists,sociologist,andpsychologists.

1.2ImportanceofStudyingGenderDifferenceinLanguage

Languagecanreflectanation’scharacteristicsfromdifferentdimensions.Wherethereisanation,thereisacertainlanguageandcertaincommunicationalbehaviorsadaptingtoit.ThoughvariousgenderdifferencesinlanguagearejustsuperficialexpressionoftheEnglish-speakingsociety,itdoesimpliesvariousimplicationsofthesociety.Thus,analyzingthegenderdifferenceinEnglishlanguagecanhelpthelanguagelearnersunderstandthefactorsofcertainsocietytowhichthelanguagebelongs.

Therearesomelanguagesamongwhichthereexistdistinctmale–languageandfemale-language,thatis,onesetof,rulesformaleandtheotherforfemale.ThoughEnglishdoesnothavemarkeddividinglinebetweenmale–Englishandfemale-English,genderdifferenceindailyEnglishcommunicationbroadlyexists.Failtorealizethedifferencecanleadtomiscommunicationandinappropriatecommunications,whichcanbringaboutpress,intensifystrainedrelationship,produceentrust,non-effectiveworkperformanceandsoon.MaleandfemalediffervastlyindailycommunicationinEnglish.KnowingaboutthegenderdifferencescanguidetodeeperunderstandingoftheEnglishcultureandsociety,gainafurtherawarenessofthetargetlanguage,beingabletobetterunderstandEnglish,andmakeuseofitmoreeffectively.

Chapter2GenderDifferenceinLanguageExpression

Asakindofcommunicationaltoolsforhumanbeing,languagereflectsvarioussocialrelationshipsbetweenthemandtheirideas.Althoughmenandwomenusethesamelanguage,becauseofphysiologicalfactorsandsocialreasons,sometimesevenusethesamewordstoexpressthesamemeaning,heandsheshowgreatdifferenceinlanguageusing.Menandwomenusedifferentlanguage,andthatisgenderdifferenceinlanguage.

2.1PronunciationandIntonation

Generallyspeaking,womenprefertousemoreformalwords,standardpronunciation,adjustingtheirtone,speed,andvolumewhentheyaretalkingtoarouselistener’sresponse.Duringtheconversation,womenalwaysrisingintonationtomaketheirtonefullofemotion.

Whilementendtousewordsatwills.Theyuseflatorfallingintonation,soundsserious.Judgingfromtheirpronunciations,mendon’tcaremoreaboutstandardpronunciations,andtheirpronunciationsarelessaccuratethanwomen.

2.1.1Pronunciation

Itiscommonlyregardedthatfemaleismoreconcernedwithpronunciationthantheircounterparts.AccordingtoCoats,inmanyspeechcommunicated,femalespeakerstendtouseahigherproportionofprestigeformsintheirpronunciationthanmalespeakers,Inotherwords,itseemsthattheprestigeformshaveexertedastrongerinfluenceonwomenthanonmen.Linguisticformsandaccentsusedbywomenaremoreclosetothestandardformsthanthoseusedbymen.Thatistosay,femalespronounceEnglishmorecorrectlyandmorestandardthanmales.

2.1.2Intonation

Besidesusingmorestandardpronunciation,femalevariesmoreinintonationtoo.Femalearemorefrequentlyusehigh-risingterminalasends.

Aclassicalexamplecommonlyquotedislistedbelowtosupporttheideaoffemales’preferenceofusingrisingtone:

Husband:

Whenwillbreakfastbeready?

（↘）

Wife:

oh…Around7o’clock?

（↗）

Wecanseefromthedialoguethatthehusbandusesafallingintonationwhenaskaquestion,whichiscommonformales.Butthewifeoffersananswerwitharisingintonation.Heranswerwitharaisingintonation,whichconsistsoftwomeanings,

ⅰ）breakfastwillbereadyat7o’clock.

ⅱ）IsthattimeOKwithyou?

Becausesheisnotquitesureabouttheabovethings,thewifechoosestogiveananswerwitharisington,implyingthefactthatshewantsherhusband’sopinion.

Let’stakealookatotherexamples.

Whenanswerstherequest“MayIuseyourphone?

”femaletendstosay“Yes,please.（↗）”or“justamoment（↗）”witharisingintonationcomparestomaleswhotendtoresponsewithafallingtone.

2.2Vocabulary

2.2.1AdjectivesandAdverbs

Thelanguageofwomenisfullofstrongemotions;theyhaveatendencytouseexaggeratedwordstointensifyexpression,overstatingexpressiontomaketheirspeechessoundmorevivid,suchaslovely,sweet,fabulous,divine,cute,wonderful,dreamy,gorgeous,anddarling.Pleasetakealookatthefollowingexample.MaryandherhusbandTomarehavingtheirshoppingtogetherinaclothingshop.Theshopownertakesoutamen’sshirtforTom.

Shopowner:

Tom,foryoutotry.

Mary:

Oh,thatisfabulous.

Tom:

Yeah,itisgood.

DuringtheshortdialoguewecanseethatMarysaysthewordfabulous,whileTomsaysthewordgood.Fabulousismuchmoreexaggeratedthangood.

Besides“fabulous”,femalesusedifferentwordstodescribedifferentthings.Forexample,theexpressionlike“Howcuteheis”,“Youaresosweet”,“whatalovelydress”.What’smore,afterdinnerfemalewillsay,“Itisagorgeousmeal,thankyou!

”Whensheeatsdeliciouschocolate,shewouldliketosay,”Howdivinethechocolateis!

”or“YouhavemadethemostdivinechocolatecakeIhavetasted.”Whenshedescribeshergoodfriend,shewillsay,“Heisawonderfulfriend.”Butmalesseldomusethesewords;theymayusethecommonwords,likegood,delicious,kind,etc.

Astoadverbs,Jesperson（1922:

250）arguedthatwomenarefondofusingrhetoricaldeviceslikehyperboletoexpresstheirfeelings,soadverbsofintensitywillbemostlyfavoredbythemdisregardofthepropersituations.Femalesarefondofusingadverbialdevicessuchasawfully,pretty,terribly,vastly,nice,quite,so,such,very,really,absolutely,toexpresstheirfeelings.Takesoasanexample.

①Whengivesadangerousshowtotheaudience,

Wife:

Howmarvelous!

Husband:

Howabsolutelymarvelous!

②Whendescribesagirl,whowantstoseeherboyfriend,

Brother:

Sheisanxioustogotoseeherboyfriend.

Sister:

Sheisdesperatelyanxioustogotoseeherboyfriend.

Thegender-relatingadjectivesandadverbsdifferentlyusedbymalesandfemalesaresummarizedasbelow.

Adjectives

Adverbs

UsedbyFemales

Adorable,cute,divine,dreamy,heavenly,gorgeous,lovely,darling,exquisite,precious,sweet,nice,etc.

Awfully,pretty,terribly,vastly,nice,quite,so,such,very,really,absolutely,etc.

UsedbyMales

Seldomusetheseexaggerateadjectives.

Very,utterly,really,etc.

2.2.2ColorWords

Asidefromtheadjectivesandadverbsabove，genderdifferenceindailyEnglishcommunicationexistsincolorwordstoo.Aninterestingexperimentwasdonein1981byaCanadianProfessor.Intheexperiment,firstheshowedstudentstwentydifferentcolorsandthenaskedthemtowritedownwhatcolorstheyare.Theresuitsshowedthatwhilemalestudentscanonlynameforty-sixpercentofthetotal，thefemalestu