从英语词汇的变化看美国妇女地位的提升文档格式.docx

从英语词汇的变化看美国妇女地位的提升文档格式.docx

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社会每一阶层在社会中所处的位置，都可以通过语言这个层面得到准确的反映。

仅就语言本身而言，它又是不断变化的。

通过语言，我们可以看到一个时代，因为语言有很强的时代特征，它总是和我们身边的很多事物有着千丝万缕的关系。

本文将从英语词汇的变化看美国妇女地位的提升。

本文将分点从英语词汇的变化以及女性地位的提升等方面来进行论述。

英语词汇的变化和社会的发展有着紧密的联系。

在过去，英语词汇大多偏向于男性词汇，并且许多女性词汇都是由男性词汇派生而来。

随着社会的发展，女性在经济地位、社会地位、政治地位等方面的意识的不断增强，许多英语词汇慢慢偏向于中性词汇。

本文将为人们提供一个更全面、更清晰的视角来了解美国妇女地位的衍变。

关键词：

英语词汇；

妇女地位；

提升

PromotionofAmericanWomen’sSocialStatusReflectedintheChangesofEnglishVocabulary

Abstract

Languageisanimportantpartofsociallife,anditisalsothetoolofcommunication.Itislikeamirrorwhichreflectsvarietiesofaspectsinsociety.Languageisthecarrierofculture,isareflectionofsociety.Eachclassinsocialpositioncanbeaccuratelyreflectedbythelanguage.Asforthelanguageitself,itisconstantlychanging.Throughlanguage,wecanseetheages.Thereasonisthatthelanguagehasstrongcharacteristicsoftheages.Itisalwaysrelatedvariousthingsaroundus.

Thispaperwillintheviewofpromotionofwomen’sstatusreflectedinthechangesofEnglishvocabulary.Thispaperwilldivideintotwopartstodiscuss:

oneischangeofEnglishwordsandpromotionofwomen’sstatus.ThereisacloserelationshipbetweenthedevelopmentoftheEnglishvocabularyandsocietychange.Inancienttimes,mostlyEnglishvocabularytendstovocabularyofmen.Andtherearemanyvocabularyofwomenderivedfrommenvocabulary.Withthedevelopmentofsociety,thefemaleconsciousnessreinforceintheaspectofeconomicstatus,socialstatusaswellaspoliticalstatusgradually,manyEnglishvocabularytendtoneutralwords.

Keywords:

Englishvocabulary;

women’sstatus;

promotion

1.Introduction

Withthedevelopmentofthesociety,thehumanhistoryhasenteredintotheinformationage.Weshouldlearnvocabularyfromtheaspectofdailylife.Thethreeelementsofvoice,vocabularyandgrammarmakeuplanguage.Languageisaspecialsocialphenomenon,isthemostimportanttoolforcommunicationaswellasatoolforthinking（WuZhankun，2009:

1）.Ininformationage,itcanusetotransferinformation.Theabilityoflanguageisinnate.Stalineversaid,“Ifthereisnovocabulary,peoplecouldnotimagineanything.

Language,aspartofculture,influencedculturealot.Somesociologistsholdtheviewthatlanguageplaysaroleasfootstone—ifthereisnolanguage,thenthereisnoculture（刘润清，2005:

2）.Ontheotherhand,culturehasaninfluenceoflanguage.Peoplecansaythatlanguagereflectstheprosperousofanation.Itnotonlycontainsthehistoryofthenationalandculturalbackgroundbutalsocontainstheoutlookoflife,modeoflifeaswellasawayofthinking.Languageinteractswithculture.Peoplehaveanobligationtoknowcultureiftheywanttounderstandlanguage,andviceverse.

2.TheChangesofEnglishVocabulary

2.1TheChangesofAppellationforWomen

Nowadaysintheinfluenceofthefeministmovement,peoplebegintoadopttheparallelstructuretonamethememberofmanandwomen.Theusesofparallelnamesandtitlescanshowequalandfair.Forexample,peoplechangePresidentRegan（里根总统）andMrs.Thatcher（撒切尔夫人）intoPresidentReganandPrimeMinisterThatcher;

usehusbandandwifeoraladyandagentlemaninsteadofmanandwife.

Besides,thechangesofappellationforwomenalsoreflectedinthenextexamples.Inthepast,womenshouldusethenameoftheirhusbandinsteadoftheirownsurnamesaftermarriage.Whentheymentionedacouple,peoplealwayssayMr.andMrs.SmithorMr.andMrs.Jones.Inthosetwocases,womennotonlyaredeprivedoftheirownsurnames,butalsoarecoveredwiththeirnames.Luckily,manywomenrealizethisunequaltreatmentandbegintolaunchamovementtoretaintheirfather’ssurname.Aftermarriage,womenhavetwochoices:

iftheydonotwanttofollowtheirhusband’surname,theycouldcontinuetoretainortheycouldputtheirsurnameandtheirhusband’ssurnametogetherandformacompoundsurname.

Let’stakeanotherexample.ItisaquestionaboutMr.orMiss.Whenpeoplementionawoman,theyuseMiss.orMrs.tocallherorhim.Itisobvioustoshowmaritalstatus.Formaritalstatusisaprivatething,peopleuseMrs.tonamemarriedwomen,whileuseMisstocallunmarriedwomen.Inmanyoccasions,itwouldmakewomenembarrassed,orevenviolatetherightsofwomen.However,thereisnotanylimitationformen.PeopleuseMr.tocallthem.Itnotonlycanrefertomarriedmenbutalsounmarriedmen.Accordingtothiscircumstance,peopleproposeanewwordMs.tonamethewomanofmarriedandunmarried.Itpredictsasignificantprogressonwomen.

2.2TheChangesofSomeEnglishWordsThatDegradeWomen

InEnglish,malewordsmostlyactasthebackboneincompoundwords.Let’stakesomeexamples.Britainisdominatedbytheman.Itcanbecalledakingdom.Therealsoexiststhecircumstance,thatis,thecountrywasoncedominatedbywomen.Butpeoplecouldnotcallit“queendom”.

Additionally,peoplealwaysusefruitstodescribewomen.Forinstance,peopleuse“tomato”todescribebeauty;

use“peach”toimplyabeautifulgirlorwomen;

anduse“tart”toinferprostitute.Whenpeopleusefruitstodescribewomen,itshowsthatthestatusofwomenislow.

Dependingonthisphenomenon,womenshoweddeeplydiscontent.Inrecentyears,itisillegaltousethesewordsimplyingscornorbiasuponwomen.Justlikedescribeadultfemaleascolleenornameunmarriedwomenastheoldmaid.Insteadofthat,weadoptedmoreobjectivewords.

2.3TheChangesofWordOrder

Women’sstatusalsoreflectsinwordorder.InthetraditionalexpressionofEnglish,thewords“male”and“female”aremainlydependedontheprinciple:

manfirst.Let’slookatthefollowingexpressions:

maleandfemale;

hostandhostess;

landlordandlandlady;

nephewandniece;

uncleandaunt.Thereisonlyoneexampleisexcept,thatis,ladiesandgentlemen.

Inancienttimes,maleisaroleofbackbone.Everythingservedformen,andmenarefirst.Butnowadays,peopleadvocatetheprinciple:

theequalityofwomenandmen.Sowecanalsoputwomenfirst.

2.4TheChangesfromtheMalewordstoTheirNeutralCounterparts

Thechangesfromthemalewordstotheirneutralcounterpartsalsoshowthatwomen’sstatusgetspromoted.Forexample,“allmenarecreatedequal”isamottocomesfromtheDeclarationofHumanRights.Inthesentence,peopleuse‘men”toimplybothfemaleandmale.Takingthispracticetotallyignorestheexistenceofwomen.Let’slookatsomeexpressions.Thereexistedeverywhere,suchaswalkman,superman,policeman,postman,human,fireman,runningmanandsoon.Andthenlet’sgetanotherexample.Weuse“freshman”tonamenewstudents,includinggirlstudents.Besides,theword“man”notonlycanrefertomanbutalsoallhumanbeings.Inaddition,societyiscreatedbybothmenandwomen,butpeopleonlyuse‘manpower”tostandfortherights.Wheneveryonerefersto“chairman”,bothmenandwomenwouldthink“chairman”isamanintheirsubconscious.Inthe1960slater,theemancipationmovementofwomencarriedoutwidely,theydidtheirutmosttoreformthesexdiscriminationamongthelanguagetoenhancethewomen’sstatus（葛本仪，2001:

5）.

Afterwards,theyhavesomeprogresses.Someobjectsonlycanusemalewordstodescribeatfirstappearneutralcounterparts,suchasusehumanbeingsinsteadofman;

usedpostdeliverinsteadofpostman;

usedpolicepersoninsteadofpoliceetc.

2.5TheChangesofPersonalPronouns

InEnglish,thereexistsaveryfunnyphenomenonofthethirdpersonpronoun:

“he”referstomale,while“she”indicatesfemale.Besidesthat,“he”canalsorefertouncertainsex.Informaloccasion,peoplealwaysuse“he”orsomeotherwordstoreplaceindefinitepronoun,likesomebody,everybody,somebody,someone,anything,nothing,andsoon.Nowlet’stakeonesentenceasanexample.“Everyoneshoulddohisutmosttofinishthetask.”Inthisexample,wecanuse“he”insteadofeveryone.Itisnotonlyindicatesmalebutalsoindicatesthefemale.Ifweadopt“she”insteadofthepersonalpronounshe,thenitonlymeansfemale.Aimedattheproblemofmasculinepronouns,thefeministscreatenewneutralcounterpartstoreplacethem.Let’sseeitfromthefollowingexample.Inthesentenceof“Everyoneshoulddohisutmosttofinishthetask”,someonepointsoutthatweshouldadopt“their”insteadof“his”.Thesentenceshouldbechangedinto“Everyoneshoulddotheirutmosttofinishthetask”.Theword“their”solvesthecontradictionofsex,butitalsoappearsanotherproblem,thatispersonandnumbercouldnotkeepaccordance.

Nowadays,underthepressureoffeministmovement,officialdocuments,business,newspapersandeducationalmaterialsallaccepttheexpressivewayofhis/her:

Everyoneshoulddohis/herutmosttofinishthetask.

2.6TheChangesofDerivativeAffix

AccordingtotheBible,womanwasariboftheman.Obviously,womenasanaccessoryofmenexistedinthisworld.SoinEnglish,therearemanywordswerecomposedofaddingfemininestemattheendofmasculinestemtodescribewomen（host-hostess;

emperor-empress;

prince-princess;

waiter-waitressandsoon）.Thesekindsofwordsareparticularlyoccurredinthewayofdescribingwomen’soccupation.Theseabovewordsareproducedbymasculineaffixes;

dependonthelanguageofmale.JustasEvemustdependonAdamtolive,femalelanguagealsodependsonmalelanguagetoexist,andbecomeaccessoryofmalelanguage（毕秀英，2008:

16-17）.Thereisonlyonewordisexcept,thatisthewordofbride.Thewordofbridegroomderivedfrombride.Inaddition,somewordsaddfeminineaffixwouldchangeitsoriginalmeaningandlowerstatus.Forexample,thewordsofmi