AnalysisofSexisminEnglishLanguage.doc

华南农业大学珠江学院毕业论文analysis of sexism in english language 杨思敏指导教师： 陈玉国 （讲师） 系： 外国语 年级专业：2008级英语教育 提交日期： 答辩日期: 答辩委员会主席（签名）： 评阅人（签名）： 年 月 日 2华南农业大学珠江学院本科学生毕业论文（设计）学术诚信声明学号 200830090331姓名杨思敏 年级专业 2008级英语教育毕业论文（设计）题目analysis of sexism in english language学生诚信声明本人所呈交的毕业论文（设计），是本人在指导教师指导下独立完成的。除毕业论文（设计）中已经注明引用的内容外，本毕业论文（设计）不包含任何其他个人或集体已经正式发表的学术和研究成果，不存在剽窃和抄袭行为。如有违反，本人接受学院规定的处分并承担相应的法律责任。特此声明！学生（签名）：年 月 日指导教师诚信声明经过本人认真核查，该同学的毕业论文（设计）是在本人指导下独立完成的。除毕业论文（设计）中已经注明引用的内容外，本毕业论文（设计）不包含任何其他个人或集体已经正式发表的学术和研究成果，不存在剽窃和抄袭行为。特此声明！指导教师（签名）：年 月 日contentsabstract.3.introduction5. the cause of sexism62.1 history background62.2 culture awareness62.3 work division72.4 social status8. the phenomena of sexism in english language93.1 vocabularies93.1.1 nouns93.1.2 pronouns103.1.3 adjectives103.1.4 the compound words113.1.5 the derivative words113.2 semantics123.2.1 change of the importance of words123.2.2 uncomplimentary meaning123.3 syntaxword order13. the effective ways to avoid sexism in english language144.1 avoiding using generic masculine pronouns144.1.1 to use plural144.1.2 to use passive form154.1.3 to omit pronoun154.2 lexical neutralization154.3 coining new corresponding words16.conclusion16notes18bibliography19acknowledgements215abstract: with the development of womens liberation movement, sexism in english language has been greatly stimulated. language is a way for people to communicate with each other, and to some extent, it reveal peoples opinion. sexism is the discrimination form of the gender difference, especially males bias against female. in the history of human beings, males are considered superior to females in culture, social status and politics. this kind of opinion is gradually reflected in language. an ineluctable steam of avoiding the use of the bias language has become a serious matter. the society is trying to get to know the sexism and making efforts to reduce the sexism in language. this can be clearly seen in the change of language. this paper concerns sexism in english language. firstly, it summarizes the cause of sexism from history background, the culture awareness, the division of work and the social status. secondly, it mainly elaborates the phenomena of sexism in english language from vocabularies, semantics, and the syntax. finally, it probes into the effective ways to avoid sexism in english language from avoiding using generic masculine pronouns, lexical neutralization, and coining new corresponding words. this paper makes a tentative investigation into sexism in english language. hopefully the research will be beneficial to eliminate the gender discrimination. to change peoples opinion on the difference between males and females then improve females social status is an important part to eliminate sexism in language.key words: language; sexism; cause; effective ways; avoid摘要：自20世纪60年代以来，随着女性运动的展开，语言性别歧视得到了发展。语言是人类沟通方式的一种，它是人的观念的象征，语言在某种程度上显示了人的思维状态。性别歧视是指一种性别对另一种性别之间的歧视，特别指男性对女性的歧视。这种歧视是随着历史文化的背景，社会的发展，人们的意识发展起来的。社会对女性的性别歧视一览无遗的体现在语言上，英语语言中也存在着性别歧视。而在现今社会，人们尝试着去了解性别歧视，目的是为了减少社会中存在的性别歧视现象。相应地，这点也在语言上得到了很好的体现。本文的研究目的在于研究性别歧视出现的原因，英语语言中性别歧视的具体表现和避免语言歧视的方法。所进行的探讨主要有：首先是从历史背景、文化意识以及职业分工这几个方面探讨性别歧视出现的原因。然后是对于英语语言中性别歧视的具体表现方面，本文主要从词汇、语义和句法这三个方面阐述。最后讨论了如何有效避免英语语言中性别歧视用语：避免阳性词的指代、词汇的中性化、创造新的对应词。要消除性别歧视，关键要改变人们对性别差异的看法，提高女性的社会地位。只有在社会变革的基础上，语言的变革才会实现。关键词：语言 性别歧视 原因 有效方法 避免 . introductionlanguage is one of the communication tools that including speaking and writing. it is a system of symbol to express peoples opinions. sexism is the discrimination form of the gender difference. the womens liberation movement has driven the development of the polity, economy, education, and the employment. to some extent, it has changed the social language greatly. the sexism in language has raised peoples attention. in ancient times even in the modern society, man is the stronger one and they are the oriented person and also the center. women, is regarded as the weaker and the subordinated one. accordingly, this phenomenon is reflected in the language. in order to reduce the use of sexism in language, it is necessary to promote the fair relationship between different genders. many investigators have studied the phenomenon in the sexism in english language. a professor emeritus at the university of minnesota has the comment: “concern with sexism in language has revealed a strong correspondence between certain language matters and the attitude of one sex toward the other.”1 however, little information has been published concerning the processing of sexism and recommending methods to reduce the problem.the objective of the present paper is to probe into the cause of sexism, the phenomenon of sexism in english language, and the ways to avoid the sexism in english. in chapter one, it states cause of sexism from history background, culture awareness, work division and social status. chapter two is the most important part in this paper. it mainly elaborates the phenomena of sexism in english language from vocabularies, semantics, and syntax. when explaining the sexism in vocabulary, it studies its nouns, pronouns, adjectives, compound words and derivative words in details. it investigates in the change of importance of the words related with female from the semantic aspect. when discussing the syntax, it focuses on the order of the word. at last, it brings forward the effective ways to avoid sexism in english language from avoiding using generic masculine pronouns, lexical neutralization, coining new corresponding words. the cause of sexismsexism, in the oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, it means that “the unfair treatment of people, especially women, because of their sex”.2 sexism in language refers to the unfair relationship between males and females. there are four factors of the cause of sexism: history background, culture awareness, social status, and work division. 2.1 history backgroundaccording to the history, sexism has the reason to exist. at the very beginning of human society, men and women were equal. in the maternal society, female even gain more power because of the leading position in economy. people lived in the cave in the ancient time and lived with the food planted by women. however, with the development of the social productive forces, hunting for food became increasing popular. this activity was held by the men. thus the society was changed to paternal society which was ruled by men. men obtained more power in dealing with all kinds of things. people believed men can finish the task well because of the better physiological factor. in this way, men had a solid foundation in their superior status. women had been restrained, while mens status and power had been absolutely affirmed. this is the cause of prejudice and discrimination against women. women are considered to be unintelligent, simplicity and inability. naturally, men won the initiative in the creation and the use of language. people usually regard men as the center to create the language. thus this has some influence of the words meaning. 2.2 culture awarenessculture is a compound integer which includes knowledge, belief, moral, custom and every competence or habit that acquired by people as a member in the society. awareness is having knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. language is the carrier of culture. its a part of culture and influence by culture. according to the research, there is a little chance to have the equal position between male and female in a culture. bible is very important in western culture. in the bible, god is the creator of all things and god is male. the gods son, jesus the christ, saved the world.3the one who is powerful enough to do the great things is always man. people think that a woman is the appendage to a man.as it is said in the holy bible, “so the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. and the rib that the lord god had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. then the man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called woman, for out of man this one was taken. ”4woman came after man, and she was just made by a bone of the man. in the order of birth, the difference between women and men is obvious. in this form of birth, women and men are put into different status. men are obviously superior to women because they are made naturally by the god, but women are made by the mens bone. the holy bible also says that the first sin is committed by a woman. she was seduced to eat the apple. and it was she who had the man to eat the apple. this makes the woman like a serious sinner. people think women are inferior to men, and the language develops in this way of thinking.2.3 work division here is a story: a father and his son were out driving. they ran into an automobile accident. the father was kicked, and the son was rushed to the hospital and prepared for operation. the doctor came in and exclaims, “i cant operate on this patient. its my son!” guess the relationship between the doctor and the patient. many people including female cannot answer this question in a short time. the reason for this phenomenon is that people usually connect the word “doctor” with man. mostly, the lawyer, police, doctor and officer are unconsciously considered as mens occupation.no matter in ancient time or in the modern world, women are supposed to work at home to do housework and be a good daughter, a good wife, then a good mother. it is abnormal that if a women work outside and her man stay at home to be a good househusband. the reason for this is that woman is the weaker one in peoples mind. they think the powerful and strong men should work to support the whole family. even if women have a job, the job is totally different from what the men are doing. man can be an officer, a manager and operator. however, a woman can be a teacher, a secretary and the one who is under mens guide, because women are thought to be dependent, timid, fragile and sensitive. these factors are not useful to be a good employee. on the contrary, man is a competent leader with energetic, industrious, brave, creative and imaginable qualities. people think women are not strong enough to solve the serious problems as men. so they always put men in a more important position. men have a strong power to lead a team to finish the work. they are considered to be more dependable. 2.4 social statuslanguage is a tool for people to convey their feelings. it reflects the objective reality, so it was certainly influenced by the social factors. different division of work makes different social status. man is the centre power no matter in western or eastern countries. in the middle ages, women turned into the assets of men because they can give birth to babies who will become the owner of the land. in order to make the women get into this status, the ruler use the law to force females to follow their husband. therefore, different kinds of rules and customs restraining women came into being. in the long paternal society, womens status was low. this concept was gradually rooted in peoples mind. the change of womens social status is in the 20th century. in this period, womens social status was improved greatly. this sexism still existed in english language. there is a famous saying in english “marry your son when you will, your daughter when you can”. in the wedding ceremony, what the pastor said is that “i now pronounce you man and wife”. the great changes in these sentences are easy to be seen. man keeps his title “man” after marriage, but woman changes her title to “wife” from then on. a father is the master of a conversation. it is not allowed to interrupt him when he is speaking. the noble status can be seen from this. people think a female may stay at home and do the house work while her husband work outside and make money to support the family. this is the normal way of life. if the wife does not do this, others will think shes not a good wife. another reason may be that parents still can stay with their son after his marriage. however, parents will not have the same long time to stay with their daughter after her marriage. whats more, the boy can inherit the property. . the phenomena of sexism in english languagesexism in the language is a common phenomenon. it exists in many ways, such as in vocabularies, semantics and syntax. these aspects show the great difference between the two genders. to know the sexism in english can help people avoid sexism in communication.3.1 vocabularies3.1.1 nounsnouns are very common to see. they are used to describe the character of something. they can help people have a special understanding about the thing. there are many collective nouns in the vocabulary. among these words, those related to man can refer to the whole group include both genders. the existence of these words gives a conclusion to nouns refers to the different gender. most commonly, the nouns about men can represent the both. this seems reasonable in society because people think men are the center of the language. for example, “policeman” is a word that refers to the male police and “policewoman” refers to the female police. however, when people say “policeman”, sometimes it means both genders of police. another example is the word “man”. when referring to “man”, people sometimes indicate the whole human beings. if people use a word related to women in order to refer the both gender, others will regard this as an abnormal expression way. we never use a word related to females such as “woman” or “lady” to refer to the whole human beings. the following table can show this phenomenon.man(can refer to the whole human beings)woman(only the female)duck(can refer to the both genders)drake(only the female)fox(can refer to the both genders)vixen(only the female)dog(can refer to the both genders)bitch(only the female)on the other hand, some nouns have various meanings. these nouns have some specific meanings about male or female. however, people always ignore the meaning about male and remember the meaning about female because these meanings are not very good. the word “virgin” means a nave, innocent, or inexperienced person. it refers to both genders. when people say “virgin”, it often means a woman who has never had sexual intercourse as the same meaning of “maiden”. “prostitute” means a person who is engage in sexual activity for payment. people often regard it as a synonym of “street girl”. when these words are explained in the dictionary, they will give some special notes to show these words are especially related to females.3.1.2 pronounspronouns about men are used more often than those about women. when trying to express something is uncertain about the gender or something is unrelated to the gender, “he” is the most commonly used word. the pronoun refers to the man can instead of the whole human beings. in the proverbs or some famous sayings, the use of “he” to represent the whole human being is very common. for example, “he who laughs last laughs best.” “one should bear responsibility for himself and his family.” in these sentences, “he” represents the both genders. on the other side, we never use “she” to represent both side. people can say “everybody did what he could.” but the use of “everybody did what she could” cannot be seen.3.1.3 adjectivespeople use different adjectives to modify both genders. in english language, the words about females often have some negative meanings while the words about male are more affirmative. this can be seen easily in the usage of the adjectives. the adjectives refer to female such as “dependent”, “illogical”, “fickle” can clearly show the indignity in them. however, when speaking of a man, people can use the adjective such as “independent”, “logical”, “confident”. because of gender discrimination, people use obviously different ways to describe the occupation or behavior of both genders. for example:a businessman is aggressive, a businesswoman is pushy.he is an outspoken man; she is a bitchy woman.he loses his temper; she is hysterical.3.1.4 the compound wordsfemales are regarded as an exception to some words. these words are created with the meaning confining to men. in the compound words, words about female are less than the words about male. for instance, “policeman” means a member of police force. but this word only refers to the male police. however, when indicating a female police, “policewomen” will be used. the word “brotherhood” means the good relationships among people. but “sisterhood” is limited in good relationships between females. many of english words are compounded by meaning of man. such as “freshman”, denoting the whole grade one at university. the word “freshwoman” is not found in the vocabulary. “woman” means the female, while the word “man” means human beings. other examples like “manpower”, “mankind”, “chairman”, “manmade”, “milkman” also indicates the meaning of both male and female. these kinds of words are related to the man, but it can represent the all. if these words are related to the female, its range of meaning will be much smaller. 3.1.5 the derivative wordssome words should add suffix or prefix in order to show the gender differences in meaning. for example, “prince”- “princess”; “man”-“woman”.