社会语言学期末论文稿.doc

语言性别差异对比分析 社会语言学是一门研究语言和社会关系的学科，其中包括语言与社会、语言学与文化，语言与思维、语言与性别等诸多方面。自从20世纪初，关于语言与性别的研究在现代语言学领域受到越来越多的关注。然而，直到20世纪60年代，随着社会语言学的发展，语言性别差异才成为语言学家研究的重要课题。社会语言学家逐渐认识到，作为一种言语标记，说话人的心病别应当同其年龄、地位、角色身份这些内容同等对待，因而应当成为社会语言学研究中的一个独立研究变量。（杨永林） 语言性别差异可以分为两类：一类是语言本身性别歧视，说话人的说话方式显示出他们对男性和女性的不同态度。一类是男女使用语言的差异。 本文主要是针对男女使用语言的差异展开谈论的。男女使用语言方面的差异主要体现在：词汇的选择、句法和语用方面。文章的第一部分对社会语言学及语言性别差异作了简要的介绍。第二部分对语言性别差异的分类及前人研究成果综述。第三部分集中分析了研究理论框架。第四部分是关于研究方法的分析。第五部分从三个方面（言语目的、谈话话题及言语表达方式）讨论男性与女性在使用语言方面的差异。最后是结论部分。通过对语言性别差异的分析发现它对外语教学有很大帮助。一方面，作为将来的英语教育者，我们有必要了解语言性别差异，从而可以教授学生正确的言语形式。男性与女性语言存在许多差异，了解这些差异对于外语教学领域是十分重要的。另一方面，我们需要尽可能地了解以英语为本族语的男性与女性的说话方式。 关键词：语言性别差异，社会语言学，分析Contrast Analysis of Gender Differences in Language AbstractSociolinguistics is defined as the study of language in relation to society, it involves many aspects, such as language and society, language and culture, language and thought, language and gender etc. The research of language and gender has been paid more attention to in modern linguistics since the beginning of the 20th century. Yet it is since 1960s that gender differences in language has been an important subject with the development of sociolinguistics. Sociolinguists come to realize that as a speech marker, the gender of the speaker should be treated equally with age, status, and role, so it should be an independent variable in sociolinguistics.Gender differences in language may be divided into two categories. The first category is about sexism in language and the ways in which speakers demonstrate their different cultural attitudes toward men and women. The second category is about the differences in the actual speech of men and women. This paper is concerning the differences in the actual speech of men and women. Differences in the speech of men and women may exist in many aspects, such as lexical choice, syntax and pragmatics. The first part makes a brief introduction about sociolinguistics and gender differences in language. The second part mentions categories of gender differences in language and previous study of gender differences in language. The third part concentrates on the approach of the analysis. The fourth is about the data collection and research methodology. The fifth part analyzes the differences of the speech between men and women from three perspectives the purpose of the speech, the topic of the conversation and the mode of the speech. The final part comes to the conclusion about the gender differences in language.Through the analysis of gender differences in language, I have realized that it is useful in teaching foreign language. On the one hand, as language teachers in the future, we need to be conscious of gender differences in language so that we can teach our students in an appropriate way. There are differences in the speech of men and women, and we should know what the differences are, it is very important in the field of TESOL. On the other hand, we need to know as much as possible about the speech patterns of men and women who are native speakers of English. Key words: gender differences, sociolinguistics, analysis 语言性别差异对比分析1摘要1Contrast Analysis of Gender Differences in Language .2Abstract.21. Introduction52. Literature Review. 6 2.1 Categories of Gender Differences in Language62.2 Previous Study of Gender Differences in Language.73. Theoretical Framework84. Research Methodology9 4.1 Data Collection. 94.2 Research Methodology.105. Contrast Analysis of Speech of Men and Women in Daily Conversation.105.1 The purpose of the speech.105.2 The topic of the conversation115.3 The mode of the speech116. Conclusion.14Reference161. IntroductionLanguage plays a very important role in our daily life, it relates many aspects of human life. We can use language not only to identify things, to think, or to record information, but also to represent all the things around us. In addition, language is a social behavior, we use it as a medium to get along in a community. So it is upon this fact that sociolinguistics is predicated. Sociolinguistics, the study of language in relation to society, language is very important in the profession of TESOL. As the second language teacher, it is important to know language as a system of sounds, meaning units and syntax. Social rules, cultural values and the differences in communicative conventions should also be focused on.Gender differences in language has been an important subject with the development of sociolinguistics since 1960s. Research into language and sex did not really begin in a systematic or serious way until the early 1970s. Lakoff (1973) assumes that language differences caused by different gender is counted as the real reflection of the inequality of men and women in reality. Thorne & Henley(1975) has affirmed that the male dominance theory has great influence on gender differences in language from the sociolinguistic perspective. Male are in higher position in society, so power can be reflected in their speech. Vice versa, gender differences in language strengthens males position in society.Another reason which can be regarded as the source of gender differences in language is the different conception of value. Women and men have different conception of value. The value of men consists in what they can do, while womens value depends on how they appear. Thus we can draw a conclusion that conception of value of the speaker determines the style of the speech. In general, the speech of men is direct and tough which can show their masculinity. On the contrary, womens speech should be elegant and implicit which can embody their ladies style. The knowledge of gender differences in language is very helpful for language learners, and gender differences may exist not only one but all languages. As a language learner, we should know the significance of the study of genders in language because in the future after graduation most of us will become a teacher of foreign language. As specialists in language teaching, on the one hand, we need to be conscious of gender differences in language so that we can teach our students in an appropriate way. There are differences in the speech of men and women, and we should know what the differences are, it is very important in the field of TESOL. On the other hand, we need to know as much as possible about the speech patterns of men and women who are native speakers of English.This paper mainly discusses the different styles of speech between men and women in daily conversation, including the purpose of the conversation, the choice of the topics during the conversation, and the mode of the conversation. All in all, gender differences can be reflected in many aspects in our daily life, we should pay more attention to it, thus we can avoid many misunderstandings between men and women.2. Literature Review 2.1 Categories of Gender Differences in Language According to Wolfson, the research about language and sex can be divided into two categories. The first category is about sexism in language and the ways in which speakers demonstrate their different cultural attitudes toward men and women. Two areas of sexism in English have been well-studied. One is that females are excluded from mention in English because the generic he/man problem. Men are regarded as the representatives of all human beings and their speech is the standard, while women are seen as inferior and secondary in society. The second is that females are give negative treatment in society. Bad words in our daily is always related to female words. Female words are often used to insult a male, whereas male words are usually used to compliment female. The second category is about the differences in the actual speech of men and women. The formation of these differences in language may have historical, physiological, social and psychological factors. Lakoff (1973) was one of the early articles to deal with the issue of differences in mens and womens speech. She has concluded six major characteristics of womens speech: lexical choice, question intonation in statements, hedges which includes tag questions and statement modifiers which remove assertive force, emphatic modifiers and intonational emphasis, hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation and superpolite forms. 2.2 Previous Study of Gender Differences in LanguageThe research concerning gender differences in language has been an important subject with the development of sociolinguistics since womens movement started in 1960s. Many scholars have done a lot of researches concerning language and sex. In the west, Robin Fort wrote a book named Histories Nature Morale Desiles Anlilles, which is regarded as the earliest work concerning the characteristics of womens speech in the middle of the 17th century. In 1922, linguist Otto Jesperson published Language in which he has expanded the differences of lexical choice and composition of the sentence, meanwhile he has also pointed out that women avoid saying gross and foul language instinctively, yet they are fond of concise, delicate expressions. Up to the late of 1960s, American linguists began to employ the new methods to investigate and scientifically and thoroughly analyze the form of variables of the urban area, and get some more information about gender differences in language. Since 1970s, some linguists, such as Lakoff, Trudgill, Aimmerman, and West have done a lot of research to promote the study of womens speech. Among them, Lakoff(1973) may well be seen as a forerunner of recent research into language and gender in Western societies. (Wolfson 1989:164) She has concluded six major characteristics of womens speech: lexical choice, question intonation in statements, hedges which includes tag questions and statement modifiers which remove assertive force, emphatic modifiers and intonational emphasis, hypercorrect grammar and pronunciation and superpolite forms. There are subsequent empirical studies to test Lakoffs analysis. Crosby and Nyquist (1977) has tested the existence of “female register” through studies and found that gender differences were due to the different roles in society. Subsequently, OBarr and Atkins (1980) studied sex-related speech in courtroom to test the similar hypotheses as did Crosby and Anyquist and found that the characteristics of womens speech which Lakoff has described are not possessed by all women, they also found that the person who has the higher status, whose language must be powerful. Eakins and Eakins (1976) argues that men speak more often longer and interrupted more in faculty meetings. In recent years, the research about language and sex is becoming hotter and hotter and many linguists have proposed some new methods which are more challenging.In china, research about language and gender can date back to the 1980s, those researches are mainly about differences in the form of male and female language. The scholars who took the lead to study the gender differences in language are He Ziran (1979), Wang Wenchang (1979) and Chen Zhongshen(1980). Since the 1990s, various theories and methods are applied in sociolinguistics, pragmatics and inter-cultural communication. All the studies listed above are concerning the differences of the speech between men and women. The scholars, not only abroad but also domestic, have contributed a lot to the study of gender differences in language. I think there will be more and more scholars and learners focusing on gender differences in language.3. Theoretical FrameworkThe contrast analysis of male and female language in daily conversation concerns many aspects, such as the topic of the conversation, the mode of the conversation and so on. The differences of the speech between men and women may result from their conception of value, their hobby and their interest etc. They hold different opinions according to the same matter. So we can refer to the ethnography of speaking in describing the gender differences in language. Ethnography refers to the investigation of cultures using a particular methodology, that of participant observation. The ethnography of speaking proposed by Dell Hymes in 1962. The ethnography of speaking is concerned with the situations and uses, the patterns and functions, of speaking as an activity in its own right. (Hymes 1962:101)This ethnographic framework takes into account the various factors that are involved in speaking. An ethnography of a communicative event is a description of all the factors that are relevant in understanding how that particular communicative event achieves its objectives. (Wardhaugh1998)Conversation means to exchange ideas through interaction, so we can also employ the approach of interactional sociolinguisticsrapport talk proposed by Deborah Tannen (1984,1982) to analyze the gender differences in language. Tannen (1990a) has described the characteristics of men and womens speech from nine dimensions: intimacy-independence, connection-status, inclusive-exclusive, relationship-information, rapport-report, community-contest, problems-solutions, novice-expert and listening-lecturing. From the description, we can conclude that womens speech tends to be solidarity, yet mens speech tends to be independent.4. Research Methodology4.1 Data CollectionThis paper mainly discusses the gender differences in language. Scholars have done a lot of researches concerning language and gender. I will select some useful descriptions to discuss here. The characteristics of the speech of men and women proposed by Tannen are mentioned in Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Analysis, are helpful to me in discussing gender differences in language. I also select some useful sentences from Family Album, U.S.A to verify my argument. 4.2 Research MethodologyThere is a binary distinction between qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative research is inductive, subjective, ungeneralisable, soft, process and verification oriented, hypothesis-driven, and hypothesis generating research, while quantitative research is deductive, objective, generalisable, hard, outcome and discovery oriented, data-driven and hypothesis testing research.In this paper, I employ the quantitative and descriptive methodology to discuss the differences of the speech between men and women. Firstly, the characteristics of women and mens speech are collected. Secondly, the differences are described through the collection.5. Contrast Analysis of Speech of Men and Women in Daily ConversationThe speech of women differs from the speech of men in daily conversation. Men and women differ in the kinds of language they use because men and women often fill distinctly different roles in society. We can analyze the differences of the speech of men and women from many aspects, such as the purpose of the speech, the topics of the speech and the mode of the speech. Many of the differences may result from different socialization practices. 5.1 The purpose of the conversationWhether men or women have their own purposes in the conversation. Tannen has pointed out that the research on the purpose of womens speech should be from nine dimensions, which are shown as follows: intimacy, connection, inclusive, relationship, rapport, community, problems, novice and listening. The purpose of the womens speech is to establish the rapport relationship among the members in the community. They try their best to become a member of the community. They want to keep intimate relationship through interaction. So in their speech, the main purpose is to express their feelings and listen to others. The style of their speech appears more obedient and negative. However, the purpose of mens speech is task-oriented, they have a more analytical approach, so they try to solve problems and troubles through interaction. They seldom express their intimate feelings to others. Tannen has also described mens speech from nine dimensionindependence, status, exclusive, information, report, contest, solutions expert and lecturing. They want to give information and solutions through conversation. They also want show their independence in the communication. So it is absolutely different from the purpose of the womens conversation.5.2 The topic of the conversationThe topic of womens conversation is different from that of mens. The topic of the womens conversation mainly concerns social life, emotion, this can not be separated from their position, profession, social status, and personality. Womens speech is regarded as trivial and gossip-laden because in the speech community of women, they mainly discuss clothing, love, family, trifles in daily life, experience, emotion, food and drink, lifes troubles. The purpose of the speech is to show the intimate relationship with the addressees, and through the speech they want to reinforce their membership in the community. On the contrast, men show great interest in topics concerning business, politics, legal matters, sports, geography, economy and military etc., these aspects can reflect their solid position in society.5.3 The mode of the speechAs for the mode of the speech of men and women, we can discuss from three layerslexical choice, syntax and pragmatic. Lexical choiceThere are great differences in lexical choice in the speech of men and women. One can be embodied in the usage of co