性别因素对英语使用的影响

B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics ii Gender Effects on the Use of English by Under the Supervision of Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts School of Foreign Studies Shandong University of Finance and Economics May 2013 B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics iii Acknowledgements It would not be possible for me to complete this thesis without the generous help of many people First and foremost I would like to take this opportunity to convey my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Prof Mo Zhenyin under whose supervision I have obtained valuable ideas and precious suggestions He is very intelligent on thesis instruction and also shows his great patience and earnestness to me during my writing My thanks are also extended to other beloved teachers in the School of Foreign Studies of Shandong University of Finance and Economics for their valuable and informative courses which have benefited me a lot during my four year college life In the last place I owe my deep thanks to my roommates who have been encouraging me all the time B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics iv ABSTRACT Gender Effects on the Use of English Language plays an important role in our society As a social phenomenon language reflects almost all aspects of our human society in a natural way including the effects of gender difference on the use of language This thesis is divided into three chapters The first chapter introduces an overview of Gender Schema Theory Chapter two is intended to analyze the representations and features of gender effects on the use of English language mainly in terms of phonetic differences intonation differences vocabulary differences grammatical differences and communicational differences before discussing the reasons why gender influences the use of language in chapter three mainly involving historical social and psychological factors Key words gender factor the use of English effect gender difference B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics v 摘要摘要 性别因素对英语使用的影响性别因素对英语使用的影响 语言在社会中的地位非常重要 语言作为一种社会现象 必然会反映出人类社会的各种 社会观念 包括男女性别差异对语言使用的影响 本文共分三章 第一章介绍了性别图示理论的概述 第二章旨在分析性别因素在英语使 用中的表现及特征 主要探讨语音差异 语调差异 词汇差异 语法差异和交际差异等几个 方面的表现 同时还在第三章中探讨了造成性别因素影响语言使用的原因 其中包括历史 社会和心理等几个方面 关键词关键词 性别因素 英语使用 影响 性别差异 B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics vi CONTENTS Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Abstract in Chinese v Introduction 1 Chapter One An Overview of Gender Schema Theory 3 Chapter Two Gender Effects on the Use of English Language 5 I Effects on Phonetics 5 II Effects on Intonation 6 III Effects on Vocabulary 6 IV Effects on Grammar 7 V Effects on Communicational Behaviors 8 Chapter Three Reasons for Gender Effects on English Language 9 I Historical Factors 9 II Social Factors 9 III Psychological Factors 11 Conclusion 12 Works Cited 13 B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 1 Introduction Language is a human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication and language is any specific example of such a system Language is a social phenomenon and it has a close relationship with social life language is used in a specific social group It is not only the carrier of the ideological content but a mirror of social life What s more it reveals people s traditional thoughts such as sex discrimination against women in the society so gender plays a great role in the use of language Metaphorically language is regarded as a mirror of society through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better Hu 157 All of the languages in the world express different uses by different genders From the development and the change of language people can conclude that men and women could use language in a different way The English countries which always claim that all men are born equal also have a lot of inequalities The inequality between men and women is the one And this inequality is also reflected in the use of languages The differences of language use have existed since language came into being Therefore how does English language reflect social phenomenon The first person who did research on the relation between gender and language is the Denmark linguist Otto Jespersen he regards English as the most masculine language that is familiar to him and it is a man centered language The domestic scholars and experts such as Yang Yonglin Bai Jiehong et al have done thorough research about sexist element in the English language and also have introduced some feasible strategies to erase the sexism of English use These studies are all concerned with the role of gender in language use Sexism in the Oxford Advanced Learner s English Chinese dictionary it means that disapproving action based on the ideas or beliefs that the members of one sex are less intelligent able and skillful etc than the members of the other sex especially that women are less able than men and those particular jobs and actions are suitable for B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 2 women and others are suitable for men Sexist attitudes may stem from traditional stereotypes of gender roles Nakdimen 499 503 Sexism in English refers to English expresses sexist assumptions about differences between men and women as in the prejudicial use of female or male words Sexism in English provides an important access to the study of gender differences in English language use According to the investigation of sexism in English language we can easily know more about the disparities between the language of different genders In the thesis the author does researches from the combination of social reforms and language reforms and shows that it is essential and important to understand the different uses of English language by different genders and to erase the sexism from people s minds English as one of the most widespread languages and the sexist elements of it shall not be suitable to the intercultural communications but there is massive discrimination in it Therefore people should pay much more attention to the sex equality and the improvement of women s social positions Understanding the sexist phenomenon in English language helps people study language culture and correctly treat the changes of language in its historical development B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 3 Chapter One An Overview of Gender Schema Theory Gender schema theory was formally introduced by Sandra Bem in 1981 as a cognitive theory to explain how individuals become gendered in society and how sex linked characteristics are maintained and transmitted to other members of a culture Gender associated information is predominantly transmuted through society by way of schemata or networks of information that allow for some information to be more easily assimilated than others Bem argues that there are individual differences in the degree to which people hold these gender schemata These differences are manifested via the degree to which individuals are sex typed Some of the early tests of gender schema theory came in the form of memory and other cognitive tasks designed to assess facilitated processing of sex typed information Much of this early research found that participants who were sex typed remembered more traits associated with their sex as well as processed sex type congruent information more efficiently suggesting that the gender schemata possessed by sex type individuals help to assimilate sex associated information into one s self concept Bem 354 364 Core gender identity is tied up in the sex typing that an individual undergoes This typing can be heavily influenced by child rearing media school and other forms of cultural transmission Bem offered four categories in which an individual may fall sex typed cross sex typed androgynous and undifferentiated Sex typed individuals process and integrate information that is in line with the opposite gender Androgynous individuals process and integrate traits and information from both genders Finally undifferentiated individuals do not show efficient processing of sex typed information A strong source of sex typing comes from the rearing practices of parents Bem offers strong suggestions for preventing the sex typing of children including the prevention of access to media that promotes sex typing altering media and stories to B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 4 eliminate sex typing information and modeling equal roles for mothers and fathers in the household Bem S L For instance Bem edited books that her children can create a more androgynous view after reading these books This includes for example drawing long hair and feminine body characteristics on male figures Ultimately however this is somewhat limited because children will become being exposed to some of this sex typing information particularly when they begin attending school Therefore Bem suggests teaching alternative schemata to children so that they are less likely to build and maintain a gender schema Some examples include an individual differences schema where children learn to process information on a person by person basis rather than make wide assumptions about groups based on information from individuals Also providing children with a sexism schema where children learn to process sex typed information through a filter that promotes moral outrage when sexist information is being promoted which can assist in providing children with the resources not only to be kept from becoming sex typed but also promote positive social change B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 5 Chapter Two Gender Effects on the Use of English Language Besides the fact that male and female use language differently there are also differences in the process of speech development Speech acts are different for men and women at different ages and speech acts in the same mental age between men and women are also varied In English these differences are manifested in the following aspects Robin Lakoff studied gender differences in American English in the early 1970s and put forward women register Lakoff gave an elaborate and systematic explanation of women s language features As far as I am concerned men talk more concise straightforward without any modifiers and do not ask things in a roundabout way Women s pronunciations are more standard than men s Women always choose to use some exaggerated adjectives and ambiguous words I Effects on Phonetics Study shows that men and women have differences in sound quality tone and pronunciation Women s average sound quality is higher than men s The clarity of women s sound is higher sound penetrating further and timbre are more distinct When people use a same language variety men and women would be different in phonetics and this is the commonest type of gender differences in language use For instance in the United States where in the many variations of geographical dialect of English exist women use vowels often more extreme than men In other words the tongue position of their high vowels is higher than men s but the low vowels which they produced are lower than men s To give a concrete example to illustrate it B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 6 often ft n library laibr ri In the above two words women are more likely to pronounce t and l respectively Consequently as can be seen from this instance above accurate and pure pronunciation has become a social marker of women II Effects on Intonation Generally speaking women usually use a rising intonation when they are talking and the intonation changes much and is full of expressive forces while men often use a falling intonation in their speech and the intonation have less change Robin Lakoff put forward women register and he illustrates some features of it one of which has relation to intonation Women use more statement questions like Dinner will be ready at seven o clock With a rising intonation at the end Hu 159 For example Husband When will dinner be ready Housewife Oh around six o clock Generally the housewife s response Oh around six o clock is a basic sentence and should carry a falling intonation Yet when the women use this kind of words they frequently employ a rising intonation just as an interrogative sentence in order to show politeness or consultation III Effects on Vocabulary In English allegations of some color words are of women s property such as aquamarine 蓝绿色 ecru 淡褐色 mauve 紫红色 If a man who is not a professional and use these words will receive ridicule There exists a women register in English that takes several features concerned with vocabulary use 1 Women use more fancy color terms such as mauve and beige 2 Women use less powerful curse words 3 Women use more intensifiers such as terrible and awful Hu 159 B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 7 There are some interjections used by men and women separately in English For example Dame always used by men while women often use Oh dear goodness and something like that Women will say He is a wonderful friend What an adorable curtain But men will only use such words like good very utterly to strengthen sound effects These two examples show that women and men use quite different vocabulary to express their idea What s more women are good at using euphemism No matter in what situation women use more euphemism than men IV Effects on Grammar An English speaking women use more tag questions than men They do not say directly Tom is ten years old But they would say Tom is ten years old isn t he However men are more likely to use declarative sentences or omit special questions As for the use of passive voice women and men use be and get with different frequency Almost all Americans have learned these two forms a It was eaten by the children b It got eaten by the children Men use the latter one more that is to say men use get more than women In general women s language seems more polite and elegant Women often use the most politeness sentence pattern compound request For example if a speaker wants the listener to close the window he or she can use one of the following sentences a Close the window b Please close the window c Would you close the window d Would you please close the window B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 8 e Won t you close the window From the investigation and statistics we can see that women use c and d more than men especially sentences like e That is to say women s language performance is more polite than men s V Effects on Communicational Behaviors In verbal communication women are more implicit than men and with more clear emotional components Women are adept in listening rather than speaking in asking questions and expressing positive and affirmative attitudes In language communication between men and women men are generally situated in dominant position Men can control conversation topics easily and express their opinions straightforward Their themes are much more creative For instance Boy How do you think of this PE class Girl Um It s OK During a conversation women often use interjections as um hmm huh yeah to indicate that they are listening to the opposite side person earnestly So women lay particular stress on emotional exchange B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 9 Chapter Three Reasons for Gender Effects on English Language There are several casual factors that cause the differences in English language use by different genders These reasons more or less influenced the way of using language Some main reasons that account for this phenomenon can be listed as follows I Historical Factors Since 1960s with the movement of western women s liberation and the rise of feminism as well as the birth and flourish of sociolinguistics language and gender became one of the research projects to some linguistics and they got much interest in it From perspectives of western feminists the current world is a world centers around men s values to construct Then men are always in the center of human society they stand for power rights and rationality while women are in a subordinate position of the society receiving repression and degeneration Consequently feminists try to improve the political status of women by social movements in practice and to achieve the purpose of social improvement and to optimize the survival status of women In consequence we can easily draw the conclusion that historical matters are one of the reasons that caused the differences of English language uses by different genders II Social Factors Gender effects on the use of English have existed for a long time which is a reflection of the traditional ethics that men are superior to women and it influenced their way of using English Language is used in social contexts used to construct and maintain social relationships between and among women and men So our inquiries need to be extended to include explicit discussion of social structure and the social B A Thesis of Shandong University of Finance and Economics 10 organization of gender Kramarae vii Gender difference in language use is to a large extent constrained by social environment The growth environment influenced language use by different genders largely Education that children received since their birth and mass media make a great difference to the stereotyped notion towards male and female Socialization begins at birth shaping persons to behave in appropriate and prescriptive ways which set up a stable definition of gender identity Wang 39 At the beginning phase children stayed more time with women so their language may have something in similarity with female Later on boys learn from the man side while girls learn from the woman side then their language become less alike Children do not seem to favor any particular kind of language Children