英语论文An Analysis of Sexism in English Vocabulary.docx

英语论文An Analysis of Sexism in English Vocabulary.docx

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英语论文AnAnalysisofSexisminEnglishVocabulary

AnAnalysisofSexisminEnglishVocabulary

1.Introduction1

2.WhatissexisminEnglish3

3.OriginsofsexisminEnglishvocabulary4

3.1Religiousculture4

3.2Traditionalprejudice5

3.3Socialfactor6

3.3.1Socialstatus6

3.3.2Thewomen’sroleinlife7

3.4Psychologicalfactor8

4.PhenomenonofsexisminEnglishvocabulary9

4.1Femininelanguagebeingasubsidiary9

4.1.1Unmarkedormalenouns9

4.1.2Wordform11

4.1.3Wordorder13

4.1.4Address14

4.1Semanticderogatingoffemininewords15

4.2.1Animalwordsrelatedtofemale15

4.2.2Professionalword16

4.2.3Thedegradationoffemalewords17

5.HowtodispelsexisminEnglish19

5.1Creatingnewneutralwords20

5.2Arousingawareness21

5.3Intensifyingsocialreform21

6.Conclusion22

References23

1.Introduction

Humanbeingisthefirstvaluablecreaturesinnature.Itishumanbeingsthatmaketheworlddevelopandexist,anditismanandwomanthatmaketheworldinteresting.Manandwomanshouldhavereliedoneachother,andco-operatedeachother.Asthedevelopmentandalterationofhistory,therehappensimbalancebetweenthem.Womenhavebeenconsideredtobeinferiortomen.Theyhavebeendiscriminatedinonewayoranother.Thisunequalsexistphenomenonisreflectedinlanguage.Untilnowsexismstillexistsinlanguageandwomenhavealanguageoftheirown,whichisdifferentfromandinferiortothelanguageofmeninthesociety.

ItiseasytoseethattherearesomewordsinEnglishclearlyresistedinreferencetoonesexortheother.Takeatypicalexample,“master”and“mistress”,“master”isalwaysusedtoaddressapowerfulman,but“mistress”hasanotherpejorativemeaningthatapartnerforextramaritalsex.Soitisclearthatthefemalewordsaretendingtohavelessfavorablemeaning.InNorthAmericaEnglish,therearemanysex-pairedwords,suchasspinsterandbachelor,madamandmister,widowandwidoweretc.Allofthemhavethesamemeaningsapparently,buttherearemanydifferencesonconnotations.Thenoticeablepointisthatthesemanticderogationphenomenonsonlyfocusonwomen,andthemalewordskeepunchanged.Otherwise,itisobviousthatthefollowingexamplesaretypicallyusedbythosewhoclaimthatEnglishis“sexist”.“Man”and“mankind”areusedastermstodescribethehumanrace,justas“he”isusedastheunmarkedthird-personsingularpronoun.Howeversomewordswhichareusedtodescribewomen’sprofessionareoftencompoundedwithmen,suchasfemalejudge,womanmanager,womanengineerandsoon.

Thefollowingsentencecanbeusedtoillustratethisstatement:

a）Ateacherusuallycallsonhisstudents’parentsafterschool.

Inthissentence,“his”asasex-neutralpronoun,referstoamaleteacherorafemaleone.

Besides,mostpeoplethinkthatwomen’stalkisalwaysrelatedtothehomeanddomesticactivities,whilemen’sisrelatedtotheoutsideworld,politicalandeconomicactivities.Nodoubtthatthisviewpointfurthermouldsthesocialstereotypesagainstthefemale.

2.WhatissexisminEnglish

Sexisminlanguageisakindofsocialphenomenon,whichreflectsthecertaintraditionalsocialvaluesandthenationalwayofthinking.LongManDictionaryofcontemporaryEnglish（English--Chinese）（1998）definessexismasthediscriminationbasedongender,especiallydiscriminationagainstwomen.Sexismisthebeliefthatonesexisnotasgood,clever,etc.astheother,especiallywhenthisresultsinunfairtreatmentofwomanbymen.TheinterpretationisOxfordAdvancedLearners’English–ChineseDictionary（6thedition,2000）ofsexismistheunfairtreatmentagainstpeople（esp.women）,becauseoftheirsex.Thussexisminlanguageisusuallyinterpretedasprejudiceagainstwomen.

BesidesOttoJesperson（1923）,theDanishlinguist,inhisGrowthandStructureoftheEnglishLanguage,pointsthatEnglishisthemostmasculinelanguageasfarasheisconcerned.ThisisveryapparentwhenwelookatwhatissexisminEnglishisprejudiceagainstwomeninmanyuseoflanguage.

3.OriginsofsexisminEnglishvocabulary

WhatcausedthesexismintheEnglishlanguage?

SexisminEnglishwasnotformedinoneday,butbuiltinthelongperiodofthedevelopmentoflanguage,whichleadstothevarietyofthecauses.Tosumup,wemayattributesexisminEnglishtothefollowingfourfactors:

religiousculture,traditionalprejudice,socialfactorandpsychologicalfactor.

3.1Religiousculture

Inmanymyths,menarethematrixofthespecies,whilewomenarethetransformationfrommen.Inthewest,Bibleisconsideredastheoriginofallthecultures,sothestoriesinBiblehavegreatlyinfluencedpeople’sthoughtandlife.TheLordGodtookoneofhisribsandclosedupitsplacewithflesh.AndtheribthattheLordGodtookfromthemanhadbeenmadeintoawomanandbroughthertotheman.ThenthemansaidinHolyBible（TheBooksoftheOldTestament）,“Thisatlastisboneofmybonesandfleshofmyflesh;thisoneshallbecalledwoman.”

ManwasfirsttobecreatedbyGodwhilewomanwasthenmadefromoneofhisribs.Fromtheoriginofthebirth,itisobvioustoseethedifferencebetweenmanandwoman.Andmanandwomanarenotequalatallbecausewomanisonlyapartofman,whichitselfisthediscriminationagainstwoman.ItissaidthatintheHolyBiblethefirstsinwasalsocommittedbythewomanwhowasseducedbythesnakeintoeatingandhavingthemaneatthefruitofthetree,oftheknowledge,ofgoodandevil.Otherwisetheword“woman”originallymeantthewifeofman.Althoughitisjustamyth,ithasbeendeeplyrootedinpeople’sminds.People,especiallymen,wouldliketotakeitforgrantedandthusshapetheiroutlookandculture.

3.2Traditionalprejudice

Theprejudicethatmenaresuperiorandwomenareinferiorhasbeenlingeringinmostmen’sminds,althoughthesocietyisdevelopingfast.Itistheuniversallyacknowledgedtruththatthemaleisdominantinthesocietytoday.Theclassicpairword“Mr.”and“Mrs.”isthetypicalexampletoillustratethestatusofthemaleandthefemaleinthesociety.“Mr.”isarespectfulformofaddressforagentlemanand“Mrs.”isarespectfuloneforalady.Accordingtotheetymology,however,theword“Mrs.”hintsthatawomanhastodependonamanforaliving.Owingtothedifferentstatusinthesociety,therearesomeunequalsocialnormsofwordingandperformanceforthemaleandthefemale.Itiscommonforthemaletosayindecentwordsbutitisstrangeforthefemaletodoso.Manytabootermscontainthewordsinsultingthefemale.Itisapparentthatquiteafewwordsandsayingsimplythemasculinepowerandsomesocialnormshavebeenshapedbythemaledesires.

Traditionalprejudicewasgraduallyformedbymutualinfluencebetweenindividualandsocialgroups,parents,relatives,partners,andmassmedia（radio,film,TVprograms,newspaperetc.）.Thesexismandprejudicetowardwomenwerealsoformedbypersonalattitude.InEnglish,especiallyinvocabulary,thesexismphenomenonhascausedaviciouscircle,whichismainlyinfluencedbytraditionalnotion.

3.3Socialfactor

Languageisthemirrorofthesociety.Alanguagereflectsalltheaspectsofasociety.Inthesociety,womensufferfromunfairtreatmentfortheirinferiorsocialstatusandsubsidiaryroletothemen.Sotosomeextent,thesexismwillbereflectedinlanguage.

3.3.1Socialstatus

Sexismshouldbeoriginatedinthedifferentrolespeopleplayedintheancientsociety.Atthattime,thelivingconditionswereveryhard,andpeoplewereconstantlyfightingwithnature.Therefore,menandwomenwereassigneddifferenttasksaccordingtotheirphysiologicalcharacteristics.Thusmenseemedtoplayamoreimportantroleinthefamilies,butwomen’sstatuswasconsideredtobedependentonmen’s.Mennoticedtheirsuperiorityandbegantodiscriminatewomengradually.

IntheEuropeanupperclass,peopleembracethatwomenshouldn’tandmustn’tworkoutside,andtheonlythingtheycandoistostayathome,dothehouseworkandraisethechildren.ThetraditionalconceptionisstillwipespreadintheEuropeandAmericaevenaftertheindustrialization.Womenaretreatedastheweakersexandtheyrealizetheirownvaluesonlythroughtheirmarriagetoman.Nowadays,comparedwithcareermen,fewwomentaketheirjobs.Uptonow,nonetheless,sexisminthesocietyhasbeeninexistence,theembodimentofwhichisthesexismoflanguage.Nowadays,thedegradationofwomenstatusalsocanbereflectedonthispairwords“governor”and“governess”.Theword“governor”inOxfordAdvancedLearners’English--ChineseDictionary（6thedition,2000）means“manwhoexercisesasovereignauthorityinacolony,territoryorstate”,whereas“governess”isfirstexplainedas“chieflynursemaid”andthenadded“InoldEnglishQueenElizabethIwhowasacknowledgedtobetheSupremeMajestyandgovernessofallpersons.”InoldEnglish,thesetwowordsrespectivelyrefertoamanorawomanwhoexercisesasovereignauthorityinacolony,territoryorstate.Astimegoesby,themeaningoftheword“governess”iswomanwhoisemployedtoteachyoungchildrenorwomanhavingregularsexualintercoursewithonemantowhomsheisnotmarried.Buttheword“governor”basicallykeepsitsoriginalmeaning.

3.3.2Thewomen’sroleinlife

Intheancienttimes,Chinahasthesaying“男耕女织”（nangengnvzhi.manploughsandwomanweaves）,andtheWestalsohassuchsayingas“manforthefieldandwomanforthehearth”.Woman’straditionalrolesarefamilyrole（virtuouswifeandeminentmother）andsocialrole（nurse,secretary,babysitteretc.）.Nomatterinfamilyorinthesociety,theroleofwomanisinferior