论英语中的性别歧视分析

景德镇陶瓷学院科技艺术学院本科生毕业论文（设计）题目：Sexism in English Vocabulary学号：姓名：院（系）：专业：完成时间：指导老师：CONTENTSAcknowledgements…………………………………………..Abstract in Chinese…………………………………….Abstract in English…………………………………….1.Definition………………………………………………2.Sexism in word-formation methods………………..2.1 Suffixes………………………………………… .2.2 Sexism in compound words……………………..3.Sxism in Naming and Addressing…………………..3.1 Sexism and Naming……………………………….3.1.1 Sexism in the first names………………..3.1.1.1 Derivation of Female Names from Male Names……..3.1.1.2 Sexism in Semantic Naming of First Names……….3.1.2 Sexism in the family names……………3.1.2.1 Patrilineal System of Family Names3.1.2.2 Change of Female Family Names upon marriage3.2 Sexism and Addressing……….3.2.1 Sexism in Addressing Terms…..3.2.1.1Female Social Titles upon Relationship with Mal e…3.2.1.2 Derogation of Female Honorific Titles…………….3.2.1.3 Abusive Addressing Patterns………………..4.Sexism in Proverb and Slang……………………………..4.1 Sexism in Proverb……………………………………………4.2 Sexism in Slang………………………………………5. Conclusion……………………………………………………..6. Bibliography……………………………………………………ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSMy deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Professor Hou Xiaohua,my supervisor,for her constant and inspiring guidance and encouragement.She has walked me through all the stages of writing of the thesis.Without her constant and illuminating instruction,this thesis could not have reached its present form.Second,i would like to expree my heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers who taught me when i have striving for my Bachelor Degree for their excellent lectures and inspiring ideas.Last, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years.I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis摘要英语不仅是一种语言工具，也是一种意识形态工具。

性别歧视这一文化观念反映在语言的词汇学中。

牛津高级字典是这样解释的：“不平等的对待人，尤其是对女性，因为她们的性别”。

本篇论文将从英语词汇构词法、词义、称谓语及谚语和俚语分析英语词汇中的性别歧视。

所以对性别歧视了解的越多，避免的困难也就越多。

这是很有实际意义的。

关键词：语言；英语词汇；性别歧视ABSTRACTEnglish is not only a language tool, but also an ideological tool. V ocabulary of the language can faithfully reflect the culture it serves such as sexism.The oxford advanced learner's dictionary explains it as below: the unfair treatment of people, especially women, becauseof their sex.This article will discuss sexism that exists in English lexicon in terms of word formation ,word meaning ,naming and addressing terms ,as well as proverb and slang terms.So the more you know it, the better you will avoid trouble. Therefore, the present research has important practical significances.Key words：language；English word;sexism;1.DefinitionSexism，according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary is defined as prejudice or discrimination against people(esp.woman)because of their sex ;and according to Longman Dictionary of Comtenporary English ,sexism is defined as ideas and believe that menbers ofone(usually man) sex are more able and clever than theode of the other sex .It is manifest in all forms of behavior from subtle gestures and especially language to exploitation and oppression，and in all human institutions from the family to the multinational corporation(Paula S．Rothenberg 1988：21)．It affirms the dominance of men over women，jnst as Rosemary Radford Ruether(1993：165)holds that“sexism is gender privilege of males over females．It is males primarily who have originated this form of oppression，benefited from it，and perpetuated it，legally and ideologically．”In this sense，it keeps women in second．classstatus，denies them their rights to control their own bodies，and denies personal，mental，and physical safety；it reinforces the false notion that any man who is gentle，flexible，compassionateor gay becomes“feminine”and thereby loses status and respect．2.Sexism in word formationWord formation is one of the elements in language from which we can find many examples of sexism.The most obvious one is the word “history”,which it combines words “his”and “story”.It claimed that the history belonged to man not the woman.In general,it is divided in to two categories,adding suffixes and compounding.2.1 Adding suffixesAdding -tress is common among words like ,actress,authoress,sculptress and waitress.Although it sometimes awarded some outlanding achievements of women,the importance of its role isn’t the same as man.For instance,we usually call a man of a general manager,rather than a general manageress.The highest rank of poet in British is Poet Laureate,which it award to every distinguished poet including both males and females.Howerever,rarly had it probably honored a poet of Poetess Laureate. Word like hostess is widely accepted by people in bar ,which its meaning had been degraded.The same as in the terms of Jewess\Negrss and QuakeressThe suffix of -ette includes three meanings .The first one aims at small size,such as “cigarette(香烟)” and “kitchenette(小厨房）”.The second level is artifical ,such as“Leatherette(人造皮）”.The third level derives from the last two meanings which discloses the oweakness of woman and subordinates to man.As a result ,it discininates against woman obviously.Woman are unfairly treated.Duing the turn of 19 century and 20 century ,“Suffragette”was frequently used by women who wanted to strive rights for women.However,the public and media used it with derogation.Words like aviatrix(女飞行员），executrix(女执行官）and dominatrix(母夜叉) added the suffix of -trix,which all present an insular prejudice towards women.Women are so weak and fragile that they need obey to men.2.2 Sexism in compound wordsIn addition to sex discrimination in suffixes,compounding is a good example too.Take word-formationof common words made by “man” and “woman”for example .on one hand,there are a great many words with “man”,like human,policeman,chairman,businessman,sportsman,superman,mankind,postman,Engl ishman,airman,salesman,clergyman,kinsman,countryman,etc.Even the word “woman”is made up of “man. All these words should refer only to the male,while in fact,the meanings of these words also cover woman,which is obviously unfair to the female.Actually,this kind of words are regarded as masculine words in grammar.According to the point of view in English history,it inherits word-formation principle of Latin and old English in grammar gender.So such kinds of words empasize masculine in word structure.At the sametime,it also stresses that all things are done by the mmale, not the female in practical use.That is quite unfair to the female.On the other hand,in social life,pepole always regard women with discrimination.If a woman is engaged in noble cases,she will face much more difficulties than men.And the following meaning of words also show that the words made up of”woman”mainly emphasize the characteristics of women who are engaged in some kind of profession or belong to a certain of sector.For example,(1)Womankind: female human beings(2)Chairwoman: a woman presiding officer of an assembly meeting,committee or board(3)Womanpower:the power of woman physcial strength(4)Policewoman: a woman who is in a member of a police force(5)Womanhood:the state of being a woman;woman(6)Horsewoman:a woman horseback rider3.Sexim in Naming and AddressingSpender(1985:24) notes: one of the features of English language practices which are inherently sexist is the use of naming and addressing terms.”Naming and addressing terms play an important role in interpersonal communication.They are continuously used in our daily life hence the social and cultualfactors encoded in them are very valuable for us to explore.3.1 Sexism and NamingNaming system usually includes first name,middle name and family nam,such as “William Jefferson Clinton”.First name such as”William”in the example,is otherwise known as Chtistian name,forename or given name.Middle namelike”Jefferson”in the example occurs betwwen the first name and family name as the second forename,and is usually represented by its capitalized initial letter and is often used in formal occassions.Family name is known as Surname,or last name,which is a name shared in common to identify the mumbers of a family,which is usuallyinheritedfrom the ascending generation on the paternal side,such as’Clinton”in the example.This part will discuss the sexist phenomena in the first and family name on the basis of the analysis of their semantic features.3.1.1Sexism in the first namesGiving first name to the infant is one of the most important tasks.First name is truly a lifetime gift from parents;it helps define the children within the family,school and the outside word.Hence an analysis of sexism in first names is very significant. 3.1.1.1 Derivation of Female Names from Male NamesIn English lots of female names derivate from male names by adding affixes for example,Stephen-Stephanie,Dana-Dana.Affixs play an important role in the formation of female names.After researching affixes used to refer to female in English,Mills(1995:93)claims that those affixes lead to a view of women as a derivation from a male universal norm and the female form is seen as the marked term and the male as the unmarked term.Therefore,it is not a surprise that female names would have some consistent marker bias.Many female names derive of male ones by addingthe suffixes “-a”(or “-ia” due to phonetic reason), “e” and “-line” to them.like Albert and Alberta 、、Alex and Alexa、Daniel and Danielle、Gabriel and Gabriell and Paul and Pauline etc.First corresponding with the above, research has shown that male names differ fromfemale ones in two major aspects. Firstly, male names are shorter in spelling than female names according to the research, There are many male names are formed with one syllable such as Jim, Fred, John, Bob and Jack, while only few female names are one syllable. Furthermore, fewer female names have three or more than three syllables, such as Roberta, Victoria and Amand. Part of the explanation of this study lies in the fact that many female names are originated from male names by adding one or more syllables.Secondly, male names are phonologically different from female ones. This thesis finds that majority of male names are ended with consonant phonetic symbol in which some male names end with the stops [d], [t], [k] such as Robert, Richard, Jack; while only two femalenames do, namely, Brooke and Jade. However, most of female names analyzed endedwith a vowel [i], [i:], [ə], such as Mary and Anna, but only a few male names do so.Cutler argues (1990: 476), “Small vocal tracts such as [i], [i:], [ə], which producehigh-pitched sounds, are typically possessed by smaller, weaker, less threateningbeings.” Therefore, the frequent use of [i] in such female names as Tracey, Mary andBonnie, and [ə] in Rita, Selina and Lisa, reflects “smallness and lack of threat are heldto be desirable attributes of females”.Theoretically, the practice of deriving female names from male ones forms the contrast in which men are dominant and women are subordinate in society and meanwhile it is in accordance with the belief in Bible that woman was created from a rib of man.3.1.1.2 Sexism in Semantic Meaning of First NamesThe names that people give their children show the hopes and dreams they have for them and also reflects their parents’ hope and expectations for their children. So from their first names,we can know the different attitudes of parents to boys and girls. First names for girls and boys often reflect stereotyped features of feminity or. masculinity prevailing in a particular culture or society.It is undeniable that first names contain various connotations and this thesis will make an effort on the sexism in name’s connotat ion In our society the vast majority of first names carry clear feminine or masculine connotations. People no matter in the East or West attach great importance to marking the child’s sex when choosing a name for him or her. And in baby naming book, there might be two lists: one for girls and another for boys. According to it, parents are recommended to choose a name that identifies the child’s sex. Besides marking the sex of the child, first names for girls and boys often reflect stereotyped features of femininity and masculinity prevailing in culture. More female names contain the connotation associated with appearance while more male names contain connotation associated with wealth, power, wisdom and intelligence. It reflects the sexist expectaton that male should improve internal quality and female should pay more attention to external beauty.3.1.2 Sexism in Family NamesFamily names are passed down from generation to generation, it symbolizes the blood relationship and development of a family. From the way of giving family names, it is not difficult to find the sexism.3.1.2.1 Patrilineal System of Family NamesWhen women were born, they were given their fathers’ name and adopted their husbands’ names upon marriage. It’s only sons who carry on their fathers’ name forever, whereas women lost this capacity when they got married. This stresses the portrayal of women as the prosperity of men, passed from father to husband. They just have no freedom to own their own names. US Senator Hilary Clinton. Either way she names herself after a man－her father or her husband, or both.Children typically inherited their fathers’ rather than their mothers’ family names, which enables fathers but not mothers to achieve a direct continuity of naming from generation, provided they have sons. Even if there are only daughter, however the derivation of female forms from male names enables the transmission to continue. It’s very common for women in English-speaking countries to adapt their husbands’names upon they got married. Thus women are said to“marry into families and families are sad to ‘die out’ if an all-female” generation occurs.Thus, Spender comments:“Practically”, it means that women’s family names don’t count and there is one more device making women invisible.”In the ceremony, the, the official asks,“ Who gives the bride away?”and the father answers. “I do”, or “Her mother and I do”, but that does not solve the problem inherent in the idea that a bride is something to be handed over from one man to another.3.1.2.2 Change of Female Family Names upon MarriageWhen a woman is referred with her husband’s name, as in “Mrs. John Smith”,she is rendered both subordinate and invisible. For example, when a woman named Helen Keller marries to a man named John Fords, She is submerged by being called Mrs. John Fords. Even the woman is of high social status; it is the same with her. One of the candidates in 2008 Presidential Election of the United States of America, Hilary, the former president of Bill Clinton’s wife, kept her maiden name “Hilary Rodham” after marriage. But in order to help her husband in the election, she had to change her names. Though allegedly a feminist, she has shifted between naming herself Hilary Rodham, Hilary Rodham Clinton and Hilary Clinton.Despite the fact that some countries no longer legally require for women to adopt their husband’s names upon marriage, women who do not conform to this practice still face many practical and attitudinal obstacles.3.2 Sexism and Addressing3.2.1 Sexism in Addressing TermsAddressing term is a mark that indentifies the relationship of people in social activities, which can present our ideal and social ties. It is used frequently in the communication. According to different criteria, address forms can be divided into different classifications. They can be divided into: social titles, occupational titles, endearments, abusive terms,kinship terms etc.3.2.1.1 Female Social Titles upon Relationship with MaleMr、Miss and Mrs are used frequently when we refers to address someone in social communication. All adult men are called Mr, however women have different addressing terms after they get married. As we know, marriage and age is private. The title of Mrs indicates that women are reluctant to disclose his marriage condition, which is unfair to women.In addition to this ,when adapting the Mrs, her family names do not belong to her own ,but her husbands’."Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher and Nobel Prize Lady Marie Curie did not change this condition. These two famous persons still surbodinated to men.人们在社会交往中称呼某个男性或女性个体时，最常使用的是Mr、Miss 和Mrs。