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1、浅析英语语言中的性别歧视The Analysis of Sexism in English LanguageContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction. 2II. Causes of Sexism in English Language.21. Religious reason.32. Physiology factor.33. Social factor.4III. Sexism in English Language.41. From morphologic aspect.42. From semantic aspect.63. Sexism
2、in proverbs.8IV. The Ways to Reduce Sexism in English.91. The linguistic approach.102. The social efforts to achieve equality11V. Conclusion.12References13Abstract: Language plays an important role in our society. As a phenomenon of society, language reflects all the sides of human society naturally
3、. Language is not only a guide, it is a mirror that reflects the sexism in social reality, and at the same time, it makes people see social reality more clearly. Sexism is a phenomenon that takes a male-as-norm attitude; trivializing, degrading and devaluing female can be located everywhere. To star
4、t with, the thesis traces the reasons for the occurrence of sexism in English from the religious, social and physiology perspectives. In nature, sexism in English language reflects sexism in society. The two are closely related. Then the thesis analyses sexism from the angles of morphology, semantic
5、, proverb. Finally, a large part of the thesis is contributed to how to change and avoid sexism in English. Along with the Womens liberation Movement in 1960s, it has aroused peoples awareness of the inequality between women and men. It is more important to eliminate the ideology of prejudice to wom
6、en in peoples mind. Eliminating sexism also depends on women themselves, women should work hard to improve social status. Key words: English language; sexism; society; equality摘 要: 语言是人类社会发展的产物，它源于社会又反映着社会观念。性别歧视是一种社会现象，不仅反映在社会生活中，也反映在语言和语言的使用中，由此形成了语言性别歧视，主要表现在诋毁女性贬低女性、将女性置于一种男性附属地位的言语行为。本文首先从宗教，社会
7、等角度剖析英语语言中性别歧视的根源; 然后从构词、语义、谚语等不同角度分析英语语言中性别歧视现象;最后提出了如何避免使用英语性别歧视语。随着时代的发展，语言中的性别歧视现象逐渐引起广大女性，尤其是语言学家的重视。社会变革是语言变革的基础，语言变革推动着整个社会的发展，二者相互作用。关键词: 英语语言; 性别歧视; 社会; 平等 I. Introduction Sexism is an unreasonable social phenomenon, which is a kind of discrimination against women because of the gender. Sex
8、ism, According to The extended fourth of Oxford Advanced learners English-Chinese Dictionary means “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex”. Language is an important window through which one can understand the culture and society of the people, becau
9、se peoples social-cultural behaviors and thoughts are reflected in their use of the language. Language itself is not sexist, but the society is. Language is the carrier and container of culture; it is the mirror of the society, reflecting the customs and values of society. Historically and sociologi
10、cally, our society is man-oriented and man-centered. Women are regarded as a weaker gender in society, subordinated and dominated by men for a long time. Naturally, this kind of phenomenon has been reflected in language. With the development of society, the status of women improves a lot. Women play
11、 an important role in our society. Along with the Womens liberation Movement in 1960s, more and more people began to pay attention to sexism in English language.This thesis will try to explore the phenomena of sexism in English, its causes and discuss the methods to avoid it. This thesis is divided
12、into five parts. Firstly, in the introduction part, illustrating the background of the thesis, giving the definition of sexism and explaining the relationship between language and society.Secondly, trace the causes of sexism in English in terms of religious reason, physiology factor, and social fact
13、or.Thirdly, analyze linguistic features of sexism in English language in terms of (1) morphologic aspect; (2) semantic; (3) sexism in proverbs.Then, discuss the ways to reduce sexism in English in the following fields (1) the linguistic approach; (2) the social efforts to achieve equality.Finally, g
14、o to the conclusion of the thesis.II. Causes of Sexism in English LanguageSexism in English was not formed in one day, but it built up in the long period of the development of the language. With regard to the causes of sexism in English language, it is believed that there are three predominant facto
15、rs attributing to that: religious reason, social factor and physiology factor. To the religious reason, I look at the influential classics that are the vehicle of gender ideology the Bible in order to acquire a good understanding of how sexism is constructed. However, the sexist gender orientation i
16、s after all rooted in social reality, i.e. the immediate social situation and the broader social environment (labor division and socialization, for example). Meanwhile, physiology factor inevitably has an influence in the forming of sexism.1. Religious reason In the Holy Bible, we all know the god c
17、reated woman, “the God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its pace with flesh. And the ribs that the 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 my
18、 fresh, this one shall be called woman. The God created man first and made woman from one of his ribs. From the order of the birth, it is obvious show that woman is only part of man, which itself is the discrimination against woman. It is said that in the Holy Bible the woman also commits that sin.
19、She was seduced by into the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil and having the man eat too, which was forbidden by the god. Thus, it is said that the woman committed the first sin. Whats worse, woman is often related to evil, trouble, sin and weakness and so on. At last, the woma
20、n was punished to bring forth children in pain and was ruled by the man.According to Holy Bible, woman is one of the ribs of the man. Therefore, woman submits to man, serve man, please man and is abused by man. So woman has been regarded as without independence and dignity. As a result, woman was tr
21、eated as second-class sex. People, especially men would like to shape this culture. From above, the superiority of men and inferiority of woman is clearly seen. As Christianity is a powerful religion in the western countries, the Bible is a great book to western countries. In a word, sexism exists u
22、nder this religion.2. Physiology factor There are physiological differences between the sexes. For extended work and life together, people thought that men are tall, strong. Contrarily, women are small, weak. In a word, women are weaker than men. Most of people think that men play a more important r
23、ole in society. People thought that female is more patient than male because of physiological characteristic. Therefore, women are regarded as suitable to care children, do the elementary teaching works, and do housework and so on. Mens job is to work outside but womens work is to stay at home. Wome
24、n are treated as weaker ones. Since childhood, social conceptions started to control girls DOS and DONTS, for instance, if boys cry, parents will stop them and say, “you are a boy, a man you cant cry, and man cant drop tears.” however, if girls cry, parents will sympathize them. In a word, men are s
25、tronger than women.3. Social factor In society, there exists a different kind of discriminations against women. As“Language is the mirror of the society” and a language reflects all the aspects of a society, we can surely find discriminations against women in English. Feminists all claim that we liv
26、e in a patriarchal society: a society of men, ruled by men and for men. Patriarchy depicts men as the perfect norm against which women are measured and found lacking. Womens place is at home, and their responsibility is to do the housework and to bring up the children. However, men enjoy a much vast
27、er world. They have more and broader connection with people of different associations and statuses in society. This traditional conception is still wide spread in Europe and America even though more and more women have left home, received high education and achieved great achievements in different f
28、ields. Women are treated as the weaker society and they realize their own values through their marriage to men. Even today, with feminist movement like a spreading fire, compared with career men, much fewer women take their jobs, among them, most do not go to work until their children have grown up
29、and have left their home. Up to now, nonetheless, men dominate the higher positions with better salaries and women remain in the subordinate jobs. Thus the sexism in the society has been in existence and it is far from vanishing, the embodiment of which is necessarily the sexism in English.III. Sexi
30、sm in English Language1. From morphologic aspect Sexism in general comes in three main forms: language ignores women; it defines women as less significant than men; and it insults women. In this part I will discuss it from derivated words, compound words, and word orders.1) Derivated words The famou
31、s linguist J.Grenberg advanced the theory of Marked and Unmarked. This theory is a useful concept when analyzing sexism in English vocabulary. Generally speaking, the female term is regarded as the marked term, while the male term is seen as unmarked term. In other words, masculine words are generic
32、 and common. However, feminine words are usually derivational and compounds words of masculine centered words. In English, derivational morphemes are mainly prefixes and suffixes. The use of feminine affixes often indicates females identity, position, etc. These words indicate subordinate position of female. There are following examples:Unmarked (masculine words) Marked (feminine words)ActorActressPoetPoetessPrincePrincess
