傲慢与偏见中语言使用的性别差异研究

1、AcknowledgmentsThanks for giving me this chance to accomplish this thesis and to make the conclusion for my four years ' education. Through writing this paper, I have gained more knowledge than I supposed.First, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Mr. Lei Hongyou, for his invaluable supervisi

2、on and suggestions, for his generosity in spending his time discussing questions concerning my thesis, and for his constant encouragement. Without his guidance and help, this paper would not have come into being.Here, I also want to give my thanks to my classmates who have given me much help. Withou

3、t their assistance and encouragement, I would not have completed my thesis in such a short time. Thanks a lot! AbstractThrough the applications of the Lakoff ' s theory on language and gender within the sociolinguistic field and Conversation Analysis in the linguistic field, the gender differenc

4、es in language use in the novel Pride and Prejudice are intended to be explored by static and dynamic analysis in this thesis. In terms of static analysis, it is divided into lexical and syntactic levels; and dynamic aspect includes amount of talk and topic management. This thesis attempts to make a

5、 contrastive study about gender differences embodied in the language used by male and female characters in the novel, and probes into how the different uses of language are employed to portray the typical characters, express emotions and reflect themes. In addition, this study will also explore the

6、major factors leading to the gender differences in language use in the novel.This thesis provides a new perspective for others who are interested in Pride and Prejudice to appreciate its unexcelled charm and also proves the feasibility that sociolinguistic and linguistic theories can be applied to t

7、he interpretation of literary works to some degree. Key Words: Pride and Prejudice; gender differences; language use 摘要 本文从社会语言学的角度出发，通过运用罗宾莱考夫关于语言与性别的理论 阐释，及会话分析的相关理论，试图从静态和动态两个方向对世界经典名著 傲慢与偏见中男女两性的语言差异进行定量、定性分析：静态方面主要从词汇和句法层面入手；动态方面着重体现在话语量及话题管理层面。通过对小说中两性语言特点进行对比分析，进而探究这些语言差异是如何塑造人物性格、表达感情、照应主题的，

8、另外本研究剖析了在作品创作中影响这种差异性的主 要因素。本文阐述了傲慢与偏见中男女两性的语言差异及产生原因，提供读者以全 新角度欣赏这部作品的同时在一定程度上证明了社会语言学和语言学的相关理 论能够应用到文学分析的可行性。关键词：傲慢与偏见；性别差异；语言使用Contents TOC o "1-3" h z uHYPERLINK l _Toc12622 1. Introduction 1HYPERLINK l _Toc17008 2. Sex and Gender 2HYPERLINK l _Toc4045 3. Analysis of Gender Differences

9、 in LanguageUse in Pride and Prejudice 3HYPERLINK l _Toc8986 3.1 Formal Language Structure 4HYPERLINK l _Toc15860 3.1.1 Lexical Level 4HYPERLINK l _Toc23125 3.1.2 Syntactic Level 8HYPERLINK l Toc15579 3.2 Speech Style 10HYPERLINK l Toc13052 3.2.1 Amount of Talk 11HYPERLINK l Toc26988 3.2.2 Topic Man

10、agement 12HYPERLINK l Toc26063 4. Causes of Gender Differences in LanguageUse in Pride and Prejudice 14HYPERLINK l _Toc4866 4.1 Internal Individual Factors 14HYPERLINK l _Toc24583 4.2 External Social Factors 15HYPERLINK l _Toc2061 4.2.1 Social Status and Roles 15HYPERLINK l Toc31725 4.2.2 Sexism 17

11、:HYPERLINK l _Toc20711 4.2.3 Sub-Cultures 18HYPERLINK l Toc8926 5. Conclusion 19HYPERLINK l Toc21049 Bibliography 21A Study of Gender Difference in Language Use in Pride and Prejudice1. IntroductionLanguage can be traced back to the beginning of human society. We cansay that people are born to speak

12、, though they are not born speaking.Language, as a communicative medium of crucial importance, plays a peculiar role in human relationships. Every day we use language here and there automatically, often without conscious effort. We take this phenomenon for granted that language is a natural instinct

13、 of human beings.With the development of society, more and more researchers put their focus on the influential functions of language. If a society is defined as any group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose; accordingly, a language is what the members of a particular society speak

14、. No matter how language is defined, there is no doubt that language and society are interdependent. Sociolinguistics, a science of studying language in relation to society, appeared in the late 1960s. As a field of study involving the interaction of language and society, it has naturally been a for

15、m of linguistics which has been applied more than any other forms. With the rise of the feminist movement in the western countries, the studies concentrated on language and gender has become one of the major issues in sociolinguistics since late 1960s and early 1970s. At that time, Language and Woma

16、n s Place, written by Robin Lakoff, has become milestone in this field. It made people begin to realize the striking characteristics of female language and the close relationship between language and gender.As we all know, Pride and Prejudice, written by English female novelist Jane Austen who is fa

17、mous for realistic style and biting irony, is one of her masterpieces and the most favored novels in English literature. The stories take place in Austen' s works alwaysfrom her familiar experience and observation. Many scholars have analyzed Pride and Prejudice in multiple perspectives from its

18、 themes and skills to linguistic phenomenon by concerning pragmatic theories.Some study its irony and humor art; some discuss about marriage and feminism; others focus on conversation styles on a basis of cooperative principle -since this novel has a great number of excellent speech and classic conv

19、ersations, this thesis attempts to take it as object to make a contrastive research about gender differences embodied in the languages used by its male and female characters, and then discusses how the language differences of both genders are employed to portray the typical roles, express their emot

20、ions and reflect the work ' s theme. Meanwhile, the study will explore the major causes contribute to the gender differences in language use in the novel. The study standing from the perspective of sociolinguistics, and combining the applications of Lakoff' s theoryon language and gender and

21、 Conversation Analysis in the linguistic field, analyzes the gender differences in language from quantitative and qualitative directions: one is formal language structure, and the other is speech style. In terms of formal language structure which is divided into lexical level and syntactic level, 10

22、8 utterances asdate are collected from the novel text Pride and Prejudice. More specifically, the lexical level will be discussed from the aspects of intensifiers, interjections and extravagant adjectives. The syntactic level is mainly concentrated on tag questions and hedges used by males and femal

23、es in this novel. In terms of the aspect of speech style, the study includes amount of talk and topic management. The study of formal language structure is a static analysis in horizontal direction while the speech style is a dynamic one in vertical direction. The results of the research indicate th

24、at the gender differences in language use in Pride and Prejudice are the combination of"similarity" and " particularity ” . This thesisprovides a new perspective for us to have a better comprehension about how Jane Austen presents her charming language skills use by male and female ch

25、aracters in Pride and Prejudice, and also proves the feasibility that sociolinguistic and linguistic theories can be applied to the interpretation of literary works to some degree.2. Sex and GenderTo some extent, “gender” and “sex” are two similar concepts for us. However, they actually focus on dif

26、ferent perspectives. In order to better understand the theme of the thesis“gender differenceit is necessary to make a clear distinction between gender and sex. Gender is a relatively new term emerging since the 1960s with the development of sociolinguistics and feminist movement, and widely adopted

27、into American literature and daily life since the 1980s. Here are several well-accepted definitions of gender. For Ronald Wardhaugh, sex is biologically determined whereas gender is a social construction (but one heavily grounded in sex) involving the whole gamut of psychological, social, and cultur

28、al differences between males and females (53). According to Anthony Giddens, sex shows biological or anatomical differences between men and women, whereas gender concerns the psychological, social and cultural differences between males and females (47). In the view of Jennifer Coates, sex refers to

29、biological distinction, but gender is a term used to describe socially constructed categories based on sex (39). Similar definition is given by Eckert and MeConell-Ginet, denoting that gender is the social elaboration of biological sex in other irrelevant fields and domains (51). Another definition

30、comes fromChinese scholar Bai Jiehong: sex is a female and male signal based on biology determined by genes, while gender is a feminine and masculine signal based on social roles and statues and gained from the influence of social, cultural and psychological factors (40).From the discussion above, w

31、e can make a conclusion that sex is a biological and birth-given term, either man or woman, which is static and unchangeable except individual preference and choice with the help of denaturation operation. On the contrary, gender is a social- and-cultural constructed term, which is dynamic and can b

32、e learned and acquired by human beings in the lifetime under the influence of cultural background and environment. In another word, one may have both feminine and masculine characteristics but present them respectively and appropriately according to different contexts.3. Analysis of Gender Differenc

33、es in Language Use in Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice mainly tells the love story between a rich, proud young man Darcy and the beautiful and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet. Here we won ' t talk much about the details of the novel but concentrate on their languages. Every individual' s

34、language seems tohave linguistic items that reflect social characteristics of the speaker, of the addressee or the relations between them. One of the typical features of this novel is its excellent and flexible use of language. In this section, we will put our focus about the language used by differ

35、ent genders in novel on two fields: the language structure employing the Lakoff ' s theories of features in female speech; the speech style on a basis of Conversation Analysis. The research will be conducted by studying the data collected from literary text through quantitative and qualitative m

36、ethods.3.1 Formal Language StructureLanguage is such an integral part of humanity that too much about it has been taken for granted. It is used as a medium for access to other fields of knowledge rather than just as a subject in and by itself. However, if we pause to think of the rhyme about languag

37、e, it s indeed necessary to reconsider the real essence of language. In linguistic system, formal structure consists of phonemes, syllables, intonation, pronunciation, then of words, phrases, sentences, and lastly, of speech and writing, etc. In this field, the representative scholar Robin Lakoff ha

38、s made great contributions to the research on language and gender systematically. Here we discuss the words in form of written instead of spoken, so the analysis will be carried through lexical and syntactic level.3.1.1 Lexical LevelAs we mentioned before, there are three aspects we can discuss at l

39、exical level in Pride and Prejudice. According to Lakoff' s theory,they are intensifiers, interjections and extravagant adjectives. Generally speaking, intensifier is one kind of adverb of degree usually functioned as the modifier to emotional adjectives. For example, the adverbs“so” ,“really ”

40、,“very” can be regarded asintensifiers to emphasize the emotional degree of the modified words. Accordingly, Lakoff refers to it in her Language and Woman' s Placethat“the intensive so, used where purists would insist upon anabsolute superlative, heavily stressed, seems more characteristic of wo

41、men s language than of men ' s" (54). She supposes that females are more likely to use intensifiers to strengthen their moods and opinions. Under most circumstances, the intensifiers chosen by females are somewhat different from males ' . With the guidance of this theory, a data about t

42、he using of intensifiers by each gender in Pride and Prejudice is listed in the following table:Table 3.1 The Frequency of Intensifiers Used by Male and Female CharactersIntensifierGender so really very quite total Male 26 32 4 3 65 1Female 41 35 8 14 97From the table above, we can clearly conclude

43、that female characters are more tend to use intensifiers than males do in speech. For example, in Chapter 25, Elizabeth and her aunt Mrs. Gardiner totally use “really " 6 times during their conversation about Lydia and Wickham. And only in this section Mrs. Gardiner uses intensifiers 11 times i

44、n all. Here we will take the female character Mrs. Bennet as a typical object to analyze her expressions in the novel, to prove these features more specifically.“Jane was so admired, nothing could be like itand Mr. Bingleythought her quite beautiful I was so vexed to see and he seemed quite struck w

45、ith Jane ” (Austen 13-14).“I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome!” (Austen 14).for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man So high and so conceited . fancying himself so very great! . I quite detest the man.” (Austen 14).These expressions are selected from Chapter 3, happening a

46、fter Mrs. Bennet comes back from the ball. The intensifiers help express Mrs. Bennet' s emotions more vividly. The three utterances respectively stand for her proud of Jane ' s beauty, praise of Mr. Bingley ' s elegance and disgust for Mr. Darcy ' s prejudice.Another example is taken

47、 from Chapter 25 when Mrs. Bennet complains about Elizabeth refusing Mr. Collins ' s proposal with Mrs. Gardiner: “It is very hard to think He made her an offer in this very room. The Lucases are very artful people It makes me very nervous and poorly and I am very glad to hear ” (Austen 174) The

48、re are five “very ” in these utterances to emphasize the degree of Mrs. Bennet ' s anger, and readers can feel her regret and disappointment for Elizabeth ' s decision.We can certainly imply that Mrs. Bennet is a person who always speaks out what she thinks in mind directly from these sample

49、s. It is in accord with her personality described in novel that she always puts her daughters ' marriage in the first place and spares no effort to find a satisfactory husband for each of them. In addition, the other female characters such as Jane, Caroline also use intensifiers in their utteran

50、ces. However, these words can hardly be uttered by male characters. Thus, we have no difficulty to draw a conclusion that female characters prefer to use intensifiers in their daily communication to express more strong feelings in the novel, in comparison to males. That is to say, the author Jane ha

51、s a tendency to mould the sentimental feature of female when creating this works. And this linguistic phenomenon conforms to the result of Lakoff' stheory and actual language usage.Besides the difference on intensifiers, another typical aspect of vocabulary is the using of interjections between

52、males and females. Under most circumstances, an interjection has no practical significance but just reflects the speaker' s emotion or impliedattitude. Usually we define the interjection that it appears at the beginning of a sentence and is followed by a punctuation mark. For instance,“Oh!” ,“Go

53、odness!” are the common interjections.Lakoff states that interjections can be divided into strong and weak ones according to their degrees of mood (176). Previous studies has shown that female speakers are not expected to use strong interjections, such as"damn or “shit ” , but are encouraged to

54、use weaker ones like “oh dear” ,“goodness” ,“fudge” , etc.However, with the rise of females ' status, we can hear the strong interjections are spoken by both genders in modern society, but weak ones like “Dear me" are still not being adopted by males in majority.Before collecting the data i

55、n the text, there is one thing we must take into consideration-social background. We all know that the story took place at the turn of 19th century. It was a relatively conservative society and nearly all the characters in the story were upper-class roles, therefore, there is no swear words such as&

56、quot;damH'or “shit ” uttered by male characters let alone females. So the thesis pays more attention to the frequency of weak interjections used by males and females instead of the difference of strong and weak ones.Table 3.2 he Frequency of Interjections Used by Male and Female CharactersInterj

57、ectionGender Oh Dear me Good Lord For God ' s Sake total Male 3 0 1 1 5Female 7 1 8 2 18The data collected in the table 3.2 indicates that the number of interjections used by females characters accounts for more than three fourths." Oh' and " Good God are the most frequently used a

58、mongfemales. Here some samples are selected spoken by Elizabeth in Chapter 47 to explore her different psychological activities with the same expression"Oh'.“Oh, no, no-this is not likely.”“ Oh, yes!-that, that is the worst of all.”“Oh, - this could not have happened! ”“Oh! Thoughtless, tho

59、ughtless Lydia! ” (Austen 341,343, 351,352). Although four sentences have the same simple interjection" Oh' , itreally represents different emotions of Elizabeth. It contains not only her sorrow and anger for Lydia ' s behavior but anxiety and worry about for sister ' s safety. Thus, it helps readers to have a better comprehension for Elizabeth ' s personality.On the other hand, we can get the information from the data that male characters hardly adopt interjections. In the story, nearly every male character is cultured and behaves elegantl