On in【On,Avoiding,Sexist,Language,in,English】

　　摘要：Language plays an important role in society. As a phenomenon of society， language reflects all the sides of human society naturally. Sexism， as a special social phenomenon， is inevitably reflected through language. This thesis attempts to make a study of sexism in language through comparison and giving examples， aiming at foregrounding those hidden differences in the representation and treatment of women and men in language. The thesis also gives some suggestions as to how to banish the sexism in English language to raise peoples awareness， which serves as a prelude to the elimination of sexism.
　　关键词：Sexism；sexist language；feminine；masculine word
　　中图分类号：H31文献标识码：A文章编号：1009-0118（2012）12-0396-03
　　1. Introduction
　　As the peculiar result of the development of human society， language is a kind of social phenomenon and reflects all the sides of human society naturally. Its existence and development are closely linked with the social attitude of human beings and to a great extent are affected by their views and value. Historically and socially， our society is man-oriented and women are discriminated for a long time and completely subordinated in political， economic and even family life. Unavoidably， this kind of phenomenon has been embodied in languages. In linguistic aspect， the language is bias-based and women suffer from language sexism.
　　2. Sexist language
　　Sexist language is any language， whether written or oral， which by its use， form or structure demeans people on account of their gender. It is， for example， language which makes the assumption that the male in society or the male view of society is the norm. Sexist language can have the effect of making women feel belittled， either personally or in society. It may trivialize， irritate or insult women. Research evidence shows that language use affects the ways in which people view themselves and others.
　　3. Sexist phenomena in English
　　Along with the womens libration movement， people began to realize the prejudice against women and sexism in the language. However， many people use discriminated language without realizing the sexism in their writing and speaking， and of course they dont intend to look down upon the female at all. Thus， recognizing the language sexism is the precondition to avoid peoples unconscious use and to remove the sexist language.
　　3.1 From morphologic aspect
　　3.1.1 Derivated words
　　Generally speaking， masculine language is usually unmarked while feminine words are marked. In other words， masculine words are generic and common； however， feminine words are usually derivation of masculine words or compound words of the masculine centered words. This phenomenon is received by such nouns as authoress （from author）， waitress （from waiter）， actress （from actor） etc. 　　3.1.2 Compound words
　　Firstly， there are many “-man” compound words， referring to both masculine and feminine gender. For example， the whole word is only for men as the word “mankind” “human” suggest. From the words “statesman” and “chairman” we can guess it seems that there are only men in politics.
　　Secondly， some careers， especially the prestigious ones， are man-oriented （for example， science， technology， business， etc.）. While if it refers to women， it will add “lady” “female” or “woman” before the masculine words.
　　3.2 From semantic aspect
　　3.2.1 Masculine words with a general reference
　　There is a tendency to use masculine words to refer to human being as a whole. The words “he”， “his” and “him” refer to the male. But referring to unspecified people， these words usually are used to refer to such indefinite pronouns just like someone， someone， somebody， anyone， everyone， nobody， each， etc.
　　3.2.2 Changes of the connotations of the sex-paired words
　　In English there exist pairs of words and in each pair there is a masculine word and a feminine word has acquired a derogatory sense. Take bachelor and spinster for example. According to Longman Dictionary， bachelor means an unmarried man who is regarded as very suitable to be chosen as a husband， while spinster means an unmarried woman， usually one who is no longer young and or seems unlikely to marry. Governor means the head of a state government， but governess means a woman entrusted with the care of a child in a private home.
　　3.3 From metaphor
　　Most of the metaphors of feminine are positive while metaphors of male are active. The following are some metaphors referring to women， which indicate the images and positions of women in peoples ideology.
　　3.3.1 Food metaphor
　　As we all know， food is the most passive thing for people to eat， however， men regard women as food， what a distinctive example of females passive and subordinate status in the society. For example， peach （very attractive woman）， crumpet （woman regarded simply as sexually described objects）.
　　3.3.2 Animal metaphor
　　There are also many animal words showing concept for women， People use chicks， birds， kittens and lambs to refer to young ladies. When females become old and lose their charm， they will be called cows， dogs， pigs， hens， vixens and crone， even worse male/horse.
　　3.4 In proverbs and idioms
　　Proverbs are sayings that reveal the wisdom of a nation. However， certain proverbs are not true wisdom but reflect how women are misunderstood， or even prejudiced against. In these proverbs are based on the myth that women are much more talkative than men. 　　A womans tongue wags like a limbs tail.
　　Words are women， deeds are man.
　　3.5 In the traditional culture
　　In English society， Mr. is a title for a man and it does not indicate when the man is married or single， but there used to be no title for women that did not indicate married status. If she is single， Miss. is used； otherwise， Mrs. should be used. Besides， the woman commonly should be surnamed along with her husband， which is also the embodiment of discrimination against female.
　　4. Suggestions on how to avoid sexist language in English
　　Although we can discard kinds of discriminated language， we may come across some difficulties in expressing without the sexist language because it is a customary usage.
　　4.1 Avoiding using masculine pronouns to indicate the indefinite person
　　As we known， there are masculine pronouns which indicate the indefinite person in English vocabulary.
　　（Sexist） One should do the best he can.
　　（Sexist） Everyone present must give his opinion of the topic.
　　（Sexist） You must know your customers needs before you give him advice.
　　He， his， and him are used as generic pronouns in the above sentences. It is acceptable and correct in traditional grammar（Leech et al. ， 1989）， but they trigger images of male referents alone since man and he have two meanings. It is often unclear whether they are being used generically or gender -specially， and so they may convey an implicit message that women are of secondary importance by rendering them invisible （Freeborn， 1993； Leech et al.， 1989； Miller et al.， 1988； Burnard， 1996）.
　　4.1.1 Using he or she， his or her， him or her to replace he， his， him respectively， which expressly indicate that women are includes in the antecedent of the pronouns.
　　The above three sentences marked by （Sexist） can be changed into （Revised）.
　　（Revised） One should do the best he or she can.
　　（Revised） Everyone present must give his or her opinion of the topic.
　　（Revised） You must know your customers needs before you give him or her advice.
　　However， it is inconvenient to use them and it is both troublesome and monotonous if they appear several times in one sentences or paragraph. Therefore， s/he is coined as the contracted form of “she or he”.
　　4.1.2 Using the plural form or plural noun （the third person） if they do not change the meaning of the sentence.
　　（Sexist） When bathing a baby， never leave him unattended.
　　（Revised） When bathing a baby， never leave them unattended. 　　4.1.3 Using someone， one， the one， no one instead.
　　（Sexist） He who can take advice is sometimes superior to the one who can give it.
　　（Revised） Someone who can take advice is sometimes superior to the one who can give it.
　　4.1.4 If permitted， the sentence can be changed into –ING participle or –ED participle to be non-sexist.
　　（Sexist） The student who is planning to transfer must obtain the permission before he leaves the school.
　　（Revised） The student who is planning to transfer must obtain the permission before leaving the school.
　　（Sexist） What a person think of after he becomes a deportee？
　　（Revised） What a person think of after becoming a deportee？
　　4.1.5 Using an article instead of a possessive pronoun as a modifier.
　　（Sexist） Can a critic give his opinion of an omelet without being asked to make one？
　　（Revised） Can a critic give an opinion of an omelet without being asked to make one？
　　4.1.6 Rewrite the sentence from the first person or second person angle， e.g.
　　（Sexist） One has to be careful with his money on the bus.
　　（Revised） You have to be careful with your money on the bus.
　　（Sexist） From each according to his abilities， to each according to his needs.
　　（Revised） From each of us according it our abilities， to each of us according to our needs.
　　4.1.7 Rephrase sentence so as to avoid he， his and him as generic pronouns， or use nouns or synonyms.
　　（Sexist） A first grader can feed and dress himself.
　　（Revised） A first grader can feed and get dressed without assistance.
　　4.1.8 Dropping the masculine pronouns can also be seen as a useful way to escape from gender bias. Try to avoid conditional structures generally introduced by “if” or “when” which often require the exsistence of pronouns.
　　（Sexist） If someone is the principle investigator， he should place an asterisk after his name.
　　（Revised） Place an asterisk after the principal investigator bias in writing.
　　（Sexist）When a student wishes to avoid sex bias in his writing， he should examine these alternatives.
　　（Revised） The alternatives should been examined by any student who wishes to avoid sex bias in writing.
　　4.2 Try to use the neutral gender words
　　There are many masculine words in English vocabulary referring to the two sexes. People should try to use gender free words as much as possible to avoid exist words.
　　4.2.1 Try to avoid using man/ men or mankind to refer to people in the world. 　　There is a tendency to use masculine words to refer human beings as a whole. Obviously， when you use man and related words to refer to both women and men， you are being sexist. The following table shows this point.Original usage12Replaced byman12 people， men and women， women， women and men，
　　individuals， human beings， person， the individualmankind12 humanity， human beings， human race， peopleman power12 workers， workforce， staff， labor， staffing，
　　human resources4.2.2 By means of rewording proverbs and idioms.
　　Proverbs and idioms that contain sexism should be kept but rewording is necessary. Neutral words can be employed to replace those words indicating sex. Examples as follows：
　　All men are created equal. → All people are created equal.
　　Jack of all trades → person of all trades
　　4.2.3 Try to avoid using compound words that consists of man to refer to both genders.
　　If a compound word is for specific use， we can use a word+man to refer to man and a word+woman to refer to woman， for example， businesswoman， chairwoman， etc. If it is for generic use or the gender is unknown， we can create new words or compounds involving the word person or world people leading to nouns， or shorten the word by cutting off the –man suffix， or replacing to it with existing gender-neutral synonyms. For example：
　　Avoid12Preferchairman12 chairperson， chair， president， head foreman12supervisor， superintendentcongressman12representative， legislatorcouncilman12council member4.2.4 Try to avoid using gender-suffixes which reflect womens lower rank and avoid using prepositional attributes like woman， lady， madam when there is no necessity to show their sex and use one form to designate， a person in all three contexts， i.e. in reference to a male， to a female or to a person whose sex is not specific.
　　4.3 Dont make assumptions and choose examples which draw on stereotypical roles for women and men， secretary， nurse or babysitter as “she” and engineer， scientist or philosopher as “he”， we can do so by
　　4.3.1 Using the plural form or alternative wording， e.g.
　　（Sexist） the scientist… he → （Revised） scientists… they
　　（Sexist） the nurse…she → （Revised） nurses… they
　　4.3.2 Using female name and females in roles as frequently as male names and roles： “Mary drove to work.” rather than “Mary washed the dishes.”
　　4.4 Coining new corresponding words
　　Since the 1960s， feminists had coined a new word “Mrs.” to deemphasize the improper perception of marital status as a definitive feature of a womans identity and personality. Women who object to having a title that marked for marital status have adopted “Ms.” There are also some other examples， such as salesman and saleslady， housewife and househusband， bride and bridegroom and so on. 　　4.5 Alternatives to addressing terms
　　Addressing terms are very important in our daily communication， and gender discrimination certainly has some influence on them. In English， there are many addresses used to look down upon females. In order to solve the problem， there are some strategies that may help：
　　4.5.1 Dont use terms which patronize or belittle woman as wives or otherwise， e.g. the better half， the little woman， the weaker sex， the fair sex， dumb blondes， （womans） libber and avoid those stereotypical and biased expressions， e.g. ambiguous men and aggressive woman， cautious men and third women.
　　4.5.2 When writing letters， if the sex of receiver is not known it is better， do not use the traditional way of addressing such as Dear Sir， Dear Gentleman and Dear Madam. Job titles can be used instead of such as Dear friends of the library， Dear Madams and Sirs， Dear Personnel Officer， Dear Committee Member， Dear Agent and Dear Director.
　　5. Conclusion
　　As I have said， sexist language is a social problem which is the reflection of peoples discrimination against the female sex. Eliminating discriminated language thoroughly by converting some words usage is not enough. Additionally， language is relative stable. As a matter of fact， in order to get rid of sex discrimination existing in the English language， the first thing to do is to root out the idea of prejudice against women in peoples mind （Li Ruili， 2004）.
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