Abstract Language as an important symbol system is a means to record culture. Sexism in language reflects some kind of hierarchical set of power relationships in society and embodies the male dominance of the society. Based on previous researches, the author puts emphasis on the illustration of sexism existing in English and Chinese, and analyzes the sexism from a cultural perspective.54296
This thesis firstly defines “sexism”, illustrates the performance and analyzes the reasons. The author goes on to introduce the sexism in both English and Chinese respectively in terms of weddings, proverbs, vocabulary, interpersonal appellations, word order and word meaning; then analyses some similarities and differences of sexism in English and Chinese from the cultural perspective and proposes some suggestions to reduce the sexism in language. Finally, it comes to the conclusion that the elimination of sexism in language depends on the progress of the society.
Key words: sexism; language; cultural perspective; English; Chinese
摘要语言是记录文化的重要符号系统。语言中的性别歧视反映出社会等级的权力关系，彰显男性的主导地位。本文在前人研究的基础上，描述英汉语中的性别歧视现象，并从文化的角度加以分析。
本文首先阐明“性别歧视”的定义，并且列举其表现形式及其成因；接着分别从婚俗、谚语、词汇、人际称谓、词序和词义等方面分别列举英汉语中的性别歧视现象；然后从文化角度分析英汉中语性别歧视的异同点，并提出减少语言中性别歧视的建议。最后得出结论，语言中性别歧视的消除取决于社会的进步程度。
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 1
3. Sexism in English and Chinese 3
3.1 Weddings (man-centered) 3
3.2 Proverbs and Idioms 4
3.3 English Vocabulary and Chinese Character 4
3.4 Interpersonal Appellations 5
3.5 Word Order 6
3.6 Word Meaning 6
4. Comparing Sexism in English and Chinese from the Cultural Perspective 7
4.1Similarities 7
4.2 Differences 9
5. Methods of Reducing Sexism in Language 10
5.1 Using Gender-neutral Language 10
5.2 Adjusting Word Order 11
5.3 Using Other Words 11
5.4 Other Methods 11
6. Conclusion 11
Works Cited 12
1. Introduction
For a long time, we live in a man-oriented society. Men are always in the dominant place to control centralized state power, while women are the target to be discriminated. Women, as part of human beings, their existence and thought are usually neglected, suppressed and depreciated. An English writer writes: “The extent of civilization is always closely related to the degree of women’s liberation.” (Kramsch, 2000: 10) Influenced by the French industrial revolution and the anti-slavery movement in America, famous English author M. Wollstonecraft advocated that ‘Women dominate themselves’ in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. (Zhao Ronghui, 2003: 34) With the development of the second women’s liberation movement in the 1960s, people came to realize the prejudice against women and sexism in language. 从文化角度论英汉语中的性别歧视:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_58499.html