英语语言中的性别差异的对比研究(5)
3.2 Differences in Vocabulary
Numerous scholars, having discussed vocabulary differences in female or male speech, observe that certain words or categories of words appear with greater frequency in the speech of one or the other. Some areas of vocabulary are more elaborated by each gender.
Firstly, the vocabulary differentiation lies in adjectives used as modifiers. Since women are more expressive in conversation and they appear to be particularly expressive of love, sadness and happiness. They tend to employ some adjectives only restricted to women such as charming, fantastic, marvelous, sweet, etc, and some adverbial intensifiers such as so, very or extremely, etc. For example when a woman is praising the hostess for her food, she often says like “It is so delicious” or “It is gorgeous”. Since woman have a great fondness for hyperbole, women will often lead the fashion with regard to adverbs of intensity. What’s more, women often use some empty extravagant adjectives and hyperboles to express emotions instead of offering information, such as adorable, charming, cute, pine and lovely (Zheng, 2005). It would be funny for men to say these words.
Secondly, the female employ some vague words to make their opinions not be subjective, such as “kind of” and “sort of” etc. For example, “it is kind of hot here.” “I’d sort of like to see that movie.” But the male will not use this kind of vague words, they are more willing to express their opinions directly.
Thirdly, men are more likely to use vulgar words, like “Shit” “Damn” “Hell” to curse others. Women tend to use milder exclamations, such as "Oh, dear", "Goodness!" or "Fudge!" "Good Heavens" "Oops"; men are more likely to use "God" "My God".
Lastly, women in the conversation tend to use more inclusive language such as “you” and “we”. They are fully aware of the existence of the other side for the sake of respect. For example, “Let’s go for a walk, will you?”, “We can do it like this way.” However, men like to use exclusive language to keep their independence. They would say, “I want to go for a walk.” The language of exclusion which a man uses will tend to emphasize his autonomy and independence while the language of inclusion used by a woman is more likely to play up the intimacy and relationships, recognizing them as significant factors.
From what have been discussed above, the differences in vocabulary can be summarized to four aspects, that is, adjectives, vague words, vulgar words and inclusive words. There is one thing should be mentioned that the usage of words are not ever unchanged. The change of social concept and attitude will result in the change of language use between the male and female.
3.3 Differences in Syntax
Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies how words are combined to form sentences and the rules that govern the formation of sentences. Men and women have their own preferences in the choice of sentence patterns. Generally speaking, the gender differences are reflected in two main aspects in syntax.
On the one hand, women are eager to use witty and polite sentences to show their elegance. They usually use the sentence patterns, e.g., “Would you please?”, “Do you mind?”, “I’m afraid” etc. However, men usually express their meaning directly.
On the other hand, women often use tag questions instead of statements. Lakoff (2004) confirmed that women use one particular type of tag question more than men. A tag question is the short part added to the end of a statement as “isn’t it” in “It is a good idea, isn’t it?” She classified the tag question as one of the linguistic forms associated with tentativeness. Females often apply tag questions to their statements to express their opinions indirectly, such as “He is a good boy, isn’t he?” instead of “He is a good guy.” “This is the best house in town, isn’t it?” The tag question “isn’t it” might suggest that the lady isn’t sure that it is the best.
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