景德镇陶瓷学院科技艺术学院

本科生毕业论文（设计）

题目：Sexism in English Vocabulary

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements…………………………………………..

Abstract in Chinese…………………………………….

Abstract in English…………………………………….

1.Definition………………………………………………

2.Sexism in word-formation methods………………..

2.1 Suffixes………………………………………… .

2.2 Sexism in compound words……………………..

3.Sxism in Naming and Addressing…………………..

3.1 Sexism and Naming……………………………….

3.1.1 Sexism in the first names………………..

3.1.1.1 Derivation of Female Names from Male Names……..

3.1.1.2 Sexism in Semantic Naming of First Names……….

3.1.2 Sexism in the family names……………

3.1.2.1 Patrilineal System of Family Names

3.1.2.2 Change of Female Family Names upon marriage

3.2 Sexism and Addressing………. 3.2.1 Sexism in Addressing Terms…..

3.2.1.1Female Social Titles upon Relationship with Male…

3.2.1.2 Derogation of Female Honorific Titles…………….

3.2.1.3 Abusive Addressing Patterns………………..

4.Sexism in Proverb and Slang……………………………..

4.1 Sexism in Proverb……………………………………………

4.2 Sexism in Slang………………………………………

5. Conclusion……………………………………………………..

6. Bibliography……………………………………………………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Professor Hou Xiaohua,my

supervisor,for her constant and inspiring guidance and encouragement.She has walked

me through all the stages of writing of the thesis.Without her constant and

illuminating instruction,this thesis could not have reached its present form.

Second,i would like to expree my heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers who

taught me when i have striving for my Bachelor Degree for their excellent lectures

and inspiring ideas.

Last, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations

and great confidence in me all through these years.I also owe my sincere gratitude to

my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to

me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis

摘要

英语不仅是一种语言工具，也是一种意识形态工具。性别歧视这一文化观念反映在语言的词汇学中。牛津高级字典是这样解释的：“不平等的对待人，尤其是对女性，因为她们的性别”。本篇论文将从英语词汇构词法、词义、称谓语及谚语和俚语分析英语词汇中的性别歧视。所以对性别歧视了解的越多，避免的困难也就越多。这是很有实际意义的。

关键词：语言；英语词汇；性别歧视

ABSTRACT

English is not only a language tool, but also an ideological tool. Vocabulary of

the language can faithfully reflect the culture it serves such as sexism.The oxford

advanced learner's dictionary explains it as below: the unfair treatment of people,

especially women, because

of their sex.This article will discuss sexism that exists in English lexicon in terms of

word formation ,word meaning ,naming and addressing terms ,as well as proverb and

slang terms.So the more you know it, the better you will avoid trouble. Therefore, the

present research has important practical significances.

Key words： language；English word;sexism;

1.Definition

Sexism，according to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s English

-Chinese Dictionary is defined as prejudice or discrimination against people

(esp.woman)because of their sex ;and according to Longman Dictionary of

Comtenporary English ,sexism is defined as ideas and believe that menbers of

one(usually man) sex are more able and clever than theode of the other sex .It is

manifest in all forms of behavior from subtle gestures and especially language to

exploitation and oppression，and in all human institutions from the family to the

multinational corporation(Paula S．Rothenberg 1988：21)． It affirms the dominance

of men over women，jnst as Rosemary Radford Ruether(1993：165)holds that“sexism

is gender privilege of males over females．It is males primarily who have originated

this form of oppression，benefited from it，and perpetuated it，legally and

ideologically．”In this sense，it keeps women in second．classstatus，denies them their

rights to control their own bodies，and denies personal，mental，and physical safety；it reinforces the false notion that any man who is gentle，flexible，compassionateor

gay becomes“feminine”and thereby loses status and respect．

2.Sexism in word formation

Word formation is one of the elements in language from which we can find

many examples of sexism.The most obvious one is the word “history”,which it

combines words “his”and “story”.It claimed that the history belonged to man not the

woman.In general,it is divided in to two categories,adding suffixes and compounding.

2.1 Adding suffixes

Adding -tress is common among words like ,actress,authoress,sculptress and

waitress.Although it sometimes awarded some outlanding achievements of women,the

importance of its role isn‟t the same as man.For instance,we usually call a man of a

general manager,rather than a general manageress.The highest rank of poet in British

is Poet Laureate,which it award to every distinguished poet including both males and

females.Howerever,rarly had it probably honored a poet of Poetess Laureate. Word

like hostess is widely accepted by people in bar ,which its meaning had been

degraded.The same as in the terms of Jewess\Negrss and Quakeress

The suffix of -ette includes three meanings .The first one aims at small size,such

as “cigarette(香烟)” and “kitchenette(小厨房）”.The second level is artifical ,such as