English Language Sexism as Perceived from Markedness 英语专业毕业论文.docVIP

English Language Sexism as Perceived from Markedness Sexism, in the LONGMAN DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH, means the belief that one sex is not as good, clever, etc., as the other, esp. when this results in unfair treatment of women by men. Collins COBUILD ADVANCED DICTIONARY of English defines sexism as the belief that the members of one sex, usually women, are less intelligent or less capable than those of the other sex and need not be treated equally. It is also the behavior which is the result of this belief. Webster Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary refers to sexism as prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially discrimination against women(Web 2). The AMERICAN HERITAGE Dictionary of the English Language defines sexism as discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women; attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender(Web 3). It can be concluded, from these definitions, that sexism is the practice of discriminating against people because of their gender. Ronald Wardhaugh believes that a major topic in sociolinguistics is the connection, if any, between the structures, vocabularies, and ways of using particular languages and the social roles of the men and women who speak these languages (Wardhaush: 1998, 309). Sexist language expresses unfair assumptions and differences, and it can be either explicit, as in the prejudicial use of male or female pronouns, or implicit. It will be of no difficulty at all to find that using the word “man”, in isolation or as a suffix, to refer to all of humanity, or using the pronoun “he” where any person, male or female, may be referred to, is to be consicered “sexist language,” which means language that embodies, affirms, or reinforces discrimination against women or the patriarchal subordination of women to men. Evidently, the so-called ‘linguistic sexism’ can be found nearly on every aspect of the English language. It can be found at the