The Differences between Male Language and Female Language in English

Abstract: The research of language and gender has been one of the focus problems of social linguistics. This article discusses the language differences between the male and the female from the phonetic， lexical and grammatical aspects， and analyzes the formation of gender differences from physical， mental and social factors.

Key words: gender differences; causing factors

Introduction

Recently， the research on language and gender has been paid attention by domestic linguists in our country. However， in many domestic literatures， there are few ones can analyze the differences and causes between languages and gender thoroughly. Therefore， the article will demonstrate the differences between male and female in phonetic， lexical and grammatical level and explain the causes of these differences.

Chapter One: The Characteristics of Male Language and Female Language

As early as the 1920s， English gender differences research had been paid attention during the educational world. But it has been taken into the English linguistic study in recent 30 years. The phoneticians attempt to apply the research methods and achievements of linguistics and social science subjects to engaged language. They use some sociolinguistic theories and viewpoints to make a beneficial exploration in the characteristics and differences between the two genders. The article will analyze the differences in three aspects.

1.1 Characteristics on Phonetic Level

The difference of pronunciation is the most obvious between the male and female in English-speaking countries. We often notice that when we read some words with suffix [ing]， such as swimming， running， reading， going， chewing， the male usually reads [in]， the female generally reads standard [i]. The male frequently pronounces [ing] after the voiced consonant， vowel and the partial fricatives words into [in]. The UK and US linguists’ research has also indicated this point. Moreover， the English which takes Australian voice is treated below standard. There are much less female with Australian voice than that of male. Its reason is the female pays more attention to the accuracy of pronunciation.

1.2 Characteristics on Lexical Level

Compared with the male in Britain and American countries， the female likes using mighty words more， such as such， so， quite， vastly， never， terribly and so on. For example: It was so interesting. I had such fun yesterday at the party. In daily life， male uses， strong interjection more， even curses words like shit， hell， damn and so on， but female prefers weak interjection， for example: goodness， oh gosh， dear me， good gracious， my God， good God， my Lord and so on. An investigation indicated that the female knows more colors than the male. Some color words like azure， beige and aquamarine and so on often appear in feminine spoken language， but few male uses these words. In usage of words， there’s a common phenomenon that female uses more uncertain words， for example: well， maybe， sort， I think， I suppose and so on.

1.3 Characteristics on Grammatical Level

In grammatical level， the gender language mainly displays in: the female uses more mood structure， namely， modal verbs and other auxiliary verbs. Male usually only use several mood words with authority and affirmations， like can， shall， will. Female like use disjunctive question sentence. Statistics indicated that the number of the female use disjunctive question sentence is twice than male. The male use imperative sentences frequently， for example: Pass me a cup of tea! Have my suit cleaned! While the female usually use non-directly， the circuitous structure， for example: Would you pass me a cup of tea? These language contain language users’ cultural psychology， social value orientation and so on， and reflects some certain social norm and custom mentality.

Chapter Two: Factors Causing Differences between the Two Languages

Analyzing differences between the two genders is an extremely complicated phenomenon. It involves a lot of factors， such as ideology， social status， educational degree， social interaction， nerve and psychology and so on. This part will present some important factors causing the differences in English language between male and female.

2.1 Physical Factor

Men's and women's congenital physiological difference had decided that men and women are different. According to the newest medical research， women’s left brains were developed earlier than that of man in the state of linguistic abilities. On the other hand， there are great distinction on the location of voice between male and female， so as the tone of them.. Moreover， feminine’s speech organs are different with male’s: feminine’s vocal cord are shorter and thinner than male’s. This inevitably leads to their voice difference.

2.2 Psychological Factor

So far， the most authoritative explanation to linguistic distinction affected by gender was made from the social psycholinguistics angle. The male is glad to use their power to control others， including females; while the feminine are feel less aggressive. On the other hand， feminine are emotional. Therefore， in the daily communication， they are good at using variety intonation to express their inner feelings. Therefore， changeable intonations are rarely seen in the communication of male. We can conclude that the different way of thinking is a crucial reason which leads to linguistic distinction between male and female.

2.3 Social Factor

We all know that in most societies male are “more valuable” than female. Most of the parents hope their first child or their only child is a boy rather than a girl， for sons to be regarded as “jackleg” symbol.?When a child is born， a boy was education to be “like a man” and a girl to be “likes a woman”. Meanwhile， men’s and women’s “potential prestige” standards lead to language distinction between male and female. Man with high social status quit their standard form in order to achieve “potential prestige”. While the woman pursue standard forms， in order to obtain higher social status. But when some non-standard form can sign femininity， women will give up using standard form.

Conclusion

From the paper， we can realize that language is a mirror of society， which can reflect progress and development objectively. This study cannot be regarded as revealing general attitudes towards the language of men and women because the number of analyzed programs and the sample group of informants is obviously very small. Further research is needed to confirm this development.

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