Gender Differences in Chinese and American Communication Space中美交際空間中的性別差異

Abstract：In peoples lives，no matter what you do，you will communicate with the opposite sex，such as parents，siblings，friends，bosses，subordinates，and so on.However，different gender has its own different kinds of gender culture.Men and women，according to their gender and cultural rules，standardize their communication behaviors.Thus，emergence of gender differences in communication can be seen everywhere.This thesis studies gender differences in communication space.Perhaps some behaviors are appropriate in one kind of gender culture，while they may be incomprehensible or baleful in another culture.

Key Words：gender differences；Chinese and American communication space；intercultural communication

摘 要：在人們的生活中，不管做什么都會(huì)與異性進(jìn)行交流，諸如父母、兄弟姐妹、同學(xué)朋友、上司下屬，等等。然而，不同的性別有著自身不同的性別文化，男性和女性按照各自的性別文化規(guī)則來(lái)規(guī)范自己的交際行為。因此，交際中出現(xiàn)的性別差異隨處可見。本文從交際空間的角度為出發(fā)點(diǎn)，主要研究了男女在交際空間方面存在的性別差異，從而得出結(jié)論：交際中存在性別差異，也許在一種性別文化中得體的行為，在另一種性別文化中就可能是令人無(wú)法理解或者有害的行為。

關(guān)鍵詞：性別差異；中美交際空間；跨文化交際

Chapter 1 Introduction

With the development of Chinas reform and opening up，the interaction increases among people from different regions and different cultural backgrounds. In this situation，the economic and social contacts between different countries，different nations，and different culture will grow.Gender，which as an important subject in social linguistics and a variable can not be ignored in interpersonal communication，was more and more concerned.

As with other intercultural activities，cross-gender communication is easy to be misunderstood.Research on gender differences in communication has a very realistic significance to cross-gender communication.In this thesis the author try to explore gender differences in communication culture，aim at enhancing the peoples awareness of gender culture in communication，so as to improve their cross-gender communication.

This thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter 1 is an introduction.Chapter 2 examines the gender differences in Chinese and American communication space.Chapter 3 is the causes of the gender differences in communication culture.Chapter 4 discusses the influences and solutions of gender differences in Chinese and American communication culture.Chapter 5 is summary.

Chapter 2 The Gender Differences in Chinese and American Communication Space

Network communication has a great deal of difference from face-to-face communication，text-oriented in the past letter writing or voice telephone communication.So language involved in network communication attracted more wide concern of linguists and sociologists.

2.1 The Gender Differences in Cyberspace Communication

2.1.1The Words

For a long time，people always think that women as chatterboxes，love to talk.But recent theories suggest a wide range of gender talk，mens amount of talk is far greater than that of women.According to the study，it can be seen that mens words are more than women in network communication.

2.1.2 A Short Brief Reply Language

Brief reply function of the language has two main points： first，it can show if the listeners agree that speakers remarks； second，it takes the cohesive effect of changing topic.People believed，women use a short reply more to keep the conversation can continue than men in face to face communication.While according to the study men use more short replies.

2.1.3 Figurative Language

The use of figurative language is an essential aspect of network communication.According to the “male-dominated on the” point of view，women are in the passive subject status.While according to the selected conversations，in network language，men use more figurative language than women.

2.2 The Gender Differences in Network Communication and Face to Face Communication

There are a lot differences of male and female in network communication and face-to-face communication，I mainly take the Turn-taking session for example here.

Turn-taking session constitutes the basic elements in communication，is an important part of conversation analysis study.In the process of the traditional conversation，turn-taking session plays a critical role，and it maintains a process for the session，makes the conversation continues in an orderly manner.In Internet chat rooms，there will be often many simultaneous conversation，and people compete to participate in the discussions of one or more topic.Turn-taking session in this network communication is more complex than traditional face-to-face communication.This thesis adopts a continuous expression as the gist of observing and measuring turn-taking between men and women in network communication.According to the survey，males are dominated in network conversation.They can get more speaking opportunities than women and can control the contents and processes of conversation.This is commensurate with traditional face to face communication.

Chapter 3 The Causes of the Gender Differences between Chinese and American Communication Space

Men and women have different cultural backgrounds and thinking ways，so it is inevitable to reduce gender different in communication.And the causes of the gender differences vary between China and American communication culture.This thesis analyzes the causes from the following aspects.

The Causes of Gender Differences in Cyberspace Communication.Like face-to-face communication，gender differences in online communications reflect some stereotypes of men and women.In online communication，women prefer the emotional support of company，men often make assertions and dominate conversation.All these reflect men and womens speech styles，and indicate mens dominance and womens submission position.People feel it is easier to get to know women online.It would seem that most people feel that cyberspace tends to be friendly to women.It allows women to adopt more active personas.However，we have also observed that there are many comments and joke about gender discrimination online.It is obvious that face-to-face patterns of thought and interaction are replicated in cyberspace.

To sum up，gender differences in cyberspace indicate that the stereotypes of men and women are rooted in our culture，no matter people communicate face to face，or online，these notions will be reflected.

Chapter 4 The Influences and Solutions of Gender Differences in Chinese and American Communication Space

When working with isomerism，people will find the opposite sex will make some strange behavior，which makes people feel unreasonable or even unbearable.There are inevitably communication error in cross-gender communication，it is easy to lead to communication misunderstandings.Effective communication methods people used to think to communicate with the opposite sex，which is now obsolete.This chapter discusses several communication misunderstanding cases，and propose some solutions.

4.1 The Influences of Gender Differences in Communication

4.1.1 The Quality of Communication

Quality of communication is one of the most important factors when women communicate with others.Women in communications will achieve harmony with the communicator.Quality of communication ask people to say the truth，tell the truth.Through a series of experiments showed that compared with women，men often do not comply with the quality standards of communication.

4.1.2 Recognition and Humility

Through a series of studies，scientists have found that women are more apt than men to make praise.Scientists believe that females are commended more than males.In comparison，however，men are more apt to be pride，boasting.

4.1.3 Flexibility

Flexible means to benefit others as much as possible，reduce conflict as far as possible，less critical and understanding and compassion.Generally speaking，women are more like to use parenthesis.In addition，women hold a tolerant attitude，like to rely on others，so they tend to hear the views of others，and like using disjunctive question to seek for opinions in order to achieve the goal of successful exchanges.While men are relatively independent，and like to use the imperative to ask people to do something.

4.1.4 Courtesy

In the communication，we should pay attention to the relationship between ourselves and others，and have to be polite.We should not often interrupted or changed the subject when other are speaking.

4.2 The Solutions： Cultivating the Ability of Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication is people with different cultural background communicated with each other.while the fundamental purpose of foreign language teaching is to cultivate students ability to communicate in a foreign language，through the language to understand their nations way of life and thought.

Being able to identify different gender-specific language and non-verbal behavior in different cultures，and explain their function.Mastering the ability will improve their sensitivity to different cultures ，dont have a misunderstanding due to cultural differences.

Being familiar with the language and behavior way of people with different gender in daily life.And at the same time，“Do as the Romans do，and behave.”

Focusing on communication etiquette of gender culture.When we communicated with the Americans，we should not only ignore their etiquette.When western people communication with Chinese，they should also respect the etiquette of China.

Chapter 5 Conclusion

This thesis analyzes the embodiment and causes of gender differences in Chinese and American communication space.It is clear to find the fact there are gender differences in communication.

The thesis shows： firstly，gender has a great influence on intercultural communication.Ignoring the gender factor can cause communication errors.Secondly，the factors affecting gender differences in addition to gender，there is physiological factors，and the most important is socio-cultural factors.Thirdly，successful cross-gender，intercultural communication requires not only essential language knowledge，but also need to be familiar with different cultures.

In the end，there must be several limitations in this thesis.Firstly，due to the limited time，energy and capability，the sources（can be used） of the study is limited.Secondly，there must be several questions that I cant make enough researches，so I sincerely hope scholars and professors on this subject can give some profound understanding and suggestions.

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作者簡(jiǎn)介

牛樂平（1994—），女，漢族，河南人，碩士，漢語(yǔ)國(guó)際教育，陜西師范大學(xué)，陜西省西安市。