Sexism In English

Language always reflects society. As a social problem with a long history, sexism exists in almost every language, reflecting the dependence and discrimination from which women suffer in a society dominated by men. With the advent of modernization and the rise of feminism, the issue of how to eliminate sexism against women has attracted more and more attention and made some achievements.The thesis tries to illustrate sexism against women in English, analyze the main causes of sexism from the historical, religious, social and cultural perspectives, and advocate the introduction of language reforms to reduce sexism in English and to promote the evolution of the language towards the realization of real equality between men and women. This thesis consists of six chapters.Chapter One gives an introduction, outlining the plan of this chapter and serving as the basis for the discussion in the following chapters. This chapter presents the objective of this study, examines the relation between language and gender, and traces the development of the study of sexism in English.Chapter Two is concerned with the definition of sexism in general as well as specifically in languages.Chapter Three is the detailed discussion of the manifestation of sexism in English. At the morphological level, we can see marked sexism in female-related words. In English, a word referring to females is often made by attaching a bound morpheme to the corresponding word associated with males, and the bound morpheme at times carries the sense of a diminutive. We can also see sexism in English through semantic pejoration of female-related words. It means that some words are fine when referring to males, but their meanings become pejorative when referring to females. At the same time, we can find semantic dissymmetry as well, i.e. the terms and expressions related to man usually have neutral or appreciative implications while the woman counterparts are depreciative. Sexism is also manifested in the choice and collocation of words. Synonyms widely exist in English. The minor differences among these synonyms are not only shown in semantics but also in the social values and sentimental meanings they carry. It is more often and...