An Overview of Studies on Gender Differentiation in Using the Chinese Language
Thesis statement
Gender differentiation affects the use of Chinese language and diverse conversational styles due to traditional, physiological and psychological reasons. Such aspects result to differences in expression forms, conversation styles and at times gender discrimination.
Introduction
The relationship between gender and language has gained interest among many researchers. The increased attention to finding out the effects of gender on language is driven by the fact that a lot of differences in language have been observed in different groups of men and women. It is easy to tell when a man and a woman speaks from the tone but the words and language the two genders use to communicate the same thing may differ depending on culture, socialization and level of education. This research paper intends to give an analysis of gender differentiation and language among the Chinese who have clearly demonstrated this aspect in their communication style.
Gender differentiation refers to the aspect of recognizing the disparities that exist between man and women. According to Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014), different communities or cultures have different ways of differentiating genders. It is believed that the Chinese have some ways to differentiate between men and women not only based on their sexuality but also language use. The traditions, culture, and socialization have influenced how different gender types express their emotions, the communication styles, and discrimination aspects.
Background
However, the introduction of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism stratified the different groups in society and placed women at the low social end. Some of the practices such as foot binding have promoted discrimination for women in China und Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. The practices reduced the rights and freedom that women enjoyed in the Chinese society. Other practices such as selling off unwanted daughters served as a major hindrance to women empowerment. During the 19th and 20th centuries, many nationalists found out that there was the need to embrace human rights by China if the country was to benefit from technological advancement. The need to do business and gain technology benefits resulted in a shift from the oppressive systems that disregarded women in society. Educated women and scholars from the Chinese society came out to speak against women discrimination in society. The efforts to liberate women in the Chinese society saw a lot of women allowed to participate in political activities and seek employment in different sectors. However, the belief that women have their place in society is still common in the Chinese society. According to Connell (2014), the longtime oppressive practices by the ruling regime and traditions have affected the language use in different genders among the Chinese. This research paper intends to point out to the differences in language that have been developed by Chinese speakers due to social-political effects and culture. As studies indicate, people are psychologically affected by the actions and socializations they go through in their lifetime. Many individuals especially women who went through the oppressive systems have ended up training their children how to be submissive. The character in socialization has been shared across generations to date. The autocratic regimes have contributed to increased gender disparity and differences in the Chinese society. This research paper will serve as a source of information on the differences in communication between male and female in the Chinese society.
Reasons that cause gender differentiation in language
Physiological aspects
Men and women are different in nature, the developmental stages of boys and girls have some differences although there are similarities. The physiological factors define on how men and women talk. The vocal features of men are different from that of women. While growing, boys break voices during the adolescent stage, but girls develop other features. The masculinity aspect in men serves as a determinant of how they speak. As studies indicate, female language tends to have a lot of rapport; they are tentative and initiate conversations. Studies also indicate that female conversation embraces some supportive aspects as compared to that of men. On the other hand, men language tends to be in the form of reporting; it involves some assertiveness and in many cases it is direct. Men tend to control conversations and give directives as compared to women.
Psychological aspects
As studies indicated, there is a difference between men and women communication styles believed to be influenced by psychological aspects. Men are believed to be less emotional when it comes to communication as compared to women. Emotions determine the tone and form of communication in different individuals. Due to the masculine aspects, men tend to conceal their emotions when talking, especially when the expression is likely to depict them as weak. However, men will express their emotions in language and communication if such communication depicts them as superior or more powerful. As a result, men tend to embrace rationality in communication as compared to emotions.
On the other hand, women are believed to be emotional and are likely to express their emotions faster than men especially when it comes to showing affection. However, the cultural socialization and psychological effects that have always worked to demean Chinese women has changed their emotional expression. It may be difficult to tell when a Chinese woman is annoyed because they have been socialized to conceal their emotions since facial expressions demonstrating disgust is considered rude. Women are socialized to show affection regardless of the situation, and this has affected the communication style of Chinese women who tend to remain submissive to men and embrace a polite language.
Cultural aspects
The Chinese cultural socializations has played an essential part in influencing the communication styles of different genders. Buddhism granted women the right to speak and engage in different social conversations. The introduction of Confucianism resulted to an oppressive system that does not recognize the role of women in changing the society. The Confucius philosophy identified the role of women as being in taking care of the family and giving respect to men. Some examples from the Chinese practice involve talking to men when looking down or a bow when receiving or giving something to men. Along the Chinese history, women activists have been tortured, and others killed for speaking out on their rights. This has contributed to the fear of raising their voices in matters to do with rights of women. The oppressive regime ensures that women had little to do with decision making. Culturally, women had no chance of picking their partners until the year 1950 when legislation was passed to allow them chose marriage partners. Men have dominated the leadership system of the Chinese.
The men have been pointed out as the best-suited individuals to make national and leadership decisions. Few women have the chance to run for public office in the Chinese society. Many women find it difficult to compete with men due to the stereotype that has been spread in society by Confucianism. The culture demanded that women should respect men, and this went down to widows who were expected to respect their sons in the absence of the father. The requirements for women by Confucianism turned out to a society norm. This affected the communication style and language among the Chinese women. On the other hand, Chinese men believed to be superior to their women counterparts and expected high levels of respect from women. The high cultural context of the Chinese society has been critical in influencing language across genders. However, due to international pressure and the need for the country to protect its economic interests, the ruling regime has moved to reduce these oppressive measures built on tradition and culture. There are more Chinese women fighting for their rights and seeking education in other countries without the interference of the ruling regime. However, certain aspects of women oppression remain in practice such as employment and types of jobs that they can do. Much more needs to be done to wipe out the cultural beliefs that continue to put women down.
Expression forms
Phonetics
Language differences can be expressed in diverse ways between men and women. Men tend to have a low pitch for sound. Women have a broad range of sounds as compared to men. The voice breaking aspect plays an essential role in limiting the sound pitch among men. Men have a deep heavy voice while women have a lighter soft voice. However, there are those men and women who may not have these aspects due to biological effects.
Lexicon
As studies demonstrate, the language used by men embraces words with high emotion arousal. The chauvinist aspect that dominated the Chinese society made it easy for many to use emotional words while speaking as compared to women. On the other hand, women choice of words is more implicit. In the Chinese society, women are socialized to be gentle in their language, and many cases the women fix adverbs in their communication so that it can appear gentle.
Grammar
Women have proven to be better in grammar as compared to men. This is based on evidence linking them to high performance in English and languages while men perform better in sciences and technical fields. China is not an exception to this trend as women have been seen to embrace modality structures in the grammatical constructions while men are simply declarative.
Conversational style
The conversation style differs across gender. Men are believed to engage in talking more than the women do among the Chinese. While men will tend to give response or question every aspect of a conversation, many women will sit back and listen before giving a response to the conversation. Men are likely to engage in long speech-making and constantly deviate from the main point of focus in their speech. An example of a common practice among the Chinese is when women are not supposed to face men directly in the eyes when conversing. During a conversation, men will bring in matters to do with politics and business. On the other hand, women tend to stick to their main point of focus when making a speech. Women will talk of family matters when in a conversation, unlike men whose conversation revolves around politics and business. A woman from a Chinese society will likely use a tag question in their conversation as a way of seeking approval from the man. Due to the fear of mistakes, women tend to be more inquisitive as compared to men. Women seek to understand a situation or a message in detail before they can take any actions as Chan and Selden, (2016) explains. On the contrary, men do not take enough time to interrogate statements and situations a move that makes them make premature decisions in many instances. Women among the Chinese embrace patience in the communication and language style while men seem to ignore this aspect. Many Chinese men will give directions and need immediate action to be taken while women will request for a certain action to be taken and wait. While men will spend much of their time engaging in sports, business and politics, women are more concerned with lifestyle issues and matters related to their families. A few women will engage in political talks in the Chinese society.
Cultural influence and gender discrimination
Culture plays an essential role in influencing the aspects of discrimination in society. There are several titles used in society to show some discrimination aspects. Some of the commonly used terms in society include words such as chairman instead of the chairperson. Many Chinese companies and organizations have chairmen instead of chairpersons. The women are not supposed to talk to the men while facing them directly because it is considered rude. Other titles used include businessman, spokesman, founding fathers to mention a few. The cultural practice where women were engaged in foot binding and terms such as unwanted daughters is a reflection of discriminatory practices in the Chinese society. The order of words used also play a big role in identifying discriminatory aspects in the Chinese society. It is common to find people using words such as a woman doctor, a lady editor. Images to show moral decay in society are always produced bearing pictures of women as Dikotter (2015) demonstrates. Images that depict superiority are often in the image of men. There are also proverbs in that depict foolish children to be a burden brought in by women. Women are believed to be the source of problems. As studies indicate, the women were not allowed to participate in social and political talks because men believed that such women are likely to cause chaos. Men are more assertive in their talk while women will in many cases use commendatory adjectives to please. When words are used in a sentence, it is always the male that comes first. For example, the Chinese people are likely to say a boy and a girl instead of a girl and a boy. A man will come first before a woman in many cases depicting the discriminatory practices in language. Words such as manpower are common in organizations instead of the workforce.
Conclusion
This research paper is a demonstration of how language differs across gender in the Chinese society. Gender differentiation affects the use of Chinese language, styles of conversation due to the traditional socializations. According to Coates (2015), the historical treatment of women has had psychological effects among the Chinese women. Expression of emotions and true feelings are suppressed in many women. Certain aspects such as titles, the order of words and symbols are used to propagate discrimination in the society to date. Despite the efforts made by international community and trade partner for China to ensure a democratic country that respects gender equality, there are still aspects of gender discrimination in existence. The information provided will be useful to help readers and stakeholders to address all the aspects of language that promote gender differentiation and discrimination.
References
Coates, J. (2015). Women, men, and language: A sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language. Routledge.
Connell, R. W. (2014). Gender and power: Society, the person, and sexual politics. John Wiley & Sons.
Dikotter, F. (2015). The discourse of race in modern China. Oxford University Press.
Chan, J., & Selden, M. (2016). 18. China’s rural migrant workers and labour politics1. Handbook on Class and Social Stratification in China, 362.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Routledge.
