Unit12GenderBiasinLanguage課文翻譯綜合教程一

1、Unit12GenderBiasinLanguageLanguageisaverypowerfulelement.Itisthemostcommonmethodofcommunication.Yetitisoftenmisunderstoodandmisinterpreted,forlanguageisaverycomplicatedmechanismwithagreatdealofnuance.Therearetimeswheninconversationwithanotherindividual,thatwemusttakeintoaccountthepersonslinguisticge

2、nealogy.Therearepeoplewhouselanguagethatwouldbeconsideredprejudicialorbiasedinuse.Butthequestionthatisraisedisinregardtolanguageusage:Islanguagethecauseofthebiasorisitreflectiveofthepreexistingbiasthattheuserholds?Therearethosewhobelievethatthelanguagethatweuseinday-to-dayconversationisbiasedinandof

3、itself.Theyfeelthatthetermmailman,forexample,isonethatexcludeswomenmailcarriers.Thentherearethosewhofeelthatlanguageisareflectionoftheprejudicesthatpeoplehavewithinthemselves.Thatistosay,thewordsthatpeoplechoosetouseinconversationdenotethebiasthattheyharborwithintheirownexistence.TherearewordsintheE

4、nglishlanguagethatareexistingorhaveexisted(someofthemhavechangedwiththenewwaveof“politicalcorrectnessc6mingabout)thathaveinherentlybeensexuallybiasedagainstwomen.Forexample,thepersonwhoinvestigatesreportedcomplaints(asfromconsumersorstudents),reportsfindings,andhelpstoachievefairandimpartialsettleme

5、ntsisombudsman(Merriam-WebsterDictionary),butombudspersonhereatIndianaStateUniversity.ThisisanexampleofthegenderbiasthatexistsintheEnglishlanguage.Thelanguageisarrangedsothatmenareidentifiedwithexaltedpositions,andwomenareidentifiedwithmoreservice-orientedpositionsinwhichtheyarebeingdominatedandinst

6、ructedbymen.Sothelanguageusedtoconveythistypeofmalesupremacyisgenerallyreflectingthehonoredpositionofthemaleandthesubservienceofthefemale.Eveninrelationships,themaleinthehomeisoftenreferredtoasthe“manofthehouse,-yearenldfchi ifclaI4ishighlyinsultingtosaythata4-year-oldmale,basedsolelyonhisgender,ism

7、orequalifiedandcapableofconductingthebusinessandaffairsofthehomethanhispossiblywell-educated,highlyintellectualmother.Thereisadefinitedisparityinthatsituation.InAmericanculture,awomanisvaluedfortheattractivenessofherbody,whileamanisvaluedforhisphysicalstrengthandhisachievements.Evenintheexampleofwor

8、dpairsthebiasisevident.Themasculinewordisputbeforethefeminineword,asintheexamplesofMr.andMrs.,hisandhers,boysandgirls,menandwomen,kingsandqueens,brothersandsisters,guysanddolls,andhostandhostess.ThisshowsthattheusageofmanyoftheEnglishwordsisalsowhatcontributestothebiaspresentintheEnglishlanguage.All

9、eenPaceNilsennnotesthatthereareinstanceswhenwomenareseenaspassivewhilemenareactiveandbringthingsintobeing.Sheusestheexampleoftheweddingceremony.Inthebeginningoftheceremony,thefatherisaskedwhogivesthebrideawayandheanswers,isatthispointthatNilsenarguesthatthegenderbiascomesintoplay.Thetraditionalconce

10、ptofthebrideassomethingtobehandedfromoneman(thefather)toanotherman(thehusband-to-be)isperpetuated.Anotherexampleisintheinstanceofsexualrelationships.Thewomenbecomebrideswhilemenwedwomen.Themantakesawayawomansvirginityandawomanloseshervirginity.Thisdenotesherinability,apparentlyduetohergender,toholdo

11、ntosomethingthatisapartofher,thusenforcingthemansabilityandrighttoclaimsomethingthatisnothis.Tobeaman,accordingtosomelinguisticdifferences,wouldbeconsideredanhonor.Tobeendowedbygeneticswiththeencodingofamalewouldbeashavingbeenshowngrace,unmeritedfavor.Therearefargreaterpositiveconnotationsconnectedw

12、ithbeingamanthanwithbeingawoman.Nilsenyieldstheexampleof“shrewandshrewd.Theword“shrew”isfromthenameofasmallbutespeciallyviciousanimal;howeverinNilsensdictionary,awasidentifiedasan-temp&red,scoldingwoman.However,theword“shrewd,“whichcomesfromthesameroot,wasdefinedas“markedbycleverdiscerningawaren

13、ess.Itwasnotedinherdictionaryasashrewdbusinessman.Itisalsocommonplacenottoscoldlittlegirlsforbeing“tomboys“buttoscoffatlittleboyswhoplaywithdollsorridegirlsbicycles.Intheconversationsthatcomeupbetweenfriends,yousometimeshearthewordsbabe,“broad,andchick.Thesearewordsthatareusedinreferencetoordirected

14、towardwomen.Itiscertainlythepersonsrighttousethesewordstoreflectwotrwhyusethemwhentherearesomanymoretochoosefrom?Languageisthemostpowerfultoolofcommunicationandthemosteffectivetoolofcommunication.Itisalsothemosteffectiveweaponofdestruction.AlthoughtherearebiasesthatexistintheEnglishlanguage,therehas

15、beenconsiderablechangetowardrecognizingthesebiasesandmakingthenecessarychangesformallysothattheywillbeimplementedsocially.Itisnecessaryforpeopletomaketheproperadjustmentsinternallytouseappropriatelanguagetoeffectivelyincludebothgenders.Wequalifylanguage.Itisuptoustodecidewhatwewillallowtobeusedandma

16、deproperintheareaoflanguage.語言中的性別偏見語言是一個(gè)非常強(qiáng)大的元素。它是溝通最常用的方法。然而，語言常常被誤解和曲解，因?yàn)檎Z言是一個(gè)有著大量細(xì)微差別的非常復(fù)雜的機(jī)制。有時(shí)候當(dāng)和某個(gè)人交談時(shí)，我們必須考慮此人的語言譜系。有些人使用的語言被認(rèn)為帶有偏見。這帶來了關(guān)于語言使用的問題：是語言導(dǎo)致了偏見還是語言只是使用者一直存在的偏見的反映？有人相信我們在日常對話中使用的語言本身就是帶有偏見的。比如，他們感到“mailman這個(gè)詞就是排除了女性郵遞員的。還有人認(rèn)為語言是人們內(nèi)心偏見的反映。也就是說，人們在對話中選擇使用的詞匯就代表著他們內(nèi)在的偏見。英語語言中曾經(jīng)存在過，目前

17、仍然有一些固有的對女性性別歧視的詞語（有些詞因?yàn)檎紊险_”浪潮的到來已經(jīng)發(fā)生了改變）。比如，（在Merriam-Webster字典中）那個(gè)調(diào)查（來自學(xué)生或消費(fèi)者的）書面投訴，把發(fā)現(xiàn)寫成報(bào)告，協(xié)助達(dá)成公平公正協(xié)議的人是ombudsman”但是在印第安那州立大學(xué)使用的詞是ombudspersort這是一個(gè)在英語語言中存在性別偏見的例子。語言上的安排使得男性等同于地位尊貴，而女性則是被男性支配和命令的服務(wù)型地位。所以用來傳遞男性優(yōu)越的語言通常反映了男性的優(yōu)勢地位和女性的從屬地位。甚至在關(guān)系中，家里的男性通常就被認(rèn)為是當(dāng)家人，哪怕是一個(gè)四歲的孩子。一個(gè)四歲的男孩，僅僅因?yàn)樗男詣e，就比他的可能接受過

18、高等教育并且智商很高的媽媽更合格和更有能力處理家里的各種事務(wù)，這樣的說法很侮辱人。這種情形中肯定存在不平等。在美國文化里，女人的價(jià)值在于她身體的魅力，而男人的價(jià)值在于他的體力和成就。在配對詞的例子中偏見是很明顯的。男性的詞總是放在女性的詞的前面，比如以下例子：Mr.andMrs.,hisandhers,boysandgirls,menandwomen,kingsandqueens,brothersandsisters,guysanddolls,andhostandhostess.這顯示了許多英語詞匯的用法也是造成英語語言中存在偏見的因素。AlleenPaceNilsen注意到一些例子，女性被看成是被動(dòng)的而男性是主動(dòng)的和促使事情達(dá)成的人。她用了婚禮的例子。在婚禮開始的時(shí)候，父親被問到是誰要嫁女，他回答，是我?！痹谶@點(diǎn)上Nilsen認(rèn)為是性別偏見在作怪。女性被當(dāng)成一件東西從一個(gè)男人（父親）手里交到另一個(gè)男人（準(zhǔn)丈夫）手里的傳統(tǒng)觀念一直在起壞影響。另一個(gè)例子是在性關(guān)系中。當(dāng)男性娶女性時(shí)，女性成為了新娘。男性拿走了女性的處女之身而女性失去了她的處女