アメリカにおける言語とジェンダー研究 : 概観
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概要
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The study of language and gender is a new area in the field of linguistics which attempts to investigate how language, gender and society interact. A vigorous research in the United States has its root in the Women's Liberation Movement, started in the 1960s, whose assumption was that the gender difference in the English language created gender discrimination against women. This paper follows the developments of research and shows what the Movement has gained, where the researchers are now and what the possible future directions would be. The main focus of the Movement was the generic use of "man", as studies had showed that it gave a male image regardless of gender or age. As more women joined the workforce and started having managerial positions, neutral words for job titles became necessary. Promoting the use of "Ms." in place of "Miss" or "Mrs." was another objective. Research papers and books began to appear in the mid 1970s and degree courses in Women Studies, which gave theoretical support to the Movement, were offered at universities. Since the 1980s, researchers' focus was geared toward the gender difference in conversational patterns in social context. Discourse analysis is used to investigate how women's cooperative/non-competitive patterns conflict with men's aggresive/competitive patterns. Numerous studies have been conducted on the ways the power imbalance plays in discourse in all aspects of social interaction. In the 1990s, more studies on women's language use in the broader world of communication, such as those on the power of silence and pause, language use in the male dominant workplace and cross-cultural setting, have started to appear. The research trend seems to continue into 21st century contributing to reducing the gender difference not only in the United States but the world community.
- 久留米大学の論文