1、19 5. The Reasons for the Changes in Female Language.24 6. Conclusion.27 o men. Through ） 2 Bibliography.28 Acknowledgements 3 1 Introduction The existence and development of language are intended to meet the needs of communication in society. People in different social groups have their own special
2、 languages. In the English-speaking countries, we can discover that female language always shows some interesting and external features of the language consciously or unconsciously in the course of language communication. With the rise of feminism and the continuous improvement of female social stat
3、us, a great of changes have taken place in female language. These changes are closely linked with the development of society. So the research of female language is a subject very worthy to be studied. This paper attempts to discuss the characteristics and some new changes of female language and anal
4、yzes the reason of this phenomenon from the social, cultural and educational, etc. aspects. 15 4.1 DegradationP 4 2The Characteristics of Female Language Female language has its own features. The following part will focus on pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary, grammar and topics to make a brief a
5、nalysis. 2.1 Pronunciation and Intonation 2.1.1 Pronunciation Phonological differences between men and women have been noticed in varieties of languages. Womens pronunciation sounds more accurate than mens. In English-speaking countries, womens pronunciation is closer to Standard English Pronunciati
6、on than mens. When we read -ing, generally women can pronounce the accurate back nasal consonant /i/. But a considerable number of men become more accustomed to pronounce front nasal consonant /in/. In Australia, the English with Australian-accented is not usually considered Standard English. After
7、investigation, researchers come to the conclusion that women are far less often than men when they speak the nonstandard English. The reason is that more women pay attention to the accuracy of pronunciation than men, which is an important mark of their identity and culture for women. In the northeas
8、t Asian language, Yukaghir, women ot of changes and 5 have /ts/ and /dz/ where men have /tj/ and /dj/. In Bengali men often substitute /l/ for /n/ but women do not do this. Likewise, in a Siberian language, Chukchi, men, but not women, often drop /n/ and /t/ when they occur between vowels, e.g. fema
9、le nitvaqenat and male nitvaqeat. 2.1.2 Intonation Generally speaking, womens intonation is higher than mens, which is caused by physiological factors in fact. Womens vocal cords are longer than men, so their pronunciation frequency is higher. However, people often consider the high pitch is connect
10、ed with womens cowardice and unsteady emotion. The range of intonation variety is large, which is another distinctive feature. Women are good at using the various intonations to express their feelings. Lakoff says that women may answer a question with a statement that employs the rising intonation p
11、attern usually associated with a question rather than the falling intonation associated with making a firm statement. And women are usually inclined to be tactful and gentle and often use low rising intonation at the end of sentences, which seems to show that they lack of confidence and seek the opi
12、nions of the others. In contrast, men usually like using high falling intonation at the end of the sentences, so their intonation sounds resolute and affirmative. For example, when speaking the following sentence, men and women may use different intonations. I wish youd try it. be further discussed
13、a 6 Men: . - . Women: . - . / . Men usually speak ending with a high falling intonation and their tones are strongly firm. However, women will use the low rising intonation to end their speech and their tone is more moderate than mens. Besides, women used to answer questions with rising intonation to express that their views is not a
