語言是社會的一面鏡子。

1975年著名社會語言學(xué)家Robin Lakoff引入了 “women’s register” （女性語域）這個概念，她觀察到，美國女性為了緩和談話或者為了減弱表達(dá)觀點(diǎn)時的侵略性，會出現(xiàn)以下這些特征：

?Tag questions

使用很多反義疑問句

“This election mess is terrible, isn’t it?”

“這屆選舉亂套了，是吧？”

? Rising intonation on declaratives

陳述句也用升調(diào)結(jié)尾

A: “When will dinner be ready?”

“晚飯什么時候好??？”

B:“Six o’clock.”↑

“六點(diǎn)?！薄?/p>

? The use of various kinds of hedges.

用插入成分避免過分直接的表達(dá)

“That’s kinda sad.” Vs. “That’s sad.”

“是有點(diǎn)可憐”Vs.“可憐”

“It’s probably dinner time.” Vs. “It’s dinner time.”

“或許該吃飯了吧”Vs.“該吃飯了”

“I don’t really want it.” Vs. “I don’t want it.”

“我不太想這么做”Vs.“我不想這么做”

“I wondered if I could have a word with you.” Vs. “Can I have a word with you?”

“我在想是否可以借一步說話”Vs.“我能跟你聊聊嗎”

“The answer could be that the trees have some sort of disease.” Vs. “The answer is that...”

“答案可能是這些樹得了某種病”Vs.“答案是……”

? Boosters or amplifiers.

加重語氣，放大情感

“I am so glad you are here.”

“你在這兒，我太高興了?！?/p>

? Indirection.

迂回表述

Saying “Well, I’ve got a dentist appointment then” in order to convey a reluctance to meet at some proposed time and perhaps to request that the other person propose an alternative time.

比如，為了表達(dá)不情愿與某人在約定時間見面，或者希望對方另找一個時間，會說 “呃……那個點(diǎn)我約了去見牙醫(yī)?！?/p>

?Diminutives

使用小詞或小詞綴

A diminutive form of a word implies that something is small, cute, loved, or special. E.g. panties, piglet, kitchenette, etc.

人們使用小詞或小詞綴來表示該事物體積很小、很可愛，或者很特別。例如panties（女士短襯褲）、piglet（小豬豬、豬崽兒）、kitchenette（小廚房）等。

? Euphemism

使用委婉語

Avoiding profanities by using expressions like piffle, or heck; using circumlocutions like go to the bathroom to avoid “vulgar” or tabooed expressions such as pee or piss.

為避免臟話，會說piffle（廢話、蠢話） 或者h(yuǎn)eck（見鬼）。為了避免“粗俗”或者忌諱的表達(dá)，如pee（撒尿） 或者piss（尿尿），會用委婉的表達(dá)，如“去衛(wèi)生間”。

不過，許多跟進(jìn)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，改變說話方式——說話時去掉上面這些展示迂回和禮貌的語言特征并不會幫助到女性爭取到assertiveness（說話自信）和the sense of power（權(quán)力感）。

上世紀(jì)60到80年代，拉博夫等人也對這個領(lǐng)域進(jìn)行了研究，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)：

In Western, industrial societies, women tend to produce speech closer to the standard in pronunciation than that of men. For instance, women produce more ‘ing’ in words like ‘running’, but men produce more ‘in’, resulting in ‘runnin’.

在西方工業(yè)社會，女性的發(fā)音會比男性更靠近社會標(biāo)準(zhǔn)語的要求。比方說，像是“running”這樣的詞，女性多以‘ing’來結(jié)尾（running），而很多男性會發(fā)成“in” （runnin）。

當(dāng)然，這些研究最長距今已經(jīng)過去了50多年，今時今日的狀況與當(dāng)年的研究結(jié)果或許已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了很大的出入。

男性語言的特征

視線轉(zhuǎn)過來，男性的語言有什么顯著特征呢？

英國社會語言學(xué)家Jennifer Coates在她的專著Men Talk–Stories in the Making of Masculinities中談到了自己對男性使用語言表達(dá)情感情緒的觀察。

The absence of talk about feelings is perhaps the most notable consequence of “the constraining hand of hegemonic masculinity” in the conversations I’ve collected. The imperative to avoid vulnerability means that men have to put a lot of effort into keeping up a front (or wearing a mask).

在我收集的對話中，不談?wù)撉楦谢蚯榫w或許是“霸權(quán)男性氣概掣肘”最顯著的后果。必須隱藏脆弱意味著男人們需要花很多精力樹立一個門面形象（或者說戴上一個面具）。

看到這兒，腦海里應(yīng)該很容易浮現(xiàn)出不善言談的直男老爸形象。

Men avoid the emotional when they talk with each other. In groups of more than two speakers, men are anxious not to be seen to be displaying characteristics which could be labeled “feminine” and therefore “gay”’.

男人與男人聊天時，通常會避免談及情緒。在談話者超過兩人的群組中，男性特別在乎不要被人看到自己展示出可能會被打上“女性化”標(biāo)簽，進(jìn)而被人覺得“像同性戀”的特質(zhì)。

The significance of talk involving just two speakers is confirmed by a contemporary survey of boys in London schools. Boys are willing to open up to a sympathetic male interviewer.

最近一項針對倫敦校園男生的調(diào)查顯示，僅包括兩個談話者的對話十分重要。男孩們很愿意對友好的男性訪談?wù)咛宦缎撵椤?/p>

As the researchers say: “Boys struggle to find a forum in which they can try out masculine identities which can be differentiated from the ‘hegemonic’ codes of macho masculinity.” Both boys and men seem more likely to do this in the presence of just one close friend (or a single trusted adult).

研究者稱：“男生們努力尋找一種公共話語空間，讓他們可以試著表達(dá)與那種大男子氣的‘霸權(quán)’男性氣概不相同的男性身份認(rèn)同?！蹦泻⑴c成年男性貌似都更容易在只有一個親密朋友或者自己信任的成人在場的情況下吐露心聲。

And men have historically preferred to have emotional talk with women. A recent survey of mobile phone use claims that men now gossip more than women, but reveals that women’s “gossip partners” tend to be women friends and family, while men’s “gossip partners” tend to be women partners, female friends and work colleagues.

自古以來，男性都更愿意與女性交流情緒。最近一項對手機(jī)使用情況的調(diào)查顯示，男性比女性更喜歡八卦；不過，調(diào)查顯示，女性的“八卦對象”往往是同為女性的朋友和家人，而男性的“八卦對象”往往是女性伴侶、女性朋友和工作同事。

However, as women become impatient with doing this emotional work, men will need to develop more “connectedness” with other men. But men have a history of friendships which stress sociability rather than intimacy, which could be described as “side-by-side” rather than “face-to-face”.

不過，女性會對這種“知心姐姐”似的情感工作變得不耐煩，因此，男性則需要與其他男性建立更多的“聯(lián)結(jié)感”。但是呢，男人間的友誼自古以來都是強(qiáng)調(diào)交際而非親密。有一個比喻可以很形象地描述這種兄弟情：這種友誼是“肩并肩的”，而不是“面對面的”。

So although it is acknowledged that men and boys have a lot of fun together, at the same time there is a sense “of something missing emotionally”. Those involved in the research on boys in London schools are hopeful that things can be changed: “By encouraging boys to talk about themselves and their relationships in single-sex groups, close and supportive relations with other boys can be forged.”

所以呢，即便大家都承認(rèn)男人間和男孩間都可以玩得很來，但同時，他們的關(guān)系總有一種“情緒情感上的缺失感”。倫敦校園男孩研究中的研究員們表示情況可以有所改善：“鼓勵男孩兒多談?wù)撟约旱那榫w，鼓勵他們多表達(dá)自己在男性群體中所經(jīng)歷的關(guān)系，這樣一來，親密且能夠互相扶持的男孩間關(guān)系也能夠建立起來。”

Gender is not something we are born with, and not something we have, but something we do (West and Zimmerman 1987) – something we perform (Butler 1990).

社會性別并不是與生俱來的，也并不是你所擁有的一種東西，而是你的所作所為，是你的執(zhí)行與呈現(xiàn)。

社會性別的內(nèi)涵一直在變遷，它們與語言之間的關(guān)系也同樣隨時間改變。

我們很難預(yù)料，現(xiàn)在某個性別的言語特征以后會不會成為主流，就像200年前喜歡卷舌的英國人應(yīng)該也沒想到，不卷舌的RP（Received Pronunciation，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)發(fā)音）成了不列顛群島的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)音。

Notes

intonation /??nt??ne??n/ n語調(diào)

declarative /d??kl?r?t?v/ adj陳述的；陳述句

hegemonic / ?hed???m?n?k / adj支配的；霸權(quán)的

macho / ?mɑ?t?o? / adj大男子氣的

masculinity/,m?skj?'l?n?t?/ n男性氣概

forge / f??rd? / v鍛造

來源：中國日報雙語新聞微信

編輯：左卓