Gender Differentiation in the Chinese Language

Yıl 2021, , 25 - 36, 18.04.2021

Cansu Gümüş

https://doi.org/10.26650/jos.819113

Öz

Language is one of the most important factors affecting the formation of perceptions, thoughts and behaviors about gender in society. In China, studies on the relationship between gender and language began after the 1980s. The Chinese language, which evolved from pictograms, does not have any prefixes or suffixes indicating gender. However, even though Chinese grammatically does not seem like a sexist language, this does not mean that Chinese is a language that does not demonstrate gender discrimination or classification. Gender discrimination can be reflected in the language in different ways. This article will attempt to answer the question: “How is the inferior position of Chinese women in society reflected in language?” To answer this question, gender discrimination in the Chinese language will be evaluated in terms of Chinese word formation, idioms, proverbs, word order and the third-person singular pronoun. With this objective in mind, this research refers to a Chinese dictionary and uses recent findings about this issue to source the words relating to gender, specifically women. Before analyzing the examples in the Chinese language, it will be beneficial to give a brief background on what kind of language Chinese is. Then, some examples of gender related words, especially consisting of the character 女 (nǚ-woman, female), pronouns, proverbs and idioms will be given and examined.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Chinese Language, Gender, Women, Discrimination, Differentiation

Çin Dilinde Cinsiyet Ayrımı

Öz

Dil, toplumda cinsiyet ile ilgili algı, düşünce ve davranışların oluşumunu etkileyen en önemli faktörlerden biridir. Çin’de cinsiyet ve dil arasındaki ilişki üzerine yapılan çalışmalar 1980’lerden sonra başlamıştır. Resim yazısından gelişen Çin dilinde cinsiyet farklılığı belirten herhangi bir ön ek ya da son ek bulunmamaktadır. Fakat Çince, dilbilgisi açısından cinsiyetçi bir dil gibi görünmese de bu durum Çincede cinsiyet ayrımcılığı ya da cinsiyet sınıflandırması olmadığı anlamına gelmemektedir. Cinsiyet ayrımcılığı dile farklı şekillerde yansıtılabilir. Bu makale “Çinli kadınların toplumdaki ikincil konumları dile nasıl yansıtılmaktadır?” sorusuna cevap vermeye çalışacaktır. Bu sorunun cevaplanabilmesi için Çincedeki cinsiyet ayrımcılığı Çince kelimelerin oluşumu, deyimler, atasözleri, kelime sıralaması ve üçüncü tekil şahıs zamiri açısından değerlendirilecektir. Bu amaçla cinsiyetle ilgili özellikle kadınla ilgili kelimeleri bulmada Çince sözlükten ve bu konuda yapılan son araştırmalardan yararlanılacaktır. Çincedeki örnekleri incelemeden önce, Çincenin ne tür bir dil olduğu hakkında kısa bir bilgi vermek faydalı olacaktır. Daha sonra, özellikle 女 (nǚ-kadın, dişi) karakterini içeren kelimeler, zamirler, atasözleri ve deyimlerden oluşan cinsiyetle alakalı bazı örnekler verilecek ve incelenecektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Çince, Cinsiyet, Kadın, Ayrımcılık, Farklılaştırma

Kaynakça

• Bańka, Katarzyna. (2015), Gender in Written and Spoken Chinese Language: When the Words Are Masculine and When Feminine?, Frontiers of Language and Teaching,6, 54-62.
• Chan, Marjorie K.M. (1997), “Gender Differences in the Chinese Language: A Preliminary Report,” NACCL-9, Los Angeles:GSIL Publication, 35-52.
• Ettner, Charles. 2002, “In Chinese, men and women are equal – or – women and men are equal?” Gender Across Languages: The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men, 2, Ed. Marlis Hellinger and Hadumod Bußmann, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 27-73.
• Fan, Carol C. (1996), “Language, Gender and Chinese Culture,” International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 10/1, 95-114.
• Farris, Catherine S. (1988), “Gender and Grammar in Chinese With Implications for Language Universals,” Modern China, 14/3, 277-308. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/189320?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents (Accessed April 11, 2020)
• Fidan, Giray. (2011), Çin Dili ve Çince Dilbilgisi, Ankara: Efil Yayınevi, 1-20
• Gu, Lihong. (2013), “Language and Gender: Differences and Similarities,” Retrieved from https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/asshm-13/10624 (Accessed September 2, 2020.)
• Jung-Palandri, Angela. (1991), “Gender and Sexism in Chinese Language and Literature”,Sino-Platonic Papers, 27, 167-170.
• Lakoff, Robin. (1973), “Language and Women's Place,” Cambridge University Press, 2/1, 45-80. Retrieved from https://web.stanford.edu/class/linguist156/Lakoff_1973.pdf (Accessed September 12, 2020.)
• Li, Tsz Kwan (李子君). (2016), "'Chinese is a sexist language': a re-examination," City University of Hong Kong.
• Ling, Yuanzheng 远征凌. (1989), “Tazi de chuangzao lishi 她” 字的创造历史 (“The History of the Character ‘ Ta’ 她”), ” Language Teaching and Research 语言教学与研究, 139-151.
• Shih, Yu-Hwei. (1984), “Cong she-hui yuyan xue guangdian tantao Zhongwen nannu liang xing yuyan de chayi (A sociolinguistic study of male-female differences in Chinese,” Jiao xue yu yanjiu, College of Arts: National Taiwan Normal University, 207-229
• Moser, David. (1997), “Covert Sexism in Mandarin Chinese,” Sino-Platonic Papers, 1-23. Retrieved from http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp074_chinese_sexism.pdf (Accessed September 8, 2020)
• Tan, Dali. (1990), Sexism in the Chinese Language, NWSA Journal, 2/4, 635-639.
• “Traditional Chinese Character,” http://www.hanban.com/writing-chinese/characters/traditional-chinese-character.html (Accessed September 12, 2020)
• Tso, Wing B. A. (2014), “Masculine Hegemony and Resistance in Chinese Language,” Writing from Below, 2/1, 1-15.
• Yun, Zhang. (2009), “A Cultural History of the Chinese Character “Ta" (She)—On the invention and identification of a new female pronoun ("她”字的文化史—女性新代词的发明与认同研究")”, by Huang Xingtao 黄兴涛. Review, Fuzhou: Fujian jiaoyu chubanshe.
• Zhao, Gang. (2009), “The Cultural History of the Chinese Character “ta” (the third person feminine pronoun),” East Asian History and Culture Review, 218-220. Retrieved from https://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/e-journal/articles/reading/zhao.pdf (Accessed September 18, 2020)
• Wu, Jianhsin. (2016), "Basic Radicals," In The Way of Chinese Characters, Retrieved from https://www.cheng-tsui.com/sites/default/files/previews/Way%20of%20Chinese%20Characters_2E_Sample.pdf (Accessed September 10, 2020)
• (2008),“Gender-specific Asymmetries in Chinese Language,” MP: An Online Feminist Journal, 31-41. Retrieved from http://academinist.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/xiaoping.pdf (Accessed March 22, 2018.)