A Contrastive Study of Gender-differentiated Paired Words Between English and Chinese 英语专业毕业论文.docVIP

A Contrastive Study of Gender-differentiated Paired Words Between English and Chinese A Thesis Submitted to School of Foreign Studies, Anhui University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts 　 By 　 Supervisor: Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to all the teachers and friends who have offered me all kinds of help in accomplishing this thesis. First of all, I owe great gratitude to my supervisor, Professor , whose insightful suggestions and constructive comments have contributed a lot to my research. It is under his patient guidance, incisive criticism and detailed revision that this thesis can finally assume its present shape. Without his guidance, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible. Likewise, I would like to extend my thanks to all my teachers whose lectures have given me considerable instruction and inspiration. They are Professor I owe my gratitude to my colleagues and friends from whom I have received generous help. In addition, I am also grateful to people who have participated in the research and offered their kind cooperation and support during the phase of data collection. Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my family for their sincere concern and constant support. 　 Abstract In both the English language and the Chinese language, many male words and female words are symmetrical in form. However, whether these seemingly parallel words are symmetrical from the perspective of pragmatics has always been a hot topic for many linguists. Among them, linguist Linda Bebout made some investigations on certain gender-paired words. Specifically, Bebout compared the usages and perceived meanings of the word pairs lady/ gentleman, woman/man, and girl/boy in 1994 with those of a decade ago. In China, there are some articles on gender-related words. But articles on the comparison and contrast of the Chinese and English g