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As men and women wear clothes of different styles， and as they behave quite differently in the social life， men and women use different languages in their communication with others. To be specific， in the English-speaking countries， the language of English can be divided into Male English and Female English. Then what’s the difference between the two？ Recently， there has been a considerable increase in the number of the books on the subject of women’s language ， i.e. Female English. A similar conclusion can be reached from these books that women have a language of their own.
Studies show that women use English in a special way， both written English and spoken English.
I. Differences in semantics
There is a sort of “special feminine vocabulary in English that men may not， dare not and will not use .”1 These words are selected carefully from women’s glossary， so that they can express their minute feelings. What women are good at is to describe accurately a color with words borrowed from French， such as acquamarine （ bluish green ） and taupe （greyish brown ）. In addition， it has been discovered that women prefer some extravagant adjectives . In front of a splendid dress， women will say that it is “adorable”. What’s more， they may use “divine” to express their greediness for a piece of desirable chocolate. Besides some hyperbolic adjectives， intensifiers are often used by women to strengthen the tone. In 1922， Jespersen found “so” is one of the most favored intensifiers used by women. Tens of years later， linguist Lakoff （1972） and Tarone （1979） made the same conclusion as Jespersen’s. More words of this sort are “ nice， pretty， quite， awfully， terribly， vastly”， and so on. As we know ， women pay great attention to the elegance of the language they speak. So the four-letter words as “shit， damn， hell” are off the list of the female’s vocabulary. Instead， they use swear words or expletives like ‘Oh dear， My Goodness， Good Heavens， Dear me， Oops”， and others. For example ， when a woman intends to complain to his husband of his putting the peanut in the refrigerator so as to make the peanut lose its flavor， she would probably say， “Oh dear， you’ve put the peanut in the refrigerator .” This is a tone of comforting， and then complaining. However， if it is the woman who puts the peanut in the refrigerator， the husband will say， “Shit， you’ve put the peanut in the refrigerator.”2 The man here performs his dissatisfaction in a somehow rash tone. As for the daily used words， professional work is the focus of male’s vocabulary， and female’s words are related closely to the family. II. Differences in phonology
Besides the above examples， women can also express themselves well
enough with appropriate pronunciation and intonation.
i. The pronunciation
According to the study of quantity of recording materials， women’s pronunciation is much more standard. Take the suffix of the present participle –ing for example. Though there are two ways of the pronunciation –/in/ and /in/ among people， women are much more likely to use the latter one， which is the RP pattern.
ii. The reverse accent
Additionally， female’s pitch is quite high， which makes the speaker sound timid and emotionally unstable. The reverse accent is often heard in women’s language. In the utterance of the sentence “I wish you’d better try it”， women will put the high tone on the word “wish”， instead of “try”， which is the most important word in this sentence. It is likely that women only want to show their hopes， not the command of hearer’s attempt to do it.
iii. The question intonation
Moreover， Robin Lakoff （1973） found in women’s language a tendency that women use the question intonation to make an information statement an implied question. Such kind of intonation is called the “Women’s Intonational pattern” for its use among women. Take a short dialogue between a couple for example ：
Husband ： When will dinner be ready ？
Wife ： Oh…around six o’clock … ？3
Lakoff pointed out that the female often reply the wh-questions in the yes-no question intonation. In fact， the female themselves know the answer very well . Sometimes， it is the user of this intonation pattern who knows the answer alone. We may interpret the wife’s answer in the above dialogue in this may. “ The dinner will be ready around six o’clock if that’s ok with you ， or if you agree .” It seems that the wife has left the choice for her husband. We can see women’s courtesy and affability from this dialogue .
These are the semantic and phonological characteristics of the female
English. It is believed that women try to convey how they feel about what they are saying and how they want the hearer to respond to what they are saying with the language of all these features. The mentioned features have made the women’s language different from the man’s language.
1. McEdwards，Mary G. Women’s Language： A Positive View. English Journal 1985，march. Illinois， published by the USD National Council of Teachers of English
2. 陈中绳 MaE与FeE—谈女子英语 《外语教学》1980，3 北京， 《外语教学》 编辑部出版
3. 徐颍果 从英语中的“妇女语言”看妇女的社会地位 《西北大学学报》
1988，2 西安，西北大学出版社
Studies show that women use English in a special way， both written English and spoken English.
I. Differences in semantics
There is a sort of “special feminine vocabulary in English that men may not， dare not and will not use .”1 These words are selected carefully from women’s glossary， so that they can express their minute feelings. What women are good at is to describe accurately a color with words borrowed from French， such as acquamarine （ bluish green ） and taupe （greyish brown ）. In addition， it has been discovered that women prefer some extravagant adjectives . In front of a splendid dress， women will say that it is “adorable”. What’s more， they may use “divine” to express their greediness for a piece of desirable chocolate. Besides some hyperbolic adjectives， intensifiers are often used by women to strengthen the tone. In 1922， Jespersen found “so” is one of the most favored intensifiers used by women. Tens of years later， linguist Lakoff （1972） and Tarone （1979） made the same conclusion as Jespersen’s. More words of this sort are “ nice， pretty， quite， awfully， terribly， vastly”， and so on. As we know ， women pay great attention to the elegance of the language they speak. So the four-letter words as “shit， damn， hell” are off the list of the female’s vocabulary. Instead， they use swear words or expletives like ‘Oh dear， My Goodness， Good Heavens， Dear me， Oops”， and others. For example ， when a woman intends to complain to his husband of his putting the peanut in the refrigerator so as to make the peanut lose its flavor， she would probably say， “Oh dear， you’ve put the peanut in the refrigerator .” This is a tone of comforting， and then complaining. However， if it is the woman who puts the peanut in the refrigerator， the husband will say， “Shit， you’ve put the peanut in the refrigerator.”2 The man here performs his dissatisfaction in a somehow rash tone. As for the daily used words， professional work is the focus of male’s vocabulary， and female’s words are related closely to the family. II. Differences in phonology
Besides the above examples， women can also express themselves well
enough with appropriate pronunciation and intonation.
i. The pronunciation
According to the study of quantity of recording materials， women’s pronunciation is much more standard. Take the suffix of the present participle –ing for example. Though there are two ways of the pronunciation –/in/ and /in/ among people， women are much more likely to use the latter one， which is the RP pattern.
ii. The reverse accent
Additionally， female’s pitch is quite high， which makes the speaker sound timid and emotionally unstable. The reverse accent is often heard in women’s language. In the utterance of the sentence “I wish you’d better try it”， women will put the high tone on the word “wish”， instead of “try”， which is the most important word in this sentence. It is likely that women only want to show their hopes， not the command of hearer’s attempt to do it.
iii. The question intonation
Moreover， Robin Lakoff （1973） found in women’s language a tendency that women use the question intonation to make an information statement an implied question. Such kind of intonation is called the “Women’s Intonational pattern” for its use among women. Take a short dialogue between a couple for example ：
Husband ： When will dinner be ready ？
Wife ： Oh…around six o’clock … ？3
Lakoff pointed out that the female often reply the wh-questions in the yes-no question intonation. In fact， the female themselves know the answer very well . Sometimes， it is the user of this intonation pattern who knows the answer alone. We may interpret the wife’s answer in the above dialogue in this may. “ The dinner will be ready around six o’clock if that’s ok with you ， or if you agree .” It seems that the wife has left the choice for her husband. We can see women’s courtesy and affability from this dialogue .
These are the semantic and phonological characteristics of the female
English. It is believed that women try to convey how they feel about what they are saying and how they want the hearer to respond to what they are saying with the language of all these features. The mentioned features have made the women’s language different from the man’s language.
1. McEdwards，Mary G. Women’s Language： A Positive View. English Journal 1985，march. Illinois， published by the USD National Council of Teachers of English
2. 陈中绳 MaE与FeE—谈女子英语 《外语教学》1980，3 北京， 《外语教学》 编辑部出版
3. 徐颍果 从英语中的“妇女语言”看妇女的社会地位 《西北大学学报》
1988，2 西安，西北大学出版社