Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: Male and Female languages refer to those which are usually used by men and women or those which characterize gender differences. In everyday life, misunderstanding and even conflicts often result from people’s unawareness of the difference of language use between females and males. Therefore, it is of great significance to know gender difference in the use of English in communication. Men and women differ in topics of conversation, with men being interested more in impersonal topics such as politics, economy, religion, and sports and women more in personal affairs such as family and children. In terms of the control of topics，men often interrupt others’ talk or ignore other’s talk to grasp other’s turn of talk. Men also like to create and use slangs and swear words more than women. The gender differences in language use can be traced in some aspects such as history, culture and psychology.

Key words：gender difference; language use; communication
       
摘要：性别语言是指男性和女性所使用的具有性别特征的语言以及某一语言中用来区别男性与女性的语言现象。在日常生活中，人们往往由于没有意识到语言性别差异的存在，从而导致一些误会甚至是矛盾。因此了解性别语言差异，正确使用性别语言对我们成功的进行交际，更好地工作十分有意义。男女因其不同的社会角色，谈话的话题有很大的区别。男性比较喜欢政治、经济、宗教、运动等与个人无关的话题。而女性最关心的是家庭、孩子，所以他们谈论的大多是有关个人的话题。在话题的控制方面，男性往往通过以打断别人的讲话、对别人的话题不感兴趣或不予理睬等方式达到控制话轮的目的。会话中男性较多地使用脏话和禁忌语，而女性则会尽量避免使用此类词语。男女在语言使用中这种方面的差异主要有历史、文化和心理等方面的原因。

关键词：性别差异；语言使用；交流  

1. Introduction
Gender differences are a fundamental fact of human life and it is not surprising to find them reflected in language use. Strictly speaking, a systematic study of the relationship between language and gender started at the birth of sociolinguistics in the 1960s. The early research mainly focuses on lexical, phonological and morphological differences between females and males. Later on, it tends to make a dynamic investigation into gender differences in the use of language by studying male and females’ different speech styles and strategies in conversation. The 44th International Linguistic Association held in New York University of America in April 1999, even took language and gender as the central issue.
This paper tends to analyze gender differences in the use of English from some aspects such as lexis, style and choice of topic. In addition, it tries to investigate the causes leading to the differences so that English learners might be able to have a better understanding in this respect. Then in making conversation with the other gender in cross-cultural communication, learners may better understand each other’s style in conversation and be more tolerant so that the communication can be smoothly carried on.