GENDER STEREOTYPING LANGUAGE FEATURES IN ENGLISH SEEN IN THE HANDMAID’S TALE BY MARGARET ATWOOD

GENDER STEREOTYPING LANGUAGE FEATURES IN ENGLISH SEEN IN

  THE HANDMAID’S TALE BY

MARGARET ATWOOD AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra In English Letters

  By

FRANSISKA RAHAYU MYRLINDA

  Student Number: 114214068

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2015

GENDER STEREOTYPING LANGUAGE FEATURES IN ENGLISH SEEN IN

MARGARET ATWOOD AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  i

  THE HANDMAID’S TALE BY

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra In English Letters

  By

FRANSISKA RAHAYU MYRLINDA

  Student Number: 114214068

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2015

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCHOOL AND LIFE?

  

vi

  

In school, you’re taught a lesson and then

given a test.

  

I n life, you’re given a test that teaches you

a lesson.

  (Tom Bodett)

  

I would like to dedicate my thesis to my beloved parents

whose love, encouragement and endless prayers of day and night strengthen me to be able to

see the meaning of hard work

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would first like to thank God for giving me strength, love, blessing, and courage to finish this thesis and to make all things possible.

  I would like to thank Dr. Francis Borgias Alip M. Pd., M.A. as my thesis advisor for his meaningful guidance and patience in giving references and having discussion to complete the data in my thesis. My gratitude also goes to my co- advisor, J. Harris Hermansyah Setiajid, S.S., M.Hum., for his willingness in reading my thesis and for his advices to make my thesis better. I would like to thank the Dean of English Letters Department and my academic advisor, Dr. F.X.

  Siswadi M.A., for his precious time and meaningful advices to encourage me. I would also like to thank Sri Mulyani Ph.D. and Adventina Putranti S.S., M. Hum. for giving me references and invaluable suggestions. My thanks also go to all the lecturers and staff in English Letters Department for their help during my study.

  I would like to thank my beloved parents, Mr. Johanes Bambang Suryono and Mrs. Ririn Susanti, for their unconditional supports to let their only child get education in the university, precious love and prayers in my whole life so that I can pass my days with ease. This thesis is dedicated to them.

  The last but not least, my special gratitude goes to my friends of class 2011, especially my beloved friends in class C: Witta, Melan, Helga, Piwi, Tabita, Tata, Ivan, Panji, Alin, Dita, Tabita, and Ester for their presence and their precious supports to always let me be myself. I am so grateful to have known them all.

  Fransiska Rahayu Myrlinda.

  

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................ i APPROVAL PAGE ...................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ................................................................................. iii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ............................................................ iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PUBLIKASI ...................................................... v

MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................. vi

DEDICATION PAGE ................................................................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................ viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. ix

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... x

ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................... xi

  CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1 A. Background of the Study ............................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation .................................................................... 4 C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................. 4 D. Definition of Terms ....................................................................... 5 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................ 7 A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................ 7 B. Review of Related Theories .......................................................... 11

  1. Gender Stereotyping in English Language ............................... 11

  2. Sociolinguistics: Language and Sex.......................................... 16

  3. Stylistics: Language and Style .................................................. 19

  4. Semantic structure: Reference and Connotation ....................... 21

  C. Theoretical Framework .................................................................. 23

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 25

A. Object of the Study........................................................................ 25 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................. 27 C. Method of the Study ...................................................................... 28 1. Data Collection........................................................................ 28 2. Data Analysis .......................................................................... 29

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ................. 32

A. Gender Stereotyping Seen in The Handmaid’s Tale ..................... 33 1. The generic he ......................................................................... 34 2. Occupational labels and personalities ..................................... 39 3. Formal terms of address .......................................................... 51 4. The verb .................................................................................. 55 5. Familial terms ......................................................................... 62 B. Effects of Gender Stereotyping in The Handmaid’s Tale ............. 67

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .................................................................... 73

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 75 ix

  ABSTRACT MYRLINDA, FRANSISKA RAHAYU. Gender Stereotyping Language

  Features in English Seen in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

  Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2014.

  Language as a means of communication is used as the vehicle for human beings to reveal and express ideas or feelings to each other. Using language, both men and women can communicate freely what they have on their minds. Different genders between men and women will result on different perspectives about the languages they use. Society as the place where this condition usually occurs then plays as the bridge to find out how different genders build different gender stereotyping in language. By analyzing English as the global language, the representation of gender stereotyping can be seen easily. Language features that become the basic elements of the development in using language, especially in producing different languages of different genders imply the most important role of gender stereotyping.

  The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is one of the

  literary works that implies gender stereotyping throughout how the stories happened.

  There were two problems to answer in this study. The first problem was to analyze the kind of language features implied gender stereotyping in the novel. The second was to find the effects of using gender stereotyping toward the stories in the novel.

  The methods applied in this study were the library research and the empirical research. The library research was necessary to develop the theoretical framework, while the empirical research was applied to obtain the reliable data. In the data collection, the researcher used population study to achieve a representative sample of the data. The analyses were based on different language used through different genders. The first analysis dealt with the kind of language features that imply gender stereotyping in the novel. Meanwhile, the second analysis dealt with the effects behind the different language used between men and women toward the stories in the novel. The researcher categorized the different language style and the choice of words from the data collected into different categories.

  There were several findings in this research. The first was the language features consisted of the generic pronoun he, occupational labels and personalities, formal terms of address, the use of verbs, and familial terms are used to imply gender stereotyping in the novel. The second was that those language features gave significant roles in dealing with the effects of using gender stereotyping toward the stories in the novel. The different varieties of the same language between different genders because of gender stereotyping result in the oppression of women in the story.

  

x

  

ABSTRAK

  MYRLINDA, FRANSISKA RAHAYU. Gender Stereotyping Language

  Features in English Seen in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

  Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2015.

  Bahasa sebagai sarana komunikasi digunakan sebagai alat untuk mengungkapkan dan membagikan ide-ide atau perasaan manusia dengan satu sama lain. Melalui bahasa, baik pria maupun wanita dapat secara bebas mengkomunikasikan apa yang ingin mereka katakan. Perbedaan jenis kelamin menghasilkan cara pandang yang berbeda tentang bahasa yang mereka gunakan. Masyarakat sebagai tempat keadaan ini berlangsung berperan sebagai penghubung dalam memaknai bagaimana perbedaan jenis kelamin memberi pengaruh terhadap stereotip jenis kelamin yang berbeda dalam penggunaan bahasa. Dengan menganalisis bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa global, gambaran dari stereotip jenis kelamin dapat terlihat secara lebih mudah. Fitur-fitur bahasa yang menjadi unsur mendasar dalam pengkembangan penggunaan bahasa, terutama dalam menghasilkan bahasa yang berbeda dari jenis kelamin yang berbeda berperan sebagai sarana utama dari stereotip jenis kelamin.

  The Handmaid’s Tale karangan

  Margaret Atwood adalah salah satu contoh karya sastra yang menunjukan stereotip jenis kelamin melalui bagaimana urutan cerita dalam novel berlangsung.

  Terdapat dua permasalahan yang dirumuskan dalam studi ini. Rumusan masalah pertama adalah untuk menganalisis jenis fitur-fitur bahasa yang menunjukan stereotip jenis kelamin di dalam novel. Rumusan masalah yang kedua adalah untuk menemukan pengaruh-pengaruh yang dihasilkan dari stereotip jenis kelamin terhadap cerita di dalam novel.

  Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode analisis pengumpulan data dan studi empiris. Analisis pengumpulan data berguna untuk menganalisa teori, sedangkan penelitian empiris digunakan untuk mendapatkan kesesuain data. Studi populasi digunakan untuk menghasilkan keakuratan data. Analisis yang diterapkan tergantung pada penggunaan bahasa oleh jenis kelamin yang berbeda. Analisis pertama berhubungan dengan fitur bahasa yang merepresentasikan stereotip jenis kelamin yang terdapat dalam novel. Sementara itu, analisis kedua berhubungan dengan pengaruh dari penggunaan bahasa yang berbeda antara pria dan wanita terhadap cerita yang ada di dalam novel. Peneliti menggolongkan penggunaan bahasa yang berbeda tersebut serta pemilihan kata dari data yang tersedia kedalam beberapa kelompok.

  Terdapat beberapa hasil penelitian dari studi ini. Hasil yang pertama adalah fitur-fitur bahasa yang terdiri dari penggunaan kata ganti pria, penamaan pekerjaan dan kepribadaan, penunjuk, kata kerja aktif dan pasif, serta hubungan kekeluargaan mengekspresikan adanya stereotip jenis kelamin di dalam cerita. Hasil yang kedua adalah fitur bahasa tersebut berperan penting untuk menjelaskan pengaruh dari stereotip jenis kelamin terhadap jalan cerita. Penggunaan keanekaragaman bahasa dari jenis kelamin yang berbeda mengimplementasikan adanya penindasan terhadap wanita.

  

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter gives some explanations to introduce the chosen topic. There are

  four main parts of this chapter: background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, and definition of terms that are discussed further on the subtitle below.

A. Background of the Study

  Language as a means of comunication is important to convey information about the speakers. Language is used as the vehicle for human beings to reveal and express ideas or feelings to each other. It is also used for establishing and maintaining relationships with other people. People use language to learn new things about others, to shape their view of society, and more importantly to fit into the norms and social patterns of their environment. Even when the speakers meet for the first time, for example, and they do not know anything about each other yet, language becomes the easiest way to keep the conversation running well. In the conversation, the speakers might conclude about the characteristics of the person they have talked to by indicating their language use. Different people carry different languages.

  One of the reasons that leads people use many different languages on their habitual conversation with other people is by looking at what gender they belong to. Gender is not a given word to symbolize biological connection in dividing people between one and another. It is not something we are born with, and not

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• – something we have, but something we do (West and Zimmerman, 1987) something we perform (But ler, 1990). The word “gender” is usually used by the society to describe people as men and women.

  Men and women are the symbols which used to characterize the different status between them. Until the late of 1990s, women have been put in the second place, while men have been put in the first place who could control everything and even could do anything they want to do to women (Davies, 2004:304). As a result, it gives an assumption that men are superior than women. Women always have lower status than men in the society and almost in the all aspects of living. It builds up a stereotype that women are powerless. They cannot live without men. They present as people who need guidances or protections from men. In short, society provides different treatments to people according to their own gender.

  According to Dale Spender, the different languages between men and women lay on the way they communicate to one and another. Women prefer to keep on silence and do not say what they need to say. Women have the ability to follow the role in society without any excuses. Society becomes the representation of the different status between women and men has resulted into the different used of language between both of them and seems to conclude the different status itself as na tural phenomenon. Spender says that “the talkativeness of women has been gauged in comparision not with men but with silence [so that] any talk in which a woman engages can be too much” (1980:42).

  Cameron, in the book Performing Gender Identity: Young M

  en’s Talk and the Construction of Heterosexual Masculinity , argues that:

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  Men and women . . . are members of cultures in which a large amount of discourse about gender is constantly circulating. They do not only learn, and then mechanically reproduce, ways of speaking ‘appropriate’ to their own sex; they learn a much broader set of gendered meanings that attach in rather complex ways to different ways of speaking, and they produce their own behavior in the light of these meanings. . . .(1997:280-1).

  It is apparent that nowadays language changes into the tool to divide people according to their gender as men and women. The used of languange in daily life is changed. As the members of culture, people in different genders then build set of languages to maintain the existences in the society.

  The phenomena of gender stereotyping that affect to the different use of language between men and women can be found in the literary works. One of the examples is

  The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The Handmaid’s

Tale is one of the literary works that implies gender stereotyping in English

  language throughout how the stories happened. This novel is chosen because there are some dialogues that have proved and showed language features imply gender stereotyping in English language can result in the different varieties of the same language between men and women. This topic is worth studying because from this topic we can find how society treats different genders unequally. The different treatments toward people in different genders then conclude as naturally constructed and let the gender stereotyping to gradually develop in the real life.

  This research analyzes how the language-use in the text

  The Handmaid’s Tale

  by Margaret Atwood becomes the interpretation of how the inequalities in treatment to the different genders occur. This research also examines the effects behind the usage of language features in implying gender stereotyping towards the

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  stories in the novel.. As can be seen in

  The Handmaid’s Tale, women have lack of

  power over men. They are no longer allowed to read. All the signs are now in the form of pictures instead of words. Women and men need to get the same treatments as what they actually should get.

B. Problem Formulation

  The problems for this research are formulated as:

  1.What kinds of language features are used to deliver gender stereotyping in the novel?

  2.What are the effects of using gender stereotyping toward the stories in the novel? C.

  Objectives of the Study This research is aimed to find out the different kind of language features that are used throughout the stories in

  The Handmaid’s Tale and the resulted effects of

  using gender stereotyping in the novel. The first objective of the reseach analyzes the different kinds of language features that the characters within the stories use to reveal gender stereotyping. By analyzing the attitudes and also the choices of words that are used by men and women characters in the novel, we understand what language features that commonly use by the different genders in the novel.

  The second objective of the research is to observe the effects that are resulted behind the use of gender stereotyping within the novel. It will help us to get better understanding in analyzing the society perspectives (the Gilead discourse) toward

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  the women life in the novel. Here, we will see how language as the mean of communication really influences society point of view in seeing different genders as the real different objects. Different genders receives different kind of treatments from the society throughout the novel.

D. Definition of Terms

  To avoid misunderstanding and gain better understanding on certain terms used in this research, here are several terms used in the research that need to be explained clearly.

  Language

  The meaning of language according to Peter Trudgill in Sociolingistics: An

  

Introduction to Language and Society is a social phenomenon. Language is

  closely related to the social attitudes (2000:79). According to Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet in Language and Gender in 2003, language is simply said as a communicative practice mediated by a linguistic system or systems that preoccupy most of the field of linguistics. Shortly, the meaning of language can be concluded as a tool of communication used by the members in particular society.

  Gender

  The meaning of gender according to J. Butler in the book Bodies that Matter:

  

On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” is always a doing. There is no gender identity

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  behind the expressions of gender itself. Identity is perceptively constituted by the very “expressions” that are said to be its results (1993: 25).

  According to Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet, gender is the social elaboration of biological sex. In the explanation of her book, Eckert emphasizes the meaning of gender as the force category in society that really makes people impossible to move their life in a non-gendered way and impossible not to behave in a way that brings their gendered behavior in others (2003:50). In short, it can be said that gender is a key component of human identity. Gender represents a set of constructed categorizations that people should be dealt with.

  Gender Stereotyping

  The meaning of gender stereotyping according to Jane Pilcher and Imelda Whelehan Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies in 2004 can be defined as a standardized and often-pejorative idea or image held about an individual based on their gender.

  Janet K. Swim and Lauri L. Hyers in “Sexism” adopted from Handbook of

  

Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination by Todd D. Nelson in 2009 argue

that gender stereotyping can cause differential treatment of women and men.

  Ge nder stereotype is assumed as individuals’ attitudes, behaviors, or cultural practices that either reflect negative assumptions of individuals based on their gender or support unequal status of women and men. In short, it can be said that gender stereotyping is the grammatical arrangement as the basic forms of language used that can measure different genders either men or women.

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE This chapter elaborates the review of related studies, review of related

  theories, and theoretical framework. The first part is the review of related studies that discusses about the previous researches done by other researchers on similar topic to find the similarities and the different point of views. The second is the review of related theories that describes the applied theories to answer the problems of this research. The last is the theoretical framework that applies the relevant theories to the research.

A. Review of Related Studies 1. Fredrik Pettersson’s essay Discourse and Oppression in Margaret

  Atwo od’s The Handmaid’s Tale (2010)

  This essay discusses that the novel The Handmaid

  ’s Tale by Margaret

  Atwood presents language, truth, and actions, within the frame of discourse, are used as means of oppressing women in both Gilead and the society “before” the revolution. The Handmaid

  ’s Tale by Margaret Atwood implies the domination of

  men over women. The new Christian’s extreme policies throughout the Republic of Gilead control the freedom of women, for example when the Gilead Regime exists women no longer have rights to get a job and earn their own money, women also are no longer allowed to read. Offred, the main character of the story, describes how the Republic of Gilead limits the women freedom that results on gender inequalities. She illustrates the stories through her first-person narrative.

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  She is a so-called Handmaid, a kind of breeding tool for the republic.

  The aim of Pettersson in writing the essay is to tell about the domination and the act of governing women by men in language, truth, and actions by applying theories of discourse and language together with feminist theory on The

  

Handmaid’s Tale. The beginning of his essay tells about how power, language,

  truth, and actions are used to oppress women using theories of discourse by Michel Foucault in the late 1960s. The rules of Gilead discourse are used to make women to live with it. While Offred is described as a rather weak person and does not have the power to fight and sacrifice herself against Gilead discourse, other women in the novel are active and determined not to live by the rules of the Gilead discourse. Offred’s fellow Handmaid, Ofglen, for example, is braver than Offred and she is the one who pushes their relationship beyond what is generally accepted among Handmaids. She hangs herself instead of being arrested by “The Eyes” (the secret police in Gilead).

  The essay also describes in what ways the Gilead regime control women and how Offred’s flashbacks reveal the underlying values of the society before. The regime is successful in maintaining the rules of their discourse because of the punishments that is given to anyone who criticizes the regime. Some people are employed as ‘The Eyes’, so one can never know who to entrust. Men are the rulers and some women have limited (but no actual) power. Most women are controlled and have no power. The representatives of women with limited power in the novel are usually called as the ‘Aunts’. They help the regime to control other women.

  The ‘Aunts’ have responsibilities to educate women who are Handmaids. The

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  ending of his essay describes the consequences of Gilead discourse toward women life.

  This research develops Fredrik Pettersson’s essay. This research uses some data from Fredrik Pettersson’s essay as secondary data to complete all data concerning the terms related to the influence of Gilead discourse to make oppression in women. Moreover, this research focusses not only in the domination and in the act of governing women by men, but especially in the use of gender stereotyping in the English language through different and even similar genders that result on the inequalities that have not been explained yet in the Fredrik Pettersson’s essay. This research elaborates more on the kind of languages used in producing gender stereotypes and its functions. In addition, this research uses the theories of stylistics language and style, sociolinguistics, and semantic structure in producing different languages style instead of feminist theory.

2. Nneka Umera-Okeke’s journal Linguistic Sexism: An Overview of the

  English Language in Everyday (2012)

  Nneka Umera- Okeke’s journal examines elements of sexism in English language which abound in the morphology, syntax, and semantics of the language.

  Her journal concerns about defining sexism, especially linguistic sexism and establishing English Language as a sexist language. In the end of her journal, she offers some alternatives to some sexist or exclusive words in the English language to reflect the changing nature of the society.

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  The focus of this journal is different in several aspects, although it is similar in dealing with how English language employs different stereotypes to the different genders. The differences lie on the applied theories. While Nneka Umera-Okeke elaborates the morphosyntax, syntax, and semantics approaches, this research emphasizes on sociolinguistics, stylistics, and semantics approaches to show how language features imply gender stereotyping in English language. In addition, this research focuses on the data taken from the novel The

  Handmaid’s Tale and the

  followed effects of gender stereotyping in the novel not only toward the use of linguistic sexism in everyday discourse.

3. Yennie’s thesis “Gender Stereotyping Shown by Sexist Language in Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady” (2013)

  This undergraduate thesis discusses sexist expression used by men and women dialogues in documentary movie of Margaret Thatcher by Phyllida Lloyd. This undergraduate thesis focuses in the kind of sexist language and the revealed stereotypes though the use of sexist language itself.

  This research is different from Yennie’s in several aspects though it is similar in dealing with gender stereotyping. The difference lies on the kind of literary work that is being observed. While Yennie discusses the movie, this research elaborates gender stereotyping in the English language based on novel The

  

Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The data of this undergraduate thesis are

  only concerned on dialogues between the women and men characters in the movie. This research data not only elaborate on the dialogues in the novel, but

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  also discuss about the use of pronoun usage, occupational labels and personalities, the use of verbs, and familial terms in the choice of words seen in the novel.

B. Review to Related Theories 1. Gender Stereotyping in English Language

  According to Laurel Richardson in The Dynamic of Sex and Gender: A

  

Sociological Perspective (1987), there are six general characteristics that can help

  the readers get better understanding in identifying the various kinds of language features that imply gender stereotyping in the English language. The characteristics of language features to deliver gender stereotyping that result in the different varieties of the same language between women and men are: a.

  The generic he In terms of grammatical and semantic structure, women do not have a fully independent existence. Pronoun or usually called as the word that can take place the position of noun is the easiest way to see the existence of gender stereotyping in English, The generic pronoun he is the most well-known example of gender specific. When it appears in the form of sentence, the generic pronoun he can be used to describe either men or women in general.

  Meanwhile, the fact that the generic pronoun he is used far more often as a specific reference to the men is undeniable. Whenever it comes in the sentence that generally used to refer to human beings, the readers or listeners then are likely to assume the appearance of the generic pronoun he as the representation only for men. The English language itself is also not divided into male and female with distinct conjugations as many other languages are. Furthermore, women are

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  included under the generic man. So, for example, when reading the word man in “One small step for man”, we should interpret it as applying to both men and women. It results in the conclusion that women are concluded as part of men. The existence of women in language then does not appear clearly.

  b.

  Occupational labels and personalities Gender stereotyping in English can be seen in the actual practice of pronoun usage that results in the different names of career and personality. The high-status occupation that is usually called as not women jobs, such as doctor, lawyer, and judge refers as he though it is not impossible for women to occupy those positions. Secretaries, nurses, kindergarten teachers, for example, are usually used as the representation of pronoun she. Even in the given name to nonhuman object, it results in the different way of personalities between males and females. Kitchen and poetry represent the feminine. On the other hand, the thing taken by forceful power refers as masculine, such as Satan and tiger.

  c.

  Formal terms of address Linguistic practices in organizational titles and public addresses define females as immature and incompetence and males as mature and competent. It happens because the connotation of sexual and human maturity frequently designate the women in question as ladies no matter how old they are, such as ‘Lady is first!’ or ‘Luck to be a lady (woman) tonight’. The stereotypes associated with ladies are weak and incapable. In contrast, when the word gentleman is used, it can reflect as the symbol of masculinity (such as strength). In the sentence ‘He is a real gentleman (man)’, for example, conveys a positive connotation.

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  d.

  The verb In practice of the sexual experience, women are defined in terms of their sexual object (to men), whereas men are defined in terms of their sexual prowess

  (to women). Women use passive verb in their relation to sexual experience, such as to be laid or to be taken. The passive verb construction is used in reference to women refers to their desirability to men because it is a common thing for women to be sexually attractive to men. Meanwhile, men prefer to use active verb, such as

  

lay, have, or take. The active verb construction is used to mainly deliver a direct

  meaning of a sentence and set aside the possibility of being attractive to women. It results in the different expectations to women and men as sexual objects and performers.

  e.

  Familial terms In the use of familial terms, women are defined in the relation to men, but men are defined in terms of their relation to the world at large. Even when the woman is no longer having relationship with the man, she needs to carry the given name and is still to be called as

  Mrs. Man’s Name.

  The following table explains the terms that generally show how the same meaning represents different terms between men and women in English according to the familial labels that assign to them. The list of terms in relation to familial labels

  Men Women Meaning Mrs. A married woman -

  Bachelor Spinster An unmarried man or woman Divorced Divorcée The person whose marriage has been legally ended. man/Bachelor

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  Widower Widow The person whose mate has passed away

• Housewife A female who does not work outside of the home

  Mistress A woman who has a sexual relationship with a - married man.

  As what has been mentioned above, there are terms to call men that are closely different to the calling names assigned to women in relation to the familial terms although the meanings that they want to be delivered are the same. The differences in the calling names between bachelor and spinster, for example, both are the names to call unmarried people, but they both have different connotations in real life. The different connotations depend on to whom those names are being attached. The word bachelor is used to call an elderly never married man. Based on Laurie P. Arliss, from the calling name as a bachelor, it connotes an image of a person who chooses to remain single in his life. It is acceptable for him to decide whether he wants to spend his life alone or not. In the future, he can also marry someone whenever he wants to do it.

  Meanwhile, the calling name as a spinster, with the same implication of meaning, employs the more negative connotation. The society uses this term to imply to an elderly never married and an undesirable woman who failed to find someone to marry her. There is a kind of bad assumption referred to a woman in some specific age if she is still single or is included as unmarried. It is used as the symbol in degrading the position of women in society. There is no female version of the label bachelor. These different terms between men and women describe women are pejoratives. The terms for women convey the negative in meanings.

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  In relation to the familial terms, the term divorcée also implies differently to men and women. The calling name as a divorcée refers only to a woman whose marriage has been legally ended. There is no term to refer to her husband. Her ex- husband is usually called as a divorced man or he also can be called as a bachelor.

  From this fact, it can be concluded then that the English language terms for naming and categorizing people by their family relationships continue to be used greatly only for describing women. Moreover, the familial terms are used far more often as the symbols of degrading women’s positions.

  f.

  Historical pattern of the attached neutral word meanings Historical pattern can be seen in the meanings that come to be attached to words that originally were neutral. Girl originally meant ‘a child of either sex’, then it was specialized to mean ‘a female child’, later it meant ‘a maidservant’, and eventually it acquired the meanings of ‘a prostitute’, ‘a mistress’, or ‘the female sex’. Nowadays, there are several changes to measure gender stereotyping in the

  English language. According to Laurie P. Arliss in Gender Communication (1991) to make awareness of the impact of the generic man and perspective, the pronoun

  

he has generated considerable activity to change the language. One easiest way is

  by replacing the pronoun he with the plural pronoun they. Another way is the use of pronoun he or she directly to address the gender of the person in the sentence to perpetuate sex stereotyping.

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  In occupational labels, for example, the words Policeman and Mailman that used to represent men jobs even though it can be used to indicate both men and women, nowadays the names have been changed into police officer and letter

  

carriers . Moreover, the use of chairman that usually conveys a negative

  connotation in referring to a woman because it results on the perception that it is only used for men gradually changes into chairperson without looking at whether the person is man or woman. Those changes often make no differences because people still address those professions are concluded as men jobs.

  In addition, Lakoff’s “Language and Woman’s Place” in Language in Society adopts the position that men are dominant and women lack power, “one way that women can achieve equality with men is for them to behave like men” (Lakoff, 1973). Shortly, it means that equality of gender between men and women will happen only if women themselves change the way they behave and the language they use as what men usually do. Unless women try to behave like men, inequalities between different type of genders will still exist.

2. Sociolinguistics: Language and Sex

  Sociolinguistics is the branch of linguistics that concerns with investigating the relations of language to varied aspects of society, such as social class, ethnic group, sex, geography, and other similar things. Peter Trudgill in his book

  

Sociolinguistics: an Introduction to Language and Society Fourth Edition (2000)

  especially in the relation between language and sex states that sociolinguistics tries to explain the division of the human race into male and female affects all

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  aspects of human languages. Human sexes can be seen from the use of pronouns, verb forms, articles and adjectives. In pronoun, for example, different sexes have different sex-marking pronouns. The third-person singular he in English is only used to indicate male while she is the indication for female.

  Sociolinguistics emphasizes the relationship between language and society, especially on how language functions in communication. There are many functions of language in communication. However, in this research the writer will only focus on the function of different language used between men and women within the novel that shows language, especially the English language as the standard language, implies men as superiors to women.

  Goddard and Patterson, in the book Language and Gender (2000), state that the function of language treats women as properties. Language is used as a form of discrimination against women existences in society. The problem of gender stereotyping in English is built from the way the language itself is structured and from the way people use to describe the ideas about language. Sociolinguistics then aims to prove whether English is a sexist language. The result shows that there are evidences that English is sexist.

  The reason why Goddard and Patterson state that English language is a gendered language based on these three facts: First, English has sex-exclusive vocabulary, language that is used to describe either man or woman (such as hunk for men and chick for women). Second, the language contains linguistic items that remain the same but change to meaning when referring to a man or a woman (as in the term aggressive). Third, it is a language that carries within it a shared understanding about how men and women are meant to behave and the characteristics they are meant to possess, such as men as workers and women as mothers (2000: 34-35).

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  It is clearly shown from the description above that some terms tend to be used more about one sex than the other. The way people think about language is closely related to gender characteristics, the beliefs that people have about the way men and women should behave differently according to their sexes, and furthermore it influences the use of language itself.

  James and Drakich in Understanding Gender Differences in Amount of Talk:

  A Critical Review of Research says:

  Women are expected to use and do use talk a greater extent than men to serve the function of establishing and maintaining relationships… what is particularly important in female relationships is the sharing of intimate feelings and confidences through talk, whereas in male friendships the sharing of activities is more important (1993: 302-303).

  th

  According to Ronald Wardhaugh in An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5

  

Edition (2006), the content of conversation between men is related to sports,

  competitions, and doing things that is closely different with the conversation occurs between women. When women they have conversation with the same sexes, their topics are related to feelings, home and family. Women use more polite forms and more compliments.

  It is clear that men and women actually do not speak different languages. They speak different varieties of the same language. The reason why this thing happens just because the speaker itself wants to maintain the conversation between each other especially the same sexes runs well. The conversation between both speakers will keep going smoothly.

  In the relation of friendship, women use language to convey feelings. Women focus on the affective functions of an interaction. Women tend to develop

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