性别对英语政治演讲中情态动词使用的影响——一项基于语料库的研究

An Analysis of Effects of Genders on Modal Verbs in the English Political Speeches:A Corpus-based Study

文章采用语料库语言学的研究方法,在自建语料库的基础上,对比分析了英语政治演讲中男、女在情态动词使用方面的差异。研究结果表明:男性和女性在will、would、should等8个情态动词的使用频数上存在显著差异。虽然英语政治演讲中can的使用频数不存在显著性别差异,但其与人称代词的搭配使用却存在一些性别差异。从情态量值角度来看,无论是男性还是女性,中量值情态动词的使用频数都多于高量值情态动词和低量值情态动词。同时,男性高量值情态动词和中量值情态动词的使用频数都显著多于女性。

Based on the self-built corpora, this paper compares the use of modal verbs in the English political speeches between men and women and explores the difference. It indicates a significant gender difference in the usage frequency of eight modal verbs, such as ＂will＂ ,＂ would＂, and ＂should＂. In the use of another modal verb ＂can＂, women and men differ in its collocation with personal pronouns, rather than its usage frequency. From the perspective of values of modality,the usage frequency of medium-value modal verbs are much higher than that of high-value and low-value ones regardless of gender. In addition, the frequency of high-value and medium-value modal verbs used by men are significantly higher than women.