4.1　What is language?

4.1　What is language?

Language is a major component of human culture and a medium of representation(Cameron,1992;Cameron,1998).It has a close relationship with humanity.However,how is language used in the private or in the public sphere in practice? Is there equality in language use between women and men,and in particular between wives and husbands? How does body language such as facial expressions,gestures,and other non-verbal language impact on the recipients/hearers? These questions have attracted academics from various fields including linguists,educationalists,sociologists and psychologists as well as feminists.

Today,the study of language no longer focuses only on the static linguistic system,that is,on its phonology,morphology,and syntax or semantics and pragmatics,but has also become a cross-disciplinary study,linked to politics,power,gender,and social context.For example,the study of language,with respect to gender,looks at how women and men speak/communicate,and how they are spoken of (Eckert &McConnell-Ginet,2003).Feminists have suggested that language can be seen as sexist (Cameron,1998) with men and women using it in different ways and with different purposes.This is not as a result of biology but of gender constructions and inequality.History and society empower the differences in the use of language between women and men,and language can,therefore,become a tool of oppression (Eckert &McConnell-Ginet,2003).In presenting or 'naming' the world from a masculine viewpoint,language has stereotyped beliefs about women and men and the relationships between them.

Language as a research topic is very rewarding (Thomas &Wareing,1999).In my research,I have linked it to exploring domestic violence occurring between wives and husbands,in both intellectual and non-intellectual families.Considering both kinds of families,this may be one of a very important research points in my thesis.As elaborated in Chapter 3,family,as a basic unit,links closely to society.Families,as well as individuals are classified into different kinds politically,socially and culturally.For example,within the context of Chinese economic reform,the terms 'intellectual' and 'non-intellectual' families may substitute for bourgeois,pretty bourgeois or worker (peasant) families,which is different from the terms used in the former political times (between 1970 and the 1980s) (Li,2007;Xiao,2004).The term 'intellectual' will be seen in newspapers hundreds times every day(Zheng,1997).In respect to ordinary people,they like to speak about intellectuals and non-intellectuals.The status of intellectuals has been admired and respected since the late 1980s.Academics and practitioners have also look at these groups in their research.For example,some of them suggest that psychological violence occurs more in intellectual families than in non-intellectual families (Cui,2003;Hu et al.,2003;Li,2002;Ma,2003;Xu,2004;Yang et al.,2002).But how to define'intellectual' and 'non-intellectual' in China will be described briefly in Part III.

Psychological violence,including language abuse,may take the forms of threats with words or body language,non-communication,ridicule,degradation,foul language,and so on.In China limited data has been collected on this,although Chinese academics have concluded that such abuse is an enemy of good marriage(Wei,2005).How much suffering does language abuse cause,who are the main victims of language abuse and what forms of language abuse are most often used by perpetrators? Is there a difference in the language abuse used by intellectual and non-intellectual perpetrators and what are the causes of language abuse in the home and how does such abuse impact on victims?

Some academics still place greater emphasis on the static linguistic system than on these questions when they explore gender inequality in language.For example,they might demonstrate that women prefer to use polite words and tag questions,and so on (Cameron,1998;Eckert et al.,2003).This could be regarded as a somewhat limited approach to such research.Possible explanations for this limited approach could be that the academics are linguists primarily and that they analyse gender inequality in language within the general context of an abstract analysis of relationships between women and men and not through real examples.I have a Masters degree in Linguistics and this way was very much my approach before I began my research in the field of domestic violence.However,looking at the language relationships between wives and husbands within the context of domestic violence requires a different methodology.In particular,my research focus is on not just the 'why' but also on the 'how'.Therefore,the type of language behaviour reflected within marital violence and the reasons that cause such behaviour by perpetrators,and also what impact these things have on victims,are of interest.Through such an analysis,we may increase our understanding of domestic violence,including psychological violence meted out through language abuse,and find ways to prevent it.