An Analysis of female foreign—oriented secretary’s pragmatic characteristics

張曼瑩

Abstract：With the development of economic globalization， the interaction between China and the other countries becomes increasingly frequent. When engaged in foreign-related work， women have an advantage over men. The main reasons include the female congenital voice advantage and delicate emotion. The thesis is going to analyze why female secretaries have advantages over men from the aspect of pragmatic characteristics in foreign-related works.

Key words：Female; Foreign-oriented secretary; language; advantage; characteristic

With the development of globalization， there is an increasing demand for diplomatic personnel， which followed by the emergence of foreign secretary. According to the survey， among the people who engaged in foreign secretaries， women accounted for 70% -80% while men accounted for 20% -30%. Foreign secretaries not only familiar with foreign languages， but also have sophisticated communication skills. Moreover， it is becoming more feminine， because with delicate emotions women are better to know how to move people and make people comfortable.

1. The Pragmatic Characteristics of Female Foreign-oriented Secretary

Compared with male， voice of women has following features： pronunciation is relatively high; clarity is often higher than mens; women pay more attention to the voice; the change of female tone is relatively rich.

1.1 Pitch

Pitch is the level of sound and female pronunciation pitch is mainly determined by physiological factors. Specifically， the pitch depends on the frequency of the sound vibration. Human voice is made by the vocal cords， in general， womens vocal cords are shorter and thinner than mens， causing women sound often over 200 hertz， while men often sound at around 150 hertz.

1.2 Clarity

Sound intensity is the strength of sound. The vibration of affecters influences the level of sound intensity， the smaller the vibration amplitude， the weaker the sound. Generally， the tense of male affecters is weaker than females， resulting in female voice stronger than men， pronunciation is also clearer than men. Moreover， women have been limited in a framework at the time， which makes women concern their voice whether clear and understandable. Finally， their slower speech speed as well as contributes to the clarity of female voice.

1.3 The Mild Voice

Speaking in mild and soft voice even becomes a standard to judge women. No matter in ancient times or today， in the East or West， women try to show their perfect in all aspects， besides the appearance， the most important thing is their sound. When communicate with others， women expect to show their inner cultivation and leave a good impression via voice.

1.4 Rich and Varied Tone

Compared to men， womens emotions are easier to passed out through their expression or language， which led to women tone is very rich and variable.

2. Syntactic Features

In reality， the features of women language are rooted in their fundamental characters. Women emphasize the inner emotional world and prefer to use interrogative sentences to strengthen their feelings， which make their words more vivid.

3. Discourse Style of Female Foreign Secretary

3.1 Perceptual

It is wildly recognized that men are rational creatures while women are emotional creatures， besides， which， as well as， is verified when they are talking. Men tend to act rationally when they speak， and express their rational cognition of the things while women， with strong emotional feelings， express their perceptual cognition of the things. Women tend to express their personal emotions through language， while men do not.

3.2 The courtesy

In our daily communication， women tend to use more polite， tactful words， rather than the use of direct， blunt words. It is mainly because the kindness and tenderness in nature， which lead female to show their respects to each other in communication. Even when they reject others， they will use the words such as "probably"， "maybe"， and "may"， so that the others are not so embarrassed and to avoid the breakdown of their relationship.

3.3 Euphemism

Women tend to use indirect language that is inseparable from the nature of women. Most women would not express their feelings directly， because they will feel embarrassed. Therefore， when express personal ideas female expect that receivers can understand their inner meaning through their words. For example， women will not directly say： "I want to eat an apple，" instead， they usually ask： "Is there an apple？ " In general， from this sentence it can be speculated that she is want to eat an apple， not concerned about "whether there is an apple."

3.4 Emotional Delicate

Womens emotion is more delicate， which is also reflected in their wording. For example， women are more sensitive to color than men， no matter how similar the colors women can easily distinguish them; women are also better at using words with colors than men. In describing colors， men tend to use simple words， such as "black"， "white"， "red" while women will use more accurate and complex terms to express， for example， "red" can be divided into "dark red"， "true red"， "pink"， " purplish red"， " burgundy" and so on.

4. Summary

Foreign secretary plays a pivotal role in foreign trade and business. Through the above analysis， we can arguably draw a conclusion that women have an advantage over men in this field.

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