Gender Differences in Chinese Language Use of Sina Microblogs: A Case Study of College Students in Hangzhou

Abstract Microblog has been constantly in the spotlight due to its convenience to post and easiness to focus others。 But most of the studies at home focused on the microblog in terms of its origin, functions, application, maintenance and influence。 Few research payed attention to the relationship between gender and the user’s language from the linguistic point of view。 This thesis collected samples from 106 college students in Hangzhou to reveal gender differences from five aspects including disclosure of personal information, topic selection, the use of specific groups of words, the use of emoticons and the length of each microblog。 Data analysis displays that there is no distinct relationship between disclosure of personal information and the genders but gender differences do exist in topic selection, the use of specific groups of words, the use of emoticons and the length of microblogs。 The findings show that the theories of language and gender in western countries can also apply to Chinese counterparts。 These gender differences contribute to better understanding of mode of thinking and behaviors between genders。89216

Keywords: gender differences; Chinese language use; Sina microblogs; college students in Hangzhou

汉语新浪微博中的性别差异以杭州大学生为对象的案例分析

摘要微博因其操作的简便性和关注对象的多样性而快速发展并日益影响着我们的生活。微博相关的各类研究不断涌现，但是国内对它的研究仍停留在起源、功能、实际应用、维护和影响这几个方面，鲜有研究者涉足语言学的领域来探究语言和性别之间的关系。本文抽取了106位杭州的大学生的新浪微博样本，从个人信息的自我表露、特定类型词汇的使用、网络表情的使用、微博的字数以及话题的关注情况来探究语言与性别之间的差异。分析结果显示个人信息的自我表露程度与性别并无明显关联，而特定类型词汇的使用、网络表情的使用以及话题的关注情况有显著性差异，并且两性各有倾向，由此可见西方有关语言的性别差异理论同样适用于汉语使用者，而这些差异帮助我们更了解两性之间的思维方式与行为习惯的不同。

毕业论文关键词：性别差异; 中文的使用; 新浪微博; 杭州大学生

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

1。1。 The motivation of the study 1

1。2。 The general description of the study 1

1。3。 The outline of the thesis 2

2。 Previous study 3

2。1。 Study at abroad 3

2。1。1。Main frameworks on gender differences 3

2。1。2。Study on blogosphere 4

2。2。 Study at home 5

2。2。1。Study on linguistic gender 5

2。2。2。Study on blogosphere 6

3。 Research hypotheses 8

4。 Data analysis 9

4。1。 The disclosure of personal information