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languageandsociety
8.LanguageandSociety
8.1thescopeofsociolinguistics
Languageisasocialfact.Sociolinguisticsisthesubdisciplineoflinguisticsthatstudieslanguageinsocialcontexts.Inviewoflanguageasaprimarymeansofcommunicationamongindividualspeakersofasociety,sociolinguistsareconcernedwiththesocialsignificanceoflanguagevariationandlanguageuseindifferentspeechcommunitiesincludingregional,ethnicandsocialgroups.Sociolinguistsarealsoconcernedwiththeimpactofextralinguisticfactorsonlanguageuse,suchasage,gender,profession,andsocialstatus.
8.1.1therelatednessbetweenlanguageandsociety
1)socialfunctionoflanguage:
Apartfromitsfunctionincommunication,languageisalsousedtoestablishandmaintainsocialrelationships;
2)Languagerevealsthesocialbackgroundofthespeaker;
3)Languagereflectsthephysicalandsocialenvironmentsofasociety
4)varioussocialfactorsdeterminetheindividualspeaker’suseoflanguage
8.1.2speechcommunityandspeechvariety
variety/variation
speechcommunity:
agroupofpeoplewhoformacommunityandsharethesamelanguageoraparticularvarietyoflanguage.
Speechvariety(languagevariety):
anydistinguishableformofspeechusedbyaspeakeroragroupofspeakers.Varietiesoflanguagecanbeclassifiedinrespectoftheiruseranduse.Socialinguistsgenerallydistinguishregionaldialects,socialdialectsandregister.
8.2varietiesoflanguage
8.2.1dialectalvarieties
regionaldialect:
linguisticvarietyusedbypeoplelivinginthesamegeographicalregion.(languagevarietyaccordingtotheuser)
Althoughgeographicalbarriersarethemajorsourceofregionalvariationoflanguage,loyaltytoone’snativespeechandphysicalandpsychologicalresistancetochangeareamongotherreasonsofsuchvariation.
Linguisticvariationmayoccuratalllevelsoflanguage(phonological,lexical,morphological,syntactical,semantic),themostdistinguishablelinguisticfeatureofaregionaldialectisitsaccent.
Youdon’tknowwhatyou’retalkingabout(ScottishEnglish:
Yedinnaekenwhityerhaverin’about)
/kœy13na:
u22tso35jat5ts‘a:
n53ŋο13/(语概6)
sociolet(socialdialect):
linguisiticvarietycharacteristicofaparticularsocialclass.(p.115).
Unon-U
Haveabathtakeabath
Bike,bicyclecycle
Luncheondinner
Ridinghorseriding
Sickill
Madmental
Looking-glassmirror
Writing-papernote-paper
Wirelessradio
Lavatory-papertoilet-paper
Richwealth
Vegetablesgreens
Puddingsweet
ScotchScottish
(encyc.P.39)
fig.8.2.1:
relationbetweensocialvariationandregionalvariation
headache:
skullhead,head-wark,head-warch,sorehead,etc.
8.2.2languageandsocialfactors
gender
InsomelanguagessuchasEnglish,German,French,andRussian,womenaresupposedtousemoreoftern:
emotiveadjectivesandadverbs:
super,lovely,terribly,aufully
exclamations:
Goodnessme,Oh,dear;
intensifiers:
so,such(Itwassobusy)
expressionslike:
I’mafraid…I’mnotsure….MaybeIamwrongbut…etc.
abundantuseoftags:
thelessonisterriblyinteresting,isn’tit?
strategies:
womenhavebeenfoundtoaskmorequestions,makemoreuseofpositiveandencouraging‘noises’,usewiderintanationalrangeandamoremarkedrhythmicalstress,andmakegreateruseofthepronounsyouandwe.Theyusuallytendtousestandardformofthelanguageonmanyoccasions.Bycontrast,menaremuchmorelikelytointerrupt,todisputewhathasbeensaid,tointroducemorenewtopicsandtomakemoredeclarationsoffactoropinions.(encyc.P.21)
age
developmentalpatternsinlanguageacquisition
atphonological,lexical,syntactical,andsemanticandpragmaticlevelsaswell.
Idiolect:
personaldialectofanindividualspeakerthatcombineselementsregardingregional,social,gender,anagevariations.Personalvarietyofadialect
Ethnicdialect
Anethnicdialectisasocialdialectofalanguagethatcutsacrossregionaldifferences.
BlackEnglish:
anethnicdialect
e.g.(p.118)
dropoffinalconsonant;
deletionofcopula;
doublenegation
othersyntacticalfeatures(hu,p.202)
8.2.3register
languagevariationaccordingtouse.Thatis,wetypicallyusecertainrecognizableconfigurationsoflinguisticresourcesincertaincontexts.Therearethreemaindimensions(variables)ofvariationwhichcharacterizeanyregister:
whatisbeingtalkedabout(fieldofdiscourse),thepeopleinvolvedinthecommunicationandtherelationshipbetweenthem(tenorofdiscourse)andhowthelanguageisfunctioningintheinteraction(modeofdiscourse)(p.120)
8.3Standarddialect
Aparticularvarietyoflanguagewhichwinsliteraryandculturalsupremacyovertheothersandgainssomekindofinstitutionalsupportfromgovernmentadministrationandnewsmedia,andalsofromindividualswhowritegrammarsandbooksoncorrectusage.
Featuresofthestandarddialect:
(p.123)
8.4PidginandCreole
Pidgin:
aspeciallanguagevarietythatmixesorblendslanguages,withamarkedlyreducedgrammaticalstructure,lexiconandstylisticrange,andamuchnarrowerrangeoffunctions.Itgrowsupamongpeopletotalktoeachother,fortradingandotherreasons.Itisthenativelanguageofnoone.
MostpidginsarebasedonEuropeanlanguages–English,French,Spanish,Dutch,andPortuguese—reflectingthehistoryofcolonialism
Creoleisapidginlanguagewhichhasbecomethemothertongueofaspeechcommunity.Theswitchofpidgininvolvesamajorexpansioninthestructurallinguisticresourcesavailable,esp.invocabulary,grammar,andstyle,whichnowhavetocopewiththeeverydaydemandsmadeuponamothertonguebyitsspeakers.
Pidginsarebynatureauxiliarylanguages,learnedalongsidevernacularlanguageswhicharemuchmoredevelopedinstructureanduse.Creoles,bycontrast,arevernacularsintheirownright.
8.5bilingualismanddiglossia
bilingualism:
(p.124)
diglossia:
alanguagesituationinwhichtwomarkedlydivergentvarieties,eachwithitownsetofsocialfunctions,coexistasstandardsthroughoutacommunity.
Oneofthesevarietiesisusedinordinaryconversation;theotherisusedforspecialpurposes,primarilyinformalspeechandwriting.Ithasbecomeconventionalinlinguistictorefertotheformeras‘low’,andthelatteras‘high’