language and society.docx

language and society.docx

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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’