The Reasons of Social Variations Importance.docx

The Reasons of Social Variations Importance.docx

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TheReasonsofSocialVariationsImportance

TheReasonsofSocialVariation’sImportance

『Abstract』:

Theintricatesocialrelationshipleadallkindsofvariationinthelanguage,andproducemanyspeechvariation.Thespeechvariationhasagreateffectinhuman’ssocialactivites.Thispapermainlytalkaboutthefactorsofsocialvariationandwhyitisimportanttooursociallife.

『Keywords』:

Language;Socialvariation;Speech;Difference

Ⅰ.Introduction

Languageisapurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotions,anddesiresbymeansofasystemofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.Thesesymbolsare,inthefirstinstance,auditory;thuslanguageisprimarilyamatterofspeechasopposeto,say,signlanguage.

——EdwardSapir

Speechhasallowedhumanbeingstodevelopinacompletelydifferentwayfromotheranimals.Languageisgenerallyconsideredtobeaformofcommunicationbetweenhumanbeings,whilethefacultyofspeechisconsideredtobeinherited,thesystemthatweuse,thespecificlanguage,isdeterminedbythesocietyinwhichwegrowup,andbeingculturallytransmitted.Communicatingbyspeechrequirespeopletospeakorallyinordertoshowtherelationshipbetweenthem.Theformofspeechwillbeaffectedbygeography,socioeconomicstatus,ethnicity/race,age,occupation,religion,genderandsoon.Wemayspeaktoexpressouremotions,feelings,withdifferentutterancetoreinforcearelationshipwithsomebody.Forexample,youwouldsay”Goodmorning,sir.”whenyouseeyourbossintheoffice,whileyouwhouldsay”Hey,man.”whenyoumeetyourbestfriendinthestreet.Ofcourse,youcanchoosethelatersentencedependingonthecloserelationshipwithyourboss.Thiskindof”dialect”whichchangeafterthechangingofsocialfacts,called”socialvariation”.Therearemanyfactorsofthissocialvariation,sobeforestudythereasonsofsocialvariation’simportance,weshoulddiscussitsfactorsfirst.

Ⅱ.Difining

Thestandardlanguage

One’ssocialstandingishigher,then,heislesslikelytousearegionaldialect,andheismorelikelytouseamorestandardisedvariety.Thisispartlyduetothegreatermobilityofthoseonthehighersociallevels;One’ssocialandgeographicalhorizonsarewider,then,morehisspeechandhischildrenwillloseregionalfeatures.Anothermajorfactoristheprestige,whichisassociatedwiththemorestandardisedvarieties.Apersonwhohashighprestigewouldnotspeakvulgarlanguageanduseinformalwordsinthepublic.

Astandardlanguageissettedapartbythisprestige.Itisjustanotherdialectanditsoriginsareusuallyashumbleasthoseoftheotherdialect.Butsociallyithasbeenelevated.AccordingtoR.A.Hudson（1996,p.33）,therearefourcharacteristicsofastandardlanguage:

first,ithasbeenselectedfromamongthevarietiesofthelanguage;second,ithasbeencodified;third,itissuitableforusasanofficial,writtenmedium,andfourth,ithasbeenacceptedby”therelevantpopulation”.Afterreadingthesefourcharacteristics,wemaynaturallyconcludethat,asitiscodified,asitisusingasaliterarylanguage,thestandardlanguageisgoingtobemoreconservativeanditcanbeusedasayardstickforassessingaperson’s“correctness”;moreover,itcanalsoserveasasymbolofnationhood.

Thesocialdimension

“Hello,it’smeagain.”youmayfindthatafriendwhoisphoingyouforasecondtimewhouldsaythat,becauseitwouldbemorenaturalforhimtosay”Goodmoring,thisismeoncemore.”peoplemightconsideritmoreappropratetousethelattersentence.Intheseexamples,thereisadifferenceofvocabulary（againislessformalthanoncemore）andmorphology（It’sismorelikelyininformalspeech）.Theimformalstyleismorelikelytobespokenwitharegionalpronunciation.Whatpeoplesayandhowtheysayitvariesinaccordancewithwhotheyare,whotheyarespeakingtoandthecontextoftheconversation.Suchvariationformspartofthefieldofstudyofsocioliguistics.Arewealth,occupationandeducationallrelevantfactors?

Arethereothers?

Whatistheirrelativesignigicance?

Wheredoyourankasuccussful“self-made”entrepreneurrelativetoadoctororthesonofarichlandowner?

Oneoftheavailablemarksformeasuringisthesocio-economicgroupingsusedbyplanners.

Generally,peopleinhighersocio-economicgroups,orpeoplewhodesiretobeinsuchgroups,haveanidiolectthatislessinfluncedbytheregioninwhichtheygrewup,thatismorecloselytoastandardvariety.Thisislikelytobeavarietythattheywereexposedbytheirparentsandfriends.Inaddition,itmayhavebeenconsolidatedbyapublicschooleducation.theirprofessionmayrequiretheuseofastandardformofspeechandtheyhavebeenalotofotherplaces.

Theurbanvanguard

Asjustsay,astandardlanguageisjustanotherdialectanditbecomesacceptedbymostpeopleaftersettingasformallanguage.Thisstandardlanguagegenerallywouldchooseadialectusedbythepolitical,culturalandeconomiccitycentre.Suchfactorstendtoaffecturbanareasratherthanruralareas.Thiscomplicatesyetfurthertheattempttorepresentonamapbounariesbetweenfeatures,forratherthanadvancingbypushingforwardafront,stansardisationoftenestablishesitselfinurbancentresandthenspreadsfromthemintothesurroundingarea.Thusmayshowurbanislandssurroundedbyunaffectedruralareas.Trudgill（1995,p.149）illustratesthisstateofaffairsbycomparingthespeechofLondon,ManchesterandHyde.ThecityofManchesterexhibitsthevowel/u/whereLondonhas/Λ/,theword“such”beingpronounced/sutſ/intheformerasopposedto/sΛtſ/inthelatter,butthedifferencesaresystematic;inHyde,whichliesimmediatelytothesouth-eastofManchester,therewasnotthesameinfluencefromLondon,andtheformswerelesspredictable.（AnIntroductiontoLinguistics,P112.lastline）Fromthis,wecanfindthattheubranvanguardisoneoftheimportantfactorstothesocialvariation.

Menandwomen

Wehavediscussedthataperson’sspeechtendstorelatetohissocialclass,tohiseducationandoccupation.City-dwellersmayspeakdifferentlycomparedtothosewholiveinthesurroundingruralareas.Next,we’ergoingtoseewhetheraperson’sspeechrelatestoweareamenorawomen.

Manystudieshaveshownthatwomengenerallyuseformswhichapproximatemorecloselytothoseofthestandardlanguagethanthoseofthestandardlanguagethandomenofthesamesocialbackground,age,andsoon.Forexample,womenweremorelikelytousethestandardform/iŋ/thanmenwere（Trudgill,1995,p.70）.Moreover,womenweremorelikelytobelievethattheyuseformsclosertothestandardlanguagethanthosetheyactuallyuse.Thishasbeenexplainedintermsofagreaterconsciousnessofstatusonthepartofwomen.Thestatusofmen,ithasbeenargued,hasbeentraditionallydefinedbytheiroccupationandwealth,whilewomenhavehadtofindotherwaysofestablishingtheirpositionandoneofthesehasbeentheirspeech.Womenareinemploymentmuchmore,onecanarguethattheytendtoworkinserviceindustrieswhereahighstandardofcommunicationisparticularlyimportant.

Ontheotherhand,perhapswomenareincreasinglyfeelingthattheydonothavethesameneedtoimpressmtojudtifythemselves.Ifso,theymightmovetowardsthelessformalstyleofspeechthathasbeenmoreassociatedwithmen.Men,mayassociatemasculinitywiththephysicallabouroftheworkingclass.AccordingtoHudson,thiscorrelationbetweensexandstyleofspeechmustberegardedas“oneofthemostrobustfindingsofsocio-linguistics”（Hudson,1996,p.114）

Powerandsolidarity

Whenyouspeaktoapasser-byorapersonwhohashigherstatusthanyou,youshoulduseformallanguage;whenyouspeaktoyourfamiliesorbestfriends,thenuseinformallanguage.Theformallanguageconcernsaboutthesocialrelationship,thatispower;whichtheinformallanguagepaysattentiontotherelationshipofthesamestatus---solidarity.Women,then,tendtowanttogiveanimpressionofhighstatusmorethanmendo.Womenaremoreconcernedthanmenarewithaverticalsocialdimension,mensettinggreaterstorethanwomenbyahorizontalsocialdimensionbygroupidentity.

Whetheritispowerorsolidaritythatismoresignificantinaparticularsocialrelationshipdependsnotonlyonwhoisspeakingbutalsoonwhomthespeakingto.”Hello,Lizzie”isanappropriatewayofgreetingasisteroffriendcalledElizabeth;ifyouweretalkingtotheQueenoftheUnitedKingdom,itwouldbemoreappropriatetosay“Goodmorning,YourHighness”.Saying“Hello,Lizzie”totheQueenwouldbeconsideredextremelydisrespectful.Ifyousaid“Goodmorning,Elizabeth”toyoursister,shemightwonderthatwhatshehaddonetoupsetyou.InaconversationwiththeQueen,itistherulesassociatedwithpowerthatarethemostrelevant,therebeingasubstantialdifferenceinsocialstatus.Inaconversationwithyoursister,itistherulesofsolidaritythatapply.Theformerrequiresamoreformalspeechvarietythanthelatterdo.Ifweuseformalspeechtospeakourequals,theymighthavetheimpressionthatweconsiderourselvesbetterthanthemor,aswehavejustsaid,thattheyhavedonesomethingtoupsetus.Ifwewishtouseaperson’snamewhentalkingtothemortalkingaboutthem,whenneedtodecidewhetheritisappropriatetousetheirgivenname（e.g.Elizabeth）ortheirsurname（e.g.MissGreen）.Forexample,youcansay“Mr.HuorMr.HuJingtaocametoGuangzhoulastweek.”insteadofsaying“HuJingtaocametoGuangzhoulastweek.”inreportingthisnewsnomatterthroughtheTVsetortheradieo.Ofcourse,youcancalledyourmotherMrs.Liwhenyouareplayingjoywithher.

Ourrelationshipwithsomebodymayaffectnotonlyhowweaddresshim,butalsowhatwesay.Ifsomebodyringsyouonthetelephoneyoumayfeelanobligationtoaskhimorherwhohe