outline of Chapter Eight.docx

1、outline of Chapter EightChapter Eight Language and Society(Sociolinguistics)1. Language variation Language use is social. Language use varies with the speech communities, regions, social groups and individuals. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in social contexts to explore the nature and so

2、cial significance of language variation and language use in different social situations. 1. 1 Speech community A speech community is defined as a group of people who form a community and share the same language or a particular variety of language. The important characteristic of a speech community i

3、s that the members of the group must interact linguistically with other members of the community. They may share similar attitudes toward linguistic norms. People of different social backgrounds, such as social status, economic positions, educational background, occupations, age may have linguistic

4、forms characteristic of their social identity. 1. 2 Speech variety Speech variety, also known as language variety, refers to any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or group of speakers. The distinctive characteristics of a speech variety are mainly reflected in its pronunciation, synta

5、x and vocabulary. Speech variety is a neutral term, which is often used to replace the such terms as standard language, dialect, pidgin and creole. It can also be used to refer to regional dialects and ethnic dialects such as Australian English and Black English as well as the functional dialects su

6、ch as legal language. Sociolinguists are particularly interested in regional dialects, sociolects or social dialects, and functional speech varieties known as register. Socio-linguists believe that all speech varieties are rule-governed. There is nothing linguistically inherent that makes one variet

7、y superior or inferior to another variety. 1. 3 Regional variation Geographical barriers to free communication such as high mountains, seas and geographical distances have given rise to the development of different regional varieties of language. In addition, loyalty to one s native speech and resis

8、tance to change can also contribute to the regional variations of language. The most noticeable differences in regional dialects are seen in their accents, in spite of the differences in pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary. The existence of different regional dialects poses difficulty in cross-regi

9、on communication, language standardization known as language planning is often carried out by certain authorities, such as the government, who chooses a particular speech variety, standardize its pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary and spread the use of it in the society. 1. 4 Social variation Soci

10、al variations give rise to sociolects. Two people who speak the same regional dialect may possess some linguistic features which arise because of social factors instead of regional factors. In other words, people who have different social and economic backgrounds, academic experiences, occupations,

11、ages and sexes speak differently. Although living in the same region, people may consciously or unconsciously select linguistic features for communication that are appropriate to their social identities. 1. 5 Stylistic variation Stylistic variation is the pragmatic variation. A persons style is some

12、times formal, sometimes neutral an sometimes casual. The factors determining degree of formality include the occasions in which communication takes place, the social status and relations of the participants, the place of communication, topics, etc. Stylistic variations are realized by different choi

13、ces of pronunciation, grammatical structures and words. Style can refer to a particular person s use of speech or writing at all times, or to a way of speaking or writing at a particular period of time. A particular register may be used by a particular group of people, usually sharing the same occup

14、ation . 1. 6 Idiolectal variation A speakers linguistic performance is heterogeneous. No two speakers of the same language or dialect use their language or dialect in exactly the same way. When an individual speaks, what is actually produced is a unique language system of the speaker, expressed with

15、in the overall system of a particular language. Personal speech variation leads to personal dialect or idiolect. Idiolect is, thus, a habit of a speakers language use. It is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines aspects of all the elements regarding regional, social, and stylisti

16、c variation. In a narrower sense, idiolect includes a speakers voice quality, pitch, speech rhythm,etc . 2. Standard and nonstandard language 2.1Standard and nonstandard language All languages or dialects can equally fulfil the communicative functions effectively. A government may select a regional

17、dialect, raise its social prestige or status by standardizing it and make it a national or official language of a country. The standard language is a superposed, socially prestigious dialect of language. Generally speaking, the standard language is also the national or official language of a country

18、. But the national language or official language of a country is not always the standard language. A language which was once standardized may for various reasons be no longer a national language or official language. A particular dialect can be a standard language or official language, but not a nat

19、ional language. The national language is the symbol of a nation. In Singapore, the national language is Malay, with Mandarin, Hindi, Malay and English as its official languages. A standard language is usually the language employed by the government and the judiciary system, used by the mass media, a

20、nd taught in educational institutions. Varieties other than the standard variety are called nonstandard or vernacular varieties. Linguistically speaking, no one variety is better or worse than the other. Their distinctions are made because of historical, social or political reasons. The view that th

21、e standard variety of language is right, “logic”, “elegant” and “expressive”, while nonstandard varieties are “substandard”, “incorrect” and “illogical” is a social prejudicial attitude that reflects a subjective and sociopolitical judgment, which has no linguistic base at all. All languages and dia

22、lects are systematic and rule-governed. 2. 2 Lingua francas A lingua franca is a variety of language that serves as a medium of communication among groups of people for diverse linguistic backgrounds. For this reason, a lingua franca must be an agree-upon common tongue used by people thrown in socia

23、l contact for various purposes. Broadly speaking, lingua franca is any other language used as a trade or communication medium. The standard Chinese language in China is a lingua franca. English is also a lingua franca used for international communicative purposes. 2. 3 Pidgins A pidgin is a variety

24、of language that is generally used by native speakers of other languages as a medium of communication. It is often a mixture of two or more than two varieties. A pidgin and a lingua franca is similar in that both are the varieties for communication among the people of diverse linguistic backgrounds

25、and both are often restricted to some practical purposes, such as trading. But a pidgin is different from a lingua franca in that the former has no native speakers while the latter has. As a contact language , a pidgin may contain significant grammatical features of two or more languages. A pidgin u

26、sually reflects the influence of the higher, or dominant, language in its lexicon and that of the lower language in their phonology and occasionally syntax. A pidgin involves the reduction in its pronounciation, vocabulary, and inflectional morphemes. In addition, the copula verb to be is often abse

27、nt in pidgins. Overgeneralization is a frequent phenomenon not only in its grammatical system, but also in its vocabulary system. Although pidgins are simplified languages, they are systematic and rule-governed, like any human language. Pidgins have strict rules for word orders to compensate for the

28、 lack of inflectional morphemes. 2. 4 Creoles When a pidgin comes to be adopted as a primary language in a speech community and children learn it as their first language or native language, then pidgin becomes a creole. A creole involves a series of expansion in vocabulary and grammar as well as its

29、 communicative functions. As a fully developed language, it has rules comparable in nature and complexity with the rules of any other human natural language. Creloes can also achieve the status of standards.3. Diglossia and bilingualism 3. 1 Diglossia Diglossia, advanced by Ferguson in 1959, usually

30、 describes a situation in which two very different varieties of language co-exist in a speech community, each with a distinct range of purely social function and appropriate for certain situations. Usually, one is a more standard variety called the high variety or H-variety , which is used for more

31、formal situations or as a written form of communication such as in government offices, mass media, educational field and churches . The other is a non-prestige variety called the low variety or L-variety, which is used in colloquial and other informal situations such as among family members, friends

32、, or the instructions by the superiors to inferiors. Diglossia used to occur in China when Classical Chinese “Wen Yan Wen” and its spoken form “Bai Hua Wen” co-existed and their social functions are clearly distinguished, with the former as the H-variety and the latter as the L-variety. Diglossia also includes the situations in which two varieties involved are not genetically related. For example, in Paraguay, Spanish is a H-variety while Guarani is a L-variety. 3. 2 Bilingualism Bilingualism refers to a linguistic situation in which two standard languages are used either by an i