Language_and_Society

1、Chapter 9 Language and Society1. The scope of sociolinguistics 1.1 The relationship between language and society Language is regarded as a mirror of society, through which we can understand social activities of a certain society better. Sociolinguists are interested in explaining why we speak differ

2、ently in different social contexts, and they are concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. Example 1Ray: Hi. MomMom: Hi. You are late.Ray: Yeah, that bastard kept us in again.Mom: Nana is here.Ray: Oh sorry. Where is she?The way peo

3、ple talk is influenced by the social context in which they are talking. It matters who can hear us and where we are talking as well as how we are feeling. We use different styles in different social contexts. Example 2Ray: Good morning, sir.Principle: What are you doing here at this time?Ray: Mr. Su

4、tton kept us in , Sir. One does not need to be very observant to find that certain linguistic phenomena cannot be accounted for unless they are placed in the general context of society. In other words, social factors cannot be excluded from our description of language and language use. There are man

5、y indications of the inter-relationship between language and society. One of them is that while language is principally used to communicate meaning, it is also used to establish and maintain social relationships. E.g.:greetingsAnother indication is that users of the same language in a sense all spea

6、k differently. The kind of language each of them chooses to use is in part determined by his social background. And language, in its turn, reveals information about its speaker. When we speak, we cannot avoid giving clues to our listeners about ourselves.Example 3A:今天怎么樣？B:有點(diǎn)累，上下午都有手術(shù)。A：好辛苦哦。想我了沒？B：

7、當(dāng)然想了。A:干嘛去了？B：剛?cè)フ依蠋熀灱贄l了。To some extent, language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society. Example 4Eskimos have more words for types of snow than English speakers do:aput, snow on the ground 地上的雪gana, falling snow 正飄落的雪piqsirpoq,

8、drifting snow 堆積的雪qimuqsuq, a snow drift 雪堆As a social phenomenon, language is closely related to the structure of the society in which it is used, and the evaluation of a linguistic form is entirely social. Judgments concerning the correctness and purity of linguistic varieties are social rather th

9、an linguistic.1.2 Speech community & speech varietySpeech community（言語(yǔ)共同體）（言語(yǔ)共同體）: a social group of people who share a language (includes a country, a town, a network across great distances) Speech variety（言語(yǔ)變體）（言語(yǔ)變體）: any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or a group of speakers. Lin

10、guistic features of a speech variety can be found at the lexical, the phonological, the morphological, or the syntactical level of the language. 1.3 Two approaches to sociolinguistic studiesmacro-sociolinguistics : look at society as a whole and consider how language functions in it and how it refle

11、cts the social differentiations (a birds-eye view) micro-sociolinguistics : look at society from the point of view of an individual member within it (a worms-eye view )2. Language variationsVariations :different manifestations of language; “a set of linguistic items with similar social distribution”

12、 (R Hudson, 1980)Dialectal variation: Regional /Social Personal variation : registersSituational variation : degree of formality2.1 Regional dialect A regional dialect is a linguistic variety used by people living in the same geographical region. Regional dialect boundaries often coincide with geogr

13、aphical barriers such as mountains, rivers or swamps. lack of communication in old times loyalty to ones native speech psychological resistance to changeGrammars can vary a lot in different regionsE.g: Regional dialects in the US Phonological differences r-less dialects:Some dialects in the US delet

14、e /r/ after a vowel: Wisconsin Maine Carolinacar khar kha: kha:farm farm fa:m fa:mLexical differencesWords for 汽水:Wisconsin Maine N.Carolina“soda” “pop” “coke” Syntactic differences the: USA Canadaat school at the school at the hospital at hospitalTaiwan Mandarin vs. Beijing Mandarin:Phonological di

15、fferences Beijing Taiwan 是Shi si Lexical differences English Beijing Taiwan“potato” 土豆 馬鈴薯“guava” 番石榴 芭樂Syntactic differences BeijingTaiwan (nonstandard)我打他。他給我打。2.2 Sociolect A language variety caused by different social conditions. It is spoken by a group that share social features such as occupat

16、ion, age, class, race, etc. Occupation: People sometimes use special vocabularies (jargon) for their job Financial :sales volume/todays high Legal: Civil Case民事案件/Hearing聽證會(huì) /Summons傳訊 Medical: blood pressure/ kidney stone腎結(jié)石/thrombosis (blood clot )血栓 Education:e.g: Speaker A Speaker B I did it yes

17、terday. I done it yesterday. He hasnt got it. He aint got it. It was she that said it. It was her what said it. 2.3 Language and Gender Language used by men and women have some special features of their own. Women and men often have slightly different “grammars” at many different levels. more intens

18、ifiers: adjectives of evaluation and intensifiers are used more frequently by females than by malese.g.: nice, lovely, cute, fantastic, awful, etc. Syntax Female speech is less assertive and thus sounds to be more polite than male speech. Female speakers tend to use more often the question tag. e.g.

19、 Im afraid . Im not sure but . I dont like linguistics, do you? It is beautiful, isnt it? Sexist language: because men control public life in most cultures, men often control the standard language, which then becomes biased towards men.Sexist lexiconmankind=humanitychairman=chair history= his storyS

20、exist syntax (pronouns) (1)Everyone should love his mother.(2)Everyone should love their mothers. Sexist syntax (word order)(phrases that put females last): (3)Boys and girls are equal. Sexist morphology(again, implies that women are subordinate): actor male + ess - actress female Why no suffixes to

21、 create men from women? (“nurse-man” or something?) Sexist orthography (writing)? 奴、奸、妖, 嫉，妒，姘, 妄 2.4 Language and age In many communities the language used by the old generation differs from that used by the younger generation in certain ways. Their speech is thus a record of the never-ending chang

22、e of language.Lexical variation Old: icebox , wirelessYoung: fridge, boomboxold generation: 下學(xué)了/洋火teenage: 暈/倒/汗/郁悶/菜鳥/東東More examples:表?yè)P(yáng)某人有某種特長(zhǎng)時(shí)的用語(yǔ)：哇，真厲害，簡(jiǎn)直不是人。 新新校園流行語(yǔ)新新校園流行語(yǔ)最近，某校進(jìn)行了一次校園語(yǔ)言的專題調(diào)查，調(diào)查結(jié)果令人頗為吃驚：大學(xué)生的日常用語(yǔ)中，玄機(jī)種種，“密碼”多多。代用語(yǔ)層出不窮。如果有人對(duì)你說：“你真像孔雀!”別以為她在贊美你，她的意思是你太自作多情了。上自習(xí)是“革命”；“學(xué)習(xí)文件”、“操練操練”是指打

23、牌；“疲軟”是指沒錢用了；“化妝”稱“奮(粉)發(fā)圖(涂)強(qiáng)”；男生追女生叫“釣魚”、“釣花”；女生追男生則是“釣蝦”；約會(huì)稱“出去甜蜜一下”；常打小報(bào)告的人叫“老男人”；矮個(gè)子被稱為“根號(hào)2”。 眾多的舊詞新解，令你啼笑皆非。若有人說你是他的“偶像”，你不要激動(dòng)，“偶像”意指嘔吐的對(duì)象。還有，“天才”指天生的蠢材，“神童”是神經(jīng)病兒童；“大喜之日”就是要洗很多衣服的日子；早鍛煉被稱為“早戀”；下午鍛煉則是“黃昏戀”。諸如此類等等。 此外，在形容詞前加上表示程度的“奇”、“亂”、“爆”、“狂”、“巨”等，時(shí)常掛在學(xué)生嘴邊，如“奇快無(wú)比”、“爆好”、“巨斜”、“亂差”。研究社會(huì)學(xué)的學(xué)者分析說，校園

24、出現(xiàn)大量反常規(guī)語(yǔ)言，是受了廣告的影響，會(huì)對(duì)語(yǔ)言教育帶來消極影響，因此呼吁凈化校園語(yǔ)言。而學(xué)生自己則“見怪不怪”。2.5 Idiolect(個(gè)人方言個(gè)人方言) Idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional, social, gender, and age variation. This makes it possible for us to recognize a speaker by the way he/she speaks. 2.6 Lang

25、uage and ethnics An ethnic dialect is a social dialect of a language that cuts across regional differences; it is mainly spoken by a less privileged population that has experienced some form of social isolation such as racial discrimination or segregation. e.g. Black English He dont know nothing. (H

26、e doesnt know anything. ) I aint afraid of no ghosts. (Im not afraid of ghosts. ) 2.7 Register A speech variety (style) that is appropriate for different situations (e.g. formal vs. casual). Different registers may be thought of as different grammars within a single persons brain. Hallidays register

27、 theory: Language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations. There are three social variables that determine the register: field of discourse, tenor of discourse, and mode of discourse.Field of discourse （話語(yǔ)范圍）（話語(yǔ)范圍）refers to what is going on: to the area of operation of the

28、language activity. It is concerned with the purpose and subject-matter of communication. It answers the questions of why and what communication takes place. Tenor of discourse（話語(yǔ)基調(diào)）（話語(yǔ)基調(diào)） refers to the role of relationship in the situation in question: who the participants in the communication group

29、s are and in what relationship they stand to each other. It answers the question of to whom the speaker is communicating. This dimension to a great extent determines the level of formality and the level of technicality of the language we use.Mode of discourse（話語(yǔ)方式）（話語(yǔ)方式） mainly refers to the means o

30、f communication. It is concerned with “how” communication is carried out. Fundamental to the mode of discourse is the distinction between speaking and writing. But there are finer distinctions, e.g. spoken language may be spontaneous or prepared beforehand and written language may be intended to be

31、read with the eye or to be spoken.Example: a lecture on biology in a technical college Field: scientific (biological)Tenor: teacher - students (formal, polite)Mode: oral (academic lecturing) The three variables are the features of the context of situation which determine the features of language app

32、ropriate to the situation. 2.8 Degree of formality Language used on different occasions differs in the degree of formality, which is determined by the social variables, such as who we are talking with and what we are talking about. Formal English: “The elderly gentleman passed away. We shall all mis

33、s him terribly. Had it not been for his assistance, our goals would never have been achieved. He was truly marvelous.” Casual English: “The old man died. Well miss him a lot. If he hadnt helped us, wed neverve reached our goals. He was really cool.” American linguist Martin Joos, distinguishes five

34、stages of formality, Frozen: Visitors would make their way at once to the upper floor by way of the staircase. Formal: Visitors should go up the stairs at once.Consultative: Would you mind going upstairs right away, please ? Casual: Time you all went upstairs now. Intimate: Up you go, chaps ! 3. Sta

35、ndard language Standard language: the variety of a language that is considered to be the standard because its used by the government and the media, is taught in schools, and/or is the only written language. Other varieties are thus often considered nonstandard. Banned languages and dialects: officially disallo