新編簡明英語語言學(xué)教程 第二版 戴煒棟8 Language and Society.ppt

1、Chapter 8 Language and society,Sociolinguistics - a sub-field of linguistics that studies the relation between language and society, between the uses of language and the social structures in which the users of language live.,The relatedness between language and society,-There are many indications of

2、 the inter-relationship between language and society. Language is often used to establish and maintain social relationships. (e.g. greeting) The use of language is in part determined by the users social background. (social class, age, sex, education level, etc.) Language, especially the structure of

3、 its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society. (“snow” for Eskimo) As a social phenomenon, language is closely related to the structure of the society in which it is used, the evaluation of a linguistic form is entirely social ( the postvocalic (元音后面的) r in B.E. a

4、nd A.E.).,Speech community and speech variety,Speech community- the social group that is singled out for any special sociolinguistic study is called the speech community. Speech variety or language variety- any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or a group of speakers. In sociolinguist

5、ic study three types of speech variety are of special interest, i.e. regional dialects, sociolects (在語言集團(tuán)內(nèi)某一群人或某一階層內(nèi)使用的社會方言) and registers.,Two approaches to sociolinguistic studies,Macro sociolinguistics, i.e. a birds-eye view of the languages used in society; Micro sociolinguistics, i.e. a worms-e

6、ye view of language in use.,Varieties of language,Dialectal varieties 方言變體 Register 語域 Degree of formality,Dialectal varieties,Regional dialect is a linguistic variety used by people living in the same geographical region(e.g. Br.E. it is mainly spoken by a less privileged population that has experi

7、enced some form of social isolation such as racial discrimination or segregation （種族隔離） (e.g. Black English, bad or non-standard ).,（話語方式）,Register 語域,- in a restricted sense, refers to the variety of language related to ones occupation. - In a broader sense, according to Halliday, “l(fā)anguage varies

8、as its function varies; it differs in different situations.” The type of language which is selected as appropriate to the type of situation is a register. Halliday（韓禮德） further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register: field of discourse（話語范圍） tenor of discourse（話語基調(diào)） mode of

9、 discourse ( 話語方式）.,Three social variables (變量),Field (范圍) of discourse: what is going on: to the area of operation of the language activity. It is concerned with the purpose (why) and subject matter (about what) of communication. It can be either technical or non-technical. Tenor (基調(diào)) of discourse:

10、 the role of relationship in the situation in question: who are the participants in the communication and in what relationship they stand to each other. (customer-shop-assistant, teacher-student, etc.) Mode (方式) of discourse: the means of communication. It is concerned with how communication is carr

11、ied out. (oral, written, on the line),e.g. a lecture on biology in a technical college Field: scientific (biological) Tenor: teacher-students (formal, polite) Mode: oral (academic lecturing),Degree of formality,-Five stages of formality (Martin Joos) Intimate: Up you go, chaps! Casual: Time you all

12、went upstairs now. Consultative: Would you mind going upstairs right away, please? Formal: Visitors should go up the stairs at once. Frozen: Visitors would make their way at once to the upper floor by way of the staircase.,* What makes language formal in English? Intonation lexical: words origin, pa

13、rt of speech Syntax: passive voice, impersonal, tense, clauses e.g. P119,Standard dialect,The standard variety is a superimposed, socially prestigious dialect of a language. It is the language employed by the government and the judiciary (司法）system, used by the mass media, and taught in educational

14、institutions, including school settings where the language is taught as a foreign or second language, and designated as the official or national language of a country.,Pidgin and Creole （ 混雜語言/ 洋涇浜） （克里奧爾語/混合語）,A pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by p

15、eople who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading. When a pidgin has become the primary language of a speech community, and is acquired by the children of that speech community as their native language, it is said to have become a Creole.,Bilingualism （雙語） and Diglossia (雙言）,In some speech communities, two languages are used side by side with each having a different role to play; and language switching occurs when the situation changes. This constitutes the situation of Bilingualism. According to Ferguson (1959), diglo