[人文社科]LanguageandSociety.ppt

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1、Chapter 9,Language and Society,1.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 differen

2、tly 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 people talk is

3、 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.Sutton kept us in,Sir

4、.,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 many indications of the int

5、er-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.:greetings,Another indication is that users of the same language in a sense all speak differently.The kind of

6、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:今天怎么样？B:有点累，上下午都有手术。A：好辛苦哦。想我了没？B：当然想了。A:干嘛去了？B：刚去找老师签假条了。,To som

7、e 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 正飘落的雪piqsirpoq,drifting snow 堆积的雪qimuqsuq,a snow dri

8、ft 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 than linguistic.,1.2 Speech community&spee

9、ch varietySpeech community（言语共同体）:a social group of people who share a language(includes a country,a town,a network across great distances)Speech variety（言语变体）:any distinguishable form of speech used by a speaker or a group of speakers.Linguistic features of a speech variety can be found at the lexi

10、cal,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 reflects the social differentiations(a birds-eye view)micro-sociolingui

11、stics: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”(R Hudson,1980)Dialectal variation:Regional/Social Personal variation:regi

12、stersSituational variation:degree of formality,2.1 Regional dialect A regional dialect is a linguistic variety used by people living in the same geographical region.Regional dialect boundaries often coincide with geographical barriers such as mountains,rivers or swamps.lack of communication in old t

13、imes loyalty to ones native speech psychological resistance to change,Grammars can vary a lot in different regionsE.g:Regional dialects in the US Phonological differencesr-less dialects:Some dialects in the US delete/r/after a vowel:Wisconsin Maine Carolinacar khar kha:kha:farm farm fa:m fa:m,Lexica

14、l differencesWords for 汽水:Wisconsin Maine N.Carolina“soda”“pop”“coke”Syntactic differencesthe:USA Canadaat school at the school at the hospital at hospital,Taiwan Mandarin vs.Beijing Mandarin:Phonological differences Beijing Taiwan 是Shi siLexical differences English Beijing Taiwan“potato”土豆 馬鈴薯“guav

15、a”番石榴 芭樂Syntactic differencesBeijingTaiwan(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 occupation,age,class,race,etc.,Occupation:People sometimes use special vocabularies(jargon)for their job

16、Financial:sales volume/todays high Legal:Civil Case民事案件/Hearing听证会/Summons传讯 Medical:blood pressure/kidney stone肾结石/thrombosis(blood clot)血栓,Education:e.g:Speaker A Speaker B I did it yesterday.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 La

17、nguage 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 intensifiers:adjectives of evaluation and intensifiers are used more frequently by females than by malese.g.:nice,lovely,cute,fa

18、ntastic,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.Im afraid.Im not sure but.I dont like linguistics,do you?It is beautiful,isnt it?,Sexist language:because men control public life i

19、n most cultures,men often control the standard language,which then becomes biased towards men.Sexist lexiconmankind=humanitychairman=chair history=his story,Sexist syntax(pronouns)(1)Everyone should love his mother.(2)Everyone should love their mothers.Sexist syntax(word order)(phrases that put fema

20、les last):(3)Boys and girls are equal.,Sexist morphology(again,implies that women are subordinate):actor male+ess-actress femaleWhy no suffixes to 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 t

21、he old generation differs from that used by the younger generation in certain ways.Their speech is thus a record of the never-ending change of language.Lexical variation Old:icebox,wirelessYoung:fridge,boombox,old generation:下学了/洋火teenage:晕/倒/汗/郁闷/菜鸟/东东More examples:表扬某人有某种特长时的用语：哇，真厉害，简直不是人。,新新校园流行

22、语最近，某校进行了一次校园语言的专题调查，调查结果令人颇为吃惊：大学生的日常用语中，玄机种种，“密码”多多。代用语层出不穷。如果有人对你说：“你真像孔雀!”别以为她在赞美你，她的意思是你太自作多情了。上自习是“革命”；“学习文件”、“操练操练”是指打牌；“疲软”是指没钱用了；“化妆”称“奋(粉)发图(涂)强”；男生追女生叫“钓鱼”、“钓花”；女生追男生则是“钓虾”；约会称“出去甜蜜一下”；常打小报告的人叫“老男人”；矮个子被称为“根号2”。,众多的旧词新解，令你啼笑皆非。若有人说你是他的“偶像”，你不要激动，“偶像”意指呕吐的对象。还有，“天才”指天生的蠢材，“神童”是神经病儿童；“大喜之日”

23、就是要洗很多衣服的日子；早锻炼被称为“早恋”；下午锻炼则是“黄昏恋”。诸如此类等等。此外，在形容词前加上表示程度的“奇”、“乱”、“爆”、“狂”、“巨”等，时常挂在学生嘴边，如“奇快无比”、“爆好”、“巨斜”、“乱差”。研究社会学的学者分析说，校园出现大量反常规语言，是受了广告的影响，会对语言教育带来消极影响，因此呼吁净化校园语言。而学生自己则“见怪不怪”。,2.5 Idiolect(个人方言)Idiolect is a personal dialect of an individual speaker that combines elements regarding regional,soc

24、ial,gender,and age variation.This makes it possible for us to recognize a speaker by the way he/she speaks.,2.6 Language 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

25、 form of social isolation such as racial discrimination or segregation.e.g.Black English He dont know nothing.(He 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).Differe

26、nt registers may be thought of as different grammars within a single persons brain.,Hallidays register 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 disco

27、urse.,Field of discourse（话语范围）refers to what is going on:to the area of operation of the 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（话语基调）refers to the role of relationsh

28、ip in the situation in question:who the participants in the communication groups 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 t

29、he language we use.,Mode of discourse（话语方式）mainly refers to the means of 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

30、 prepared beforehand and written language may be intended to be 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

31、situation which determine the features of language appropriate 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:“

32、The elderly gentleman passed away.We shall all miss 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

33、linguist Martin Joos,distinguishes five 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.Intim

34、ate:Up you go,chaps!,3.Standard 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

35、 and dialects:officially disallowed in some context(e.g.school or in government documents).In the USA:American Indian languages,Spanish,African-American Vernacular English(Black English),4.Pidgin and Creole A pidgin is a special language variety that mixes or blends languages and it is used by peopl

36、e who speak different languages for restricted purposes such as trading.It is a blending of several languages such as Chinese dialects and English,African dialects and French,African dialects and Portuguese.,Example:Hawaii pidgin 1).Ai chrai fo kaech om.I tried to catch them.2).Eribadi kam fo si dae

37、t haus.Everybody comes to see that house.,洋泾浜:“不中不西之特别话”（皮钦语）：是一个社会的当地人没有学好的外语，是外语在当地语言的影响下出现的变种。特点：语音经过当地语音系统的适当改造；语法规则减少到最低限度；词汇的项目较少，往往要借助于迂回曲折的说法指称事物。“洋泾浜”通常只有口头形式，一般用于跟外国人交往的特殊场合。,Example:也司（yes，是的）、温大拉（one dollar，一块钱）、铜生斯（一分钱的铜币。“生斯”是cent的译音）、哈夫哈夫（half half，利益均分）、生发油抹来抹去（Thank you very much，非常感谢）、long time no see（长久不见）等。,Creole:克里奥语，由洋泾浜语发展而来，是指一种混合多种语言词汇，有时也掺杂一些其他语言文法的一种语言，这个词是用以泛指所有的“混合语”。特点：词汇量大 语法复杂,Summary,Socio-linguistics studies who speaks to whom what when where why and howIt has a great contribution to language teaching and research about the nature of language.,