1、1,Language, Culture & Society,2,Language and Culture,Why do we conduct the study? Language is an indispensable carrier of culture. It is an essential and important part of a given culture and that the impact of culture upon a given language is something intrinsic and indispensable. Studying the rela
2、tionship of language and culture in a social situation could provide learners a different perspective to the study of language in terms of some new tendencies and developments in the field of sociolinguistics.,3,2.2 How is language related to culture?,Generally, the relation of language to culture i
3、s that of part to whole, for language is part of culture. The knowledge and beliefs that constitute a peoples culture are habitually encoded and transmitted in L.,4,Anthropological study of linguistics: study of language in a sociocultural context. Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942): The meaning of a
4、word greatly depends upon its occurrence in a given context.Example: “wood” can mean:(i) solid substance of a tree(ii) a canoe (in the culture of Trobriand Islands) 特罗布里思群岛(位于新几内亚东南的小岛群, 属巴布亚),5,Firths Contribution Leading figure in London School (伦敦学派) Theory of Context of Situation (语境理论) A. The r
5、elevant feature of the participants(参与者), persons, personalities（个性） i) the verbal action（言语行为）of the participants ii) the non-verbal action（非言语行为） of the participants B. the relevant objects（相关的话题内容） C. the effects of the verbal action -See (Hu, 2011:148) “who speaks what to whom and when and to wh
6、at end”,Firth,6,Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Edward Sapir (1884 - 1939) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) Our language helps mould our way of thinking and, consequently, different languages may probably express speakers unique ways of understanding the world.,7,Linguistic determinism: Language may determ
7、ine our thinking patterns. In other words, language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought.,8,Linguistic relativity: differences in the way languages encode cultural and cognitive categories affect the way people think, so that speakers of different languages will tend to
8、think and behave differently depending on the language they use.,9,The SapirWhorf hypothesis argues that individuals experience the world based on the grammatical structures they habitually use. For example, speakers of different languages may see different numbers of bands in a rainbow. Since rainb
9、ows are actually a continuum of color, people see as many bands as their language possesses primary color words.,10,More supporting evidence: The Hopi language: timeless 霍皮语(北美印第安人之一族)Counter-evidence: The Dani language: limited color words 伊里安查亚地区人讲的巴布亚语,11,2.3 Linguistic forms reflecting cultural
10、differences,Terms of address Greetings Thanks and compliments Privacy and taboos Color words,12,kill the goose that lays the golden eggs” vs.“杀鸡取卵” Diamond cut diamond. 棋逢对手 Kill a man when he is down. 落井下石,13,2. Language and Society,Language is not always used to exchange information as is generall
11、y assumed, but rather it is sometimes used to fulfill an important social function to maintain social relationship between people.,14,2. 1 Sociolinguistics,Definition: the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language
12、is used, and the effects of language use on society.,15,Sociolinguistics also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to
13、 categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes.,16,Micro-studies: To look at society from the point of view of an individual member within it, or a worms-eye view of L in use. Macro-studies: To look at society as a whole and consider how L functions in it and how it reflects the social d
14、ifferentiations, a birds eye view of the language used in society.,17,2.2 Language Varieties,In sociolinguistics a variety is a form of a language used by speakers of that language. A regional or social variety of a language characterized by its own phonological, syntactic, and lexical properties,18
15、,The term dialect is often associated with regional varieties of speech. In addition, though, there are dialect varieties associated with particular ethnic groups (sometimes called ethnolects), socioeconomic classes (sometimes called sociolects), or other social or cultural groups.,19,Netspeak 网络语言,
16、顶(支持) 555(呜呜呜) ding(顶) mm/MM(妹妹) LZ(楼主) DD/dd(弟弟) 88(拜拜) 偶(我) 马甲(ID) ID,斑竹(版主) 恩(嗯) 汗或寒(敬畏) 晕(非常惊异) ps/PS(photoshop的简称) 灌水(发帖子) ddd(顶顶顶) bs/BS(鄙视) 楼猪(楼主) 滴(的、地),20,Regional dialects are linguistic varieties used by people living in different regions. Regional dialect boundaries often coincide with g
17、eographical barriers such as mountains, rivers, or swamps. English Scottish,It needs washing,It needs washed,21,Social-class dialect, or sociolect, refers to the linguistic variety characteristic of a particular social class. Social dialect has to do with separation brought about by different social
18、 conditions.,22,Speaker A Speaker BI 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.When we look at the language used by two speakers A and B, we can estimate roughly their relative social status.,23,In Britain, accent = marker
19、of status Received pronunciation: an indicator of a public school education and thus a high social status on the part of the speaker. Estuary English(河口英语）, commonly used by educated people in the region around London. Less rigid than RP but more standard than Cockney. Cockney(伦敦方言）: lower class dia
20、lect of East London, considered non-standard by educated people.,24,2.3 Language and Gender Compared with men, women tend to use such adverbs: horridly, abominably, immensely, excessively, amazingly, so, most, etc. The overuse of these words imply that the users are sentimental and not objective eno
21、ugh.,25,An example from Pride and Prejudice: Oh! My dear Mr. Bennet, we have had a most excellent ball. Jane was so admired. Every body said how well she looked. Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, I was so vexed to see him stand up with her. I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively
22、handsome!,26,Wife: You always leave your papers about dear! Husband: Really? Didnt I put them in place yesterday?In a sense, the overuse of the words of absoluteness or extremity may cause changes in the meaning of a word at least in the eye of a man.,27,Female: so good, such fun, exquisite, lovely,
23、 divine, precious, adorable, darling, fantastic. Neutral: great, terrific, cool, neat,Women have their own vocabulary for emphasizing certain effects:,28,Aside from specific lexical items, there are differences between the speech of women and that of men in the use of particles that grammarians ofte
24、n describe as “meaningless”.,Male: Shit, damn, darn it, the hell Female: Oh dear, dear me, goodness me, my goodness,29,Women use more tag questions. Women use more statement questions with a rising intonation at the end. Womens linguistic behavior is less direct and more polite.,30,2.4 Degree of for
25、mality,Frozen Formal Consultative Casual IntimateFormal Informal,31,Visitors would make their way at once to the upper floor by way of the staircase. (frozen) Visitors should go up the stairs at once. (formal) Would you mind going upstairs please? (consultative) Time you all went upstairs now. (casu
26、al) Up you go, Chaps! (intimate),32,2.2 Sociolinguistic study of society,To know more about a given society by examining the linguistic behavior of its members. Monolingual(单语现象） Bilingualism （双语现象） Multilingualism（多语现象）,33,Code-switching（语码转换）the concurrent use of more than one language, or languag
27、e variety, in conversation. Language shift(语言转用）: the progressive process whereby a speech community of a language shifts to speaking another language.,34,Pidgin（皮钦语）：a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It
28、is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the country in which they reside.,35,It is not a native language of anyone. learned informally in contact. used esp. as trade language. involves the mixture of two or more Ls. E
29、g. Nigerian Pidgin English; Vietnamese Pidgin French; New Guinea Pidgin German, etc.,36,上海话中的洋泾浜英语 “蹩脚”（BILGE，船底污水，引申为肮脏的、下三滥的、劣质的） “大兴”（DASHY，浮华的，华而不实的，引申为假的、冒牌的、劣质的） “肮三”（ON SALE，二手货贱卖，引申为垃圾货、形容人的品质低劣） “瘪三”（BEG SIR，乞丐先生，用来形容叫花子、难民、逃荒者等各式穷人，后引申为最广泛的骂人用语之一。 “赤佬”是英语“CHEAT”（欺骗）和中文“佬”的混生词语，一个鲁迅时代最流行的洋泾浜俚语（隐语）。,37,Creole（克里奥尔语）：a stable, full-fledged language that originated from a pidgin or combination of other languages.,38,From pidgin to creoles As a result of intermarriage, the pidgin is spoken at home and learned by children as a mother tongue.,
