1、,Language and society,The scope of sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is one branch 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.There are many indications of the inter-relationship be
2、tween language and society.,An obvious indication of the inter-relationship between language and society is the fact that language is not always used to exchange information as is generally assumed, but rather it,is sometimes used to fulfil an important social function- to maintain social relationsh
3、ip between people.,Another indication is that users of the same language in a sense all speak differently. The kind of language each of them chooses to use is in part,determined by his social background. When we speak we cannot avoid giving our listeners clues about our origin and our background.,th
4、ere are many examples of the physical environment in which a society lives being reflected in its language, normally in the structure of its lexicon-the way in which distinctions are made by means of single words.,Whereas English, for example, has only one word for snow ( or two if we include sleet)
5、, Eskimo has several. The reasons for this are obvious. It is essential for Eskimos to be able to distinguish efficiently,between different types of snow.,English, of course, is quite able to make the same distinctions: fine snow, dry snow, soft snow, and so on, but in Eskimos this sort of distincti
6、on is lexicalized-made by means of individual words.,The social environment can also be reflected in language, and can often have an effect on the structure of the vocabulary. For example, a societys kinship,system is generally reflected in its kinship vocabulary.,We can assume, for example, that th
7、e important kin relationships in English-speaking societies are those that are signaled by single vocabulary items.,As society is reflected in language in this way, social change can produce a corresponding linguistic change.,This has happened in the case of Russian. During the period from 1860 to t
8、he present day the structure of the Russian kinship system has undergone a very radical change as a result of several important events:,For example: the emancipation of serfs in 1861, the First World War, the revolution, the collectivization of agriculture and the Second world War. There has been a
9、marked social as well as political revolution, and this has been accompanied by a corresponding change in the language.,In the middle of the last century, wifes brother was shurin, whereas now now it is simply brat zheny, brother of wife. Similarly, brothers wife, formerly nevestka, is now zhena bra
10、ta, wife of brother. In other words, distinctions that were formerly lexicalized, because they were important, are now made by means of phrases. The loss of importance of these particular relationships are due to the fact that social changes in Russia have led to the rise of the small, nuclear famil
11、y.,In the last century most Russians lived in large extended-family households. brothers wives, at that time normally lived together.,But now, they live in different households. Similarly, the term yatrov, signifying husbands brothers wife has now disappeared entirely.,As a social phenomenon languag
12、e is closely related to the structure of the society in which it is used, and the evaluation of a linguistic form is entirely social.,Speech Community,In sociolinguistic studies, speakers are treated as members of social groups. The social group isolated for our study is called the speech community.
13、 A speech community is defined as groups of people who form a community and share the same language or a particular variety of language.,Speech community,So this community may have as few members as a family or as many member as a country. The important characteristic of a speech community is that t
14、he members of the group must interact linguistically with other members of the community. They may share closely related language varieties as well as attitudes toward linguistic norms.,Speech Community,Many difference exist in speech communities and these differences correlate with the existence of
15、 social groups within the communities. For instance, individuals of one age group may distinguish themselves from other age group as much by special uses of vocabulary as by dressing and entertainment.,It is an obvious fact that people who claim to be users of the same language do not speak the lang
16、uage in the same manner. For example all the English speaking people do not speak the same type of English. And the language used by the same individual varies as circumstances vary.,Speech variety,Speech Variety,Speech variety , also known as language variety, refers to any distinguishable form of
17、speech used by a speaker or group of speakers. Speech variety is used as a neutral term than other terms such as dialects, non-standard language. Linguistic features of a speech variety can be found at the lexical, the phonological, the morphological or the syntactical level of the language.,Speech
18、variety,sociolinguistics are particularly interested in three types of speech variety, namely, regional dialects, sociolects (social dialects) or registers.,Varieties related to the user are normally known as dialects and varieties related to use as registers.,Regional dialect When all social groups
19、 in a single geographical area, such as province, town, or village speak one particular speech variety that shares the same linguistic features, that speech variety is named regional dialect.so regional dialects are linguistic varieties used by people living in different regions.,We often find regio
20、nal dialect boundaries coincide with geographical barriers such as mountains, rivers, or swamps.,This differentiation is accounted for by the lack of communication in the old days when travel was difficult.,Regional dialect,So we may conclude that geographical barriers are the major source of region
21、al variation of language. However, loyalty to ones native speech and resistance to change are other reasons of such speech variation.,Regional dialect,The most distinguishable linguistic feature of a regional dialect is its accent. Accent refers to a way of pronunciation which tells the listener som
22、ething about the speakers regional or social background. But dialects variation may occur with respect to vocabulary , syntax or grammar.,North: You need your hair cutting.South: You need your hair cut,English: Scottish:,It needs washing,It needs washed,Hes a man who likes his beer.Hes a man that li
23、kes his beer.Hes a man at likes his beer.Hes a man as likes his beer.Hes a man what likes his beer.Hes a man he likes his beer.Hes a man likes his beer.,1) la: 新加坡英语的典型特征之一表现在对 “ la ”的使用上。“ la ”在使用上至少具有六种功能：(1) 表达一种“显而易见”的事实，例如：,No need to count la.,(2) 表达一种委婉的建议，例如：You tell him la! Im so scared of
24、him.(3) 在作出某种解释时，用于缓和语气，避免粗鲁，例如：I was absent, because I was ill la.,(4) 在连续的话语中，有表达不重要的信息被省略的功能，例如：You can take an umbrella, some clothes or whatever la! (5) 委婉拒绝对方的赞扬，例如：I was lucky la.(6)表示缺乏热情，例如：Chinese New Year ah? Okay, la!,2) “What”作为小品词在新加坡英语中主要有三种功能：(1)含有反对、不赞成、抱怨之意，例如：Father: Jane was fool
25、ish for she failed the test.Mother: She has only failed oncewhat.,(2) 表达“不耐烦”、“恼火”之意，如：I am late what. He himself is always late.(3) 表达一种显而易见的事实，例如：I am your friend what.( It is obvious that I am your friend.),2.3句法特征2.3.1在对说话对象进行询问时，常采用 “or not”结构，例如：a) Hunt or not?b) John, smart or not?c) Lets tak
26、e a walk, want or not?d) We set off tomorrow, can or not e) You notice or not, they all learn their songs only at this time. We all learn twenty-four hours, remember or not ?,常用 “is it”构成一般疑问句, 常有三种情况：1) 把“is it”置于陈述句首构成疑问句,例如：a) Is it Freddie is number eight?b) Is it you eat fish?,2) 把 “is it” 作为附加
27、疑问部分置于陈述句之后，且不受主句助动词或实义动词的影响：a) You really want to learn, is it ?b) Lucy and Chen Lais rooms are vacant, is it ?,3) “is it”用来对一个“陈述”作出反应。在语意上相当于 “really?”或 “Is that so?”，例如： A: John is ill and has been hospitalized for a week B: Is it ?b) A: I never eat fish.B: Is it ?,通过对形容词的复用来加强形容词所示语义的程度：a) that
28、 fat-fat manb) I speak broken-broken English.,仅在新加坡使用的词汇与表达法,Singapore English Words Meanings Aksy Affected Ang-moh red-hair; a person of European ancestry Boleh tahan tolerably good chap chye a mixture of everything,tamby office attendant; office boy kaypoh greedy; interfering in others affairs kay
29、u stupid; dull kiasu a feeling of fearing failure on inferiority to others,Nowadays, as there is a marked increase in communication brought about by mass media, and by the development of modern transport, the stability of local dialects seems to be decreasing.,Just as regional dialect is associated
30、with separation caused by physical conditions, social dialect has to do with separation brought about by different social conditions. Sociolect refers to the linguistic variety characteristic of a particular social class.,sociolect,Sociolect,Two people who were born and brought up in the same region
31、 and spoke the same regional dialect may speak differently because of a number of social factors. Because their social background influence their choice of linguistic forms, and the linguistic features of the language they use reveal their identities.,When we look at the language used by two speaker
32、s A and B, we can estimate roughly their relative social status: 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.,In Britain, one of the most important markers of status is accent. “Received Pronunciation”
33、, a non-localized form of pronunciation, refers to the particular way of pronouncing standard English, which is an indicator of a public school education and thus a high social status on the part of the speaker.,In the past the possession of an RP accent was extremely important because it served a s
34、 a high-status marker, and also as a qualification for high-prestige employment no matter what other abilities the work might require.,在双元音系统中，普通型变体中的/ ai /在女皇英语中常实现为/ei /,例如:单词 普通型变体 女皇英语 refine / rifain/ /rifein/ define /difain/ /difein/,其次,普通型变体中的/ i /在女皇英语中常被实现为/e /,例如:单词 普通型变体 女皇英语really / rili
35、/ /reli/,单词 普通型变体 女皇英语house /haus/ /hais/hello /helu/ /helei/,单词 普通型变体 女皇英语 family /fmili/ /femili/ factory /fkt ri/ /fekt ri/ landscape /lndskeip/ /lendskeip/ax / ks/ /iks/,此外，在普通型标准英语中的前元音/i/在女皇英语中可以实现为/e/,例如： 单词 普通型英语 女皇英语 gloomy /glu:mi/ /glu:me/ army /a:mi/ /a:me/ surfy /s :fi/ /s :fe/,Investig
36、ations have been carried out by linguists to obtain evidence for the correlation between certain phonetic features and social variables. Percentage of speakers Using n for Middle middle class 31% Lower middle class 42% Upper working class 87% Middle working class 95% Lower working class 100%,It shou
37、ld be clear that social-class dialects are not distinct entities; they merge into each other to form a continuum. It is only the proportions which are different.,language and gender It is interesting to know that the language used by men and women have some special features of their own. Language va
38、riation is also associated with the gender of individual speakers.,Differences between women and men have always been a topic of interest to the human species and supposed linguistic differences are often enshrined in proverbs:,The North Sea will sooner be found wanting in water than a woman at a lo
39、ss for a word.( Jutland ),A womans tongue wags like a lambs tail.(England),Foxes are all tail and women are all tongue.( England-Cheshire),Compared with men, women tend to use such adverbs.：horridly, abominably, immensely, excessively, amazingly，so, most,etc.,1. Lexical Items,1.1Adverbs,Women often
40、use these intensifiers to excess so that the intensity of these words have weakened. What is more, the overuse of these words imply that the users are sentimental and not objective enough.,In Chapter III of Jane Austens novel,“Pride and Prejudice”, Mrs Bennet, excited after participating in a party,
41、 talked to her husband about Mr.Bingley as follows:,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 exces
42、sively handsome! Mr. Darcy is a most disagreeable, horrid man. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with.,In this chapter，Jane Austen has taken advantage of these intensifiers to ind
43、icate that Mrs Bennet is shallow, superficial and exaggerating.,Because females often use these intensifiers, these intensifiers have become greatly weakened in the degree of intensity. In a sense, the overuse of the words of absoluteness or extremity may cause changes in the meaning of a word at le
44、ast in the eye of a man.,Wife: You always leave your papers about，dear!Husband: Really? Didnt I put them in place yesterday?,Women may use the intensifiers at the sacrifice of the literal meanings ofthese words.,For instance, the adjective “vast“ and its adverb vastly, mean anything and are the fash
45、ionable words of the most fashionable people.,A fine woman.is vastly obliged, or vastly great; small ones are vastly little; and a purse could be vastly pretty, because it was vastly little.,Imagine a man and a woman both looking at the same wall, painted a pinkish shade of purple. The woman may say
46、:,Women prefer to use the following colour words while most men do not:,mauve, beige, aquamarine, lavender, magenta,The wall is mauve.,If the man should say the above sentence, one might well conclude he was imitating a woman sarcastically, or an interior decorator.,The wall is mauve.,females: so go
47、od, such fun, exquisite, lovely, divine, precious, adorable, darling, fantastic. neutral: great, terrific, cool, neat,Women have their own vocabulary for emphasizing certain effects:,The above words, besides their specific and literal meanings, can indicate the speakers or admiration for something.,
48、females: so good, such fun, exquisite, lovely, divine, precious, adorable, darling, fantastic.neutral: great, terrific, cool, neat,Where a woman has a choice between the neutral words and the womens words, as a man has not, she may be suggesting very different things about her own personality and he
49、r view of the subject-matter by her choice of words of the first set or words of the second:,It seems to me that example A might be used under any appropriate conditions by a female speaker. But Example B is more restricted. Probably it is used appropriately only in case the speaker feels the idea referred to be essentially trivial, or unimportant to the world-only an amusement for the speaker herself.,
