Language and Society
Language and Society
●What is supposed to happen when two English people who have never met before come face to face in a train?
Interrelation between language and society
●Language is not always used to exchange information as is generally assumed, but rather it is sometimes used to fulfill an important social function – to maintain social relationship between people.
The relatedness between language and society
--There are many more indications of the inter-relationship between language and society.
●The use of language is in part determined by the user’s social background. (social class, age, sex, education level, etc.)
●Language, especially the structure of its lexicon, reflects both the physical and the social environments of a society.
●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 [r] ).
Interrelation between language and society
●Any use of language is socially marked/stamped.
●―You are what you say.‖ (尔即尔所言)
●简单说来，语言现象与社会现象的关系就是一种“共变”的关系，互相影响，语言影响社会，社会影响语言
●Two kinds of sociolinguistic study
●A sociolinguistic study of language (central concern of sociolinguistics)
从语言的社会属性出发，用社会学的方法研究语言，从社会的角度解释语言变体和语言演变。
●A sociolinguistic study of society (Sociology of language)
从语言变体和语言演变的事实，来解释相关的社会现象及其演变和发展的过程。
●Two approaches to sociolinguistic studies
●Macro sociolinguistics （a bird’s-eye view）
研究国家或地区的语言状况及其与社会发展的相互关系（双语制或多语制社团中的语言选择、语言规划、语言态度等方面的研究）
●Micro sociolinguistics （a worm’s-eye view）
研究小群体的言语特征及其与社会环境的相互关系（言语行为、言语事件、话语的顺序，同时还探讨一个群体所用的语言的变化与社会因素的关系）
A sociolinguistic study of language
●Speech communities
●Language, dialects, and varieties
●Register
Speech communities 言语社团
●A group of people who form a community, which may has as few members as a family or as many as a country, and share the same language or a particular speech variety of language.
指形成一个社团，小到一个家庭大到一个国家，并有一种共同的言语或言语变体的一群人。
Language, dialects, and varieties
●Language: writing system; may include several dialects; often politically defined
●Speech variety is no more than a dialectal variety of a language 方言是一种语言的变体。
●Chinese vs. Cantonese
dialect
●Regional dialect vs. temporal dialect
地域方言时间方言/历时变体
●Social dialect vs. idiolect
社会方言个人语言
●Standard dialect vs. non-standard dialect
标准方言非标准方言
In sociolinguistic study three types of speech variety are of special interest, i.e. regional dialects, sociolects and registers. （accent）
Regional dialect vs. temporal dialect
●Regional dialect is a language variety used by people living in the same geographical region (e.g. Br.E. & Am.E.).
●Regional dialect often coincides with geographical barriers/ boundaries, like mountains, rivers, etc. [accent]
●Transition from one dialect to another is gradual rather than abrupt. Two neighboring dialects are often intelligible.
●Temporal dialect: the variety of language associated with a particular period of time.
●Old English; Middle English; Modern English [diachronic/historical]
Social dialect vs. idiolect
●Social dialect (also sociolect) refers to a variety of language associated with a particular social group.
●Idiolect (language and individuality) is the speech variety of an individual. It is the features of speech or writing which distinguish one individual from others, such as voice quality, speech rhythm, diction, and other stylistic features. e.g Shakespeare's language.
Standard vs. non-standard dialect
●Standard dialect is the variety of a language which has the highest status in a community or nation and which is usually based on the speech and writing of educated native speakers
●A standard variety generally
●enjoys a wide range of intelligibility
●command of which is the goal of formal language instruction
●functions as the public means of communication
●Non-standard dialect
●Used in a specific speech communities
●Valuable functions in intimate settings and for individual group identity
●Am E vs. BEV
●讨论：语言或方言有无好坏、高低贵贱之分？
●The scientific study of languages has convinced scholars that all languages, and correspondingly all dialects, are equally good as linguistic system.
●Value judgments concerning the correctness and purity of linguistic varieties are social rather than linguistic. (Peter Trudgill)
从语言学的角度来看，所有的语言都是平等的，没有高低贵贱之分；方言也没有好坏之分。如果有些人认为A语言比B语言好听，或某种方言比另一种方言正确、纯正，是因为这些人对待不同语言或方言的态度不同，是社会因素造成的偏见，而不是语言本身的问题。
●无论是哪种方言，其产生的根源都是障碍和距离，地域方言是由于地理上的障碍和距离，社会方言是由于社会的障碍和距离（社会阶层的不同，种族不同，宗教不同，年龄，性别都是造成社会方言的因素，其中社会阶层社会阶级的差异是社会方言变异的一个最重要的因素。）
Language and social factors
●Some social factors that influence our language behaviour in a social context:
●1) class;
●2) gender;
●3) age;
●4) ethnic identity;
●5) education background;
●6) occupation;
●7) religious belief
Language and Class
●William Labov (拉波夫), a famous sociolinguist , conducted a survey at several departments in the City of New York in the middle of 1960s.
●The objective of his survey was to examine the relationship between speakers’ social status and their phonological V ARIATIONS. The Social Stratification of English in New York City (1966) 《纽约英语的社会阶层性》
●Labov explicitly delineated the patterns of stratification by class and style and successfully introduced class as an indispensable sociolinguistic variable.
●调查纽约市内不同阶层的人说英语时使用元音后的[r]音的情况（保留还是脱落）。元音后[r] 音的保留被认为是社会中上层人士说话的标志。
●This research paradigm has become the mainstream in sociolinguistics and termed as ―the quantitative paradigm‖
●蓝领，白领，金领，灰领的言语差异
Gender differences in speech
Research suggests that men and women use language in different ways.
1) women use more ―fancy‖ color terms; mauve, beige, aquamarine, lavender, magenta
2) women use less powerful curse words (少用God damn it! Damn! Shit! Fuck you! 常用Oh, dear! Goodness me!);
3) women use more intensifiers such as terrible ,awful, so good, such fun, exquisite, lovely, divine, precious, adorable, darling, fantastic.
4) women use more tag questions (John is here, isn’t it?) ;
5) women use more statement questions (Dinner will be ready at seven o’clock?);
6) women’s linguistic behaviour is more indirect and more polite than men’s
●Not only do men and women speak differently, but also women’s speech is better than men’s speech. (why)
●Society lays down different social role for them and expects different behavior pattern from them.
●More correct social behavior is expected of women.
●Gender variety are the result of different social attitudes towards the behavior of men and women.
●女孩要有女孩子的样子。
●女性实际上是弱势群体(powerless members)。
●Gender and sex
LINGUISTIC SEXISM 语言性别歧视
●许多职业名称如doctor, professor, engineer等，人们习惯于把它们跟男性联系在一起，若要指称女性，往往要加上woman 一词，如woman doctor。A professor usually sees his students during office hours.
●英语把每个人都看做male，不论是普通人（man in the street）还是超人（superman），不论是外行人（layman）还是唯唯诺诺的人（yes-man），除非特殊说明，所有的人，不论总统还是乞丐，都是男人。Male-oriented 社会
●还有一些名称含有男性的语素---man，如chairman, congressman, spokesman, salesman等，也用来指女性
LINGUISTIC SEXISM
●According to Ruth King (1991:2-3), "We can assume an act of linguistic discrimination against women has occurred if:
●1. there is a difference in the way men and women are treated;
2. this differing treatment is less favourable to women;
●3. the basis for the difference is gender related
●King, Ruth. 1991. Talking Gender; A Guide to Nonsexist Communication. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd.
Register theory
(Variation with the use)
●Halliday: Register
●L varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations.
●The type of L which is selected as appropriate to the type of situation is a register.
●Halliday further distinguishes three social variables that determine the register:
●field of discourse, 话语范围
●tenor of discourse, 话语基调
●mode of discourse. 话语方式
●Field of discourse:
related to what is going on, the purpose and the subject matter of communication
指正在发生的事，包含谈论的事
●Technical: linguistic lectures, specialist communication [vocabulary]
●Non-technical: shopping, chatting
2) Tenor of discourse:
the participants who are taking part in this exchange of meaning, who they are and what kind of relationship they have to one another
指谈话参加者、他们的身份、他们之间的相互关系
3) Mode of discourse:
what part the language is playing in this particular situation, for example, in what way the language is organized to convey the meaning, and what channel is used-written or spoken or a combination of the two
指语言在具体环境里起什么作用，语言通过什么方式组织起来达到传递意义的目的，及通过什么渠道-书面还是口头，还是两者并用
Degree of formality
----Five stages of formality (Martin Joos)
●Intimate: Up you go, chaps! 亲密体
●Casual: Time you all went upstairs now. 随便体
●Consultative: Would you mind going upstairs right away, please? 询议体
●Formal: Visitors should go up the stairs at once.正式体
●Frozen: Visitors would make their way at once to the upper floor by way of the staircase.冷冻体
----Note: Different styles of the same language can be characterized through differences at three levels: syntactic, lexical and phonological
Illustration
●The register of a lecture on biology can be analyzed as:
●Field: scientific (biological)
●Tenor: teacher-students/lecturer-audience (formal, polite)
●Mode: oral (prepared)
Sociolinguistic study of society
●Language contact
●Pidgin and Creole languages
●Choosing a code
●Bilingualism and diaglossia
●Code switching
●Monolingual: Speakers of a single language control different varieties of that language.
●Bilingual: People develop some ability in a second language.
●How to describe?
●Monolingual speech communities are rare; monolingual countries are even rarer.
●Bilingualism —the two languages are in contact.
●This contact may lead to interference.
●Pidgin, Creole
●Pidgin: not a native language of anyone.
●Linguistically, pidgins are characterized by
●A limited vocabulary 词汇有限
●A great use of paraphrase and metaphor大量的迂回与引申
●A simplified phonological system, and a reduced morphology and syntax 语法结构简单
●Eg. Nigerian Pidgin English; Vietnamese Pidgin French; New Guinea Pidgin German, etc.
●上海话中的洋泾浜英语
●He belong China-side now. (He is in China now.)
●My belong sorry. (I’m sorry.)
●Pay the missy tea.
●Two piecee book
●Mountain people mountain sea
●Good good study day day up
●From pidgin to creoles
●As a result of intermarriage, the pidgin is spoken at home and learned by children as a mother tongue.
●A pidgin becomes a creole when it has acquired native speakers. (creolization)
●Eg. Jamaican Creole, Hawaiian Creole English
●Diglossia: Two distinct varieties of the same language are used, side by side, for two different sets of functions. 双言制，双言现象
●Switzerland:
●H(igh) variety高标准语: High German as the standard (public, official)高地德语
●L(ow) variety低标准语: Swiss German as the vernacular (informal, daily)瑞士土德语
●Bilingualism 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.
●Code-Switching: Bilinguals often switch between their two languages in the middle of a conversation.
●Metaphorical switching: the purpose of communication 喻意型（话题本身引起的，是说话者为了改变说话的语气、重点或角色关系而对情景的重新塑造）
●Situational switching: role-relationship 情景型（由于改变话题、参与者等情景因素而引起的，人们习惯于某种情景下使用某种语言或语言变体，而另一种情境下使用另一种语言或语言变体）
●“Hi，你好呀！This morning，我们对你的case进行了discuss，我们发现，这对我们没什么benefit。所以我们不得不遗憾地告诉你：与这件事相关的所有Project都将被cancel掉。”
●“事实证明，Download已经不吃香了，Portal也正在逐渐没落。ISP与ICP都没有什么很Power的招数了。My God，我们的前途究竟在哪里？Page view、Impression，我们真正缺乏的是如何让访问者Once again的内容与形式。”
●歌曲：快乐崇拜
●什么年代吹着什么样的风
我拿我的麦克风
唱出old school show
all ready to roll
70的年代
复古我最high
disco fever
从来不肯say goodbye
practice
●1. 语言中的性别歧视现象及其社会文化内涵
●2. 浅谈语言接触中Pidgin, Creole, diglossia现象并举出不少于10个例子.
●3. 语言与社会之关系.
●4. 在英汉语言接触中,大量英文词汇进入汉语.浅谈你对这一问题的看法.
Practice I. 3. creole （南开07）I. 3. diglossia (南开10)
● 5. register
●In almost all of the English speaking world, there is variation in the use of ―-ing‖ in words such morning and laughing.The variants are [i ?]—the standard variant–and [in], a non-standard variant. The following table are the results of a study which investigated whether the sex of addressee had an effect on the variant used by a male informant when he greeted people with morning, or good morning.
Sociolinguistics (浙大10）