学期论文Language and Dialect.docx
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学期论文Language and Dialect.docx
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学期论文LanguageandDialect
LanguageandDialect
学生:
学院:
高级翻译学院
年级:
2007级
研究方向:
商务翻译研究
课程名称:
语言学理论
任课老师:
莫爱屏教授
论文提交日期:
2008/01/08
Abstract:
Thispaperaimstoprobeintothestudyoflanguageanddialectinthefieldofsociolinguistics.Part1isageneralintroductiontotheissuesbeingcoveredinthepaper.Part2centersontheanalysisofcertaincriteriathatprobablycouldbeappliedastodifferentiatealanguagefromadialect.Part3andPart4introducetwodistinguishedkindsofdialects,namely,regionaldialectandsocialdialectrespectivelythroughdetailedexamples.Part5investigatesthedifferentaspectsofregisterwhichiscloselyrelatedtothestudyoflanguageanddialect.Part6istheconclusion.
Keywords:
variety;regionaldialect;socialdialect;register
【中文摘要】
【关键词】
Contents
1.Introduction
2.Criteriafordifferentiatingalanguagefromadialect
2.1Varietyand“mutualintelligibility”
2.2Othercriteria(includingBell’ssevenaspectsinlanguagesdifferentiation)
3.Regionaldialect
3.1Definitionandcharacteristicsofregionaldialects
3.2Reasonsfortheappearanceofregionaldialects
4.Socialdialects
4.1Socialdialectsinrelationtoagedifferences
4.2Socialdialectsinrelationtosexdifferences
4.3Socialdialectsinrelationtodifferenceofsocialclassmembership
5.Anintroductiontoregister(field,modeandtenor)
5.1Thefieldofdiscourse
5.2Themodeofdiscourse
5.3Thetenorofdiscourse
6.Conclusion
1.Introduction
Insociolinguistics,languageisconsideredasanabstractnotionthatisembodiedintheformofdialects.It’snotclear-cuttodistinguishalanguagefromadialectofalanguage.“Mutualintelligibility”seemstobeanidealcriterionintermsoftellingalanguagefromadialectofalanguage,however,wecancertainlyfindsomecasesthatcounter-arguethisprinciple.Hencesomeothercriteriashouldbeappliedassupplementstodistinguishbetweenalanguageandadialect,amongwhich,Bell’ssevenprinciplesfordiscussingdifferentlanguagesareofgreatinspiration.
Thevarietiesofdialectsaredifferentiatedaccordingtotheplacesinwhichtheyareused,thedifferentsocialfactorsthataffecttheiruses,andfunctionsandstylestheyhavewhenaccommodatingdifferentsituationsinlanguagecommunication.Accordingly,sociolinguistslabelthesedialectsasregional,social,andfunctionaldialectrespectively.Thispaperwilltouchuponthediscussionofthedifferentvarietiesoflanguageinrelationtotheusers,socialfactorsandenvironment.
2.Criteriafordifferentiatingalanguagefromadialect
2.1Varietyand“mutualintelligibility”
Inordertofurtherthediscussionofthedifferencebetweenalanguageandadialect,let’sfirstofallcenteronanimportantterminthefieldofsociolinguistics—variety.Thenwhatisthedefinitionofavariety?
R.A.Hudson,afamouslinguist,definesavarietyoflanguageasasetoflinguisticitemswithsimilarsocialdistribution(1980:
24).Accordingtothisdefinition,wecancallanyofthefollowingitems“varietiesoflanguage”:
English,French,Chinese,LondonEnglish,orthelanguageusedbyaparticularperson,etc.Itwillbeseenfromthislistthatthegeneralnotion“variety”includesexamplesofwhatwouldnormallybecalledlanguages,dialectsandregisters(atermmeaningroughly“style”).
Nowweknowthatboth“alanguage”and“adialectofalanguage”arekindofvariety.Thenwhydowecallsomevarietiesdifferentlanguagesandothersdifferentdialectsofthesamelanguage?
Manysociolinguistsagreethatadialectisoneofmostproblematictermstogiveageneraldefinitionto.Someproposedthatlanguageexistsintheformofdialect.What,then,isadialect?
Whatarethecriteriafordistinguishingbetweenalanguageandadialectofalanguage?
Linguistsstartwiththeassumptionthatallhumanbeingsspeaktheirownidiolects.Similaridiolectsmakeupaparticulardialect,andsimilardialectsmakeupaparticularlanguage.Thisstatementinsomesensepresupposesthatalltheidiolectsofadialectandallthedialectsofalanguagearemutuallyintelligible(Wang,1992:
11).However,wecaneasilyfindcasestocounter-arguethisthesisiftheprincipleofmutualintelligibleserveastheonlycriterionfordifferentiatingalanguagefromadialect.
Takeforexample,theScandinavianlanguages(includingNorwegian,SwedishandDanish).Speakersofthesethreelanguagescan,withlittleeffort,understandandcommunicatewithoneanother.Theselanguagesaremutuallyintelligible.Accordingtotheprincipleof“mutualintelligibility”,theyaredifferentdialects.Butthefactisthattheyareusuallyassumedtobedifferentlanguages.
IfweturnourattentiontoChina,wewillfindthatspeakersofCantoneseandMandarinwilltellyouthattheyspeakthesamelanguage.PeoplespeakingCantoneseandpeoplespeakingMandarinarenotmutuallyintelligibleatall,yettheyalmostcertainlyinsistthattheyspeakdifferentdialectsofthesamelanguage—Chinese,notdifferentlanguages,fortotheChineseasharedwritingsystemandapowerfulsocialandculturaltraditionformessentialpartsofourdefinitionoflanguage.
Sofortheseandotherreasons,then,wecannotusethetestof“mutualintelligibility”todifferentiatebetweendialectandlanguage.Thefactisthatthereisnoverycleardistinctionbetweenthetermsdialectandlanguage.Thesetwoconceptsare,asamatteroffact,ambiguous.Theabovetwocasesmentionedtellusthatdifferentlanguagesaresometimesmutuallyintelligibleandthatdialectsofthesamelanguagearesometimesnotmutuallyintelligibleatall.
2.2Othercriteria(includingBell’ssevenaspectsinlanguagedifferentiation)
Soapartfrom“mutualintelligibility”,wealsoneedothersupplementarycriteria.Somesociolinguistshavesomeaccountsofdifferentiatingalanguagefromadialect.Oneofthemisbasedontheexistenceofastandardlanguageorofawrittenformsharedbyasetofspeakers.Iftwoormoregroupswhodifferinspeechbutregardthesameformofspeechasastandard,oriftheysharethecommonwrittenform,theytendtoberegardedasspeakingdifferentdialectsratherthandifferentlanguages,whateverdegreeofmutualintelligibility,likedifferentdialectsacrossChina.Onthecontrary,theScandinavianlanguageslikeNorwegian,SwedishandDanishareconsidereddifferentlanguagesbecausetheyhavedistinct,codified,standardizedforms,withtheirowngrammarbooksandliteratures,whichcorrespondtothreeseparatenationstates.
Anotheraccountismadeintermsofsizeandprestige.Thatmeansalanguageislargerthanadialect,sothatalanguagecancontainmoredialects.Forexample,theChineselanguagehassevendialects:
Northern,Wu,Xiang,Gan,Min,Yue,andKejiadialects.Inaddition,theyalsothinkthatthetermlanguageimpliessocialprestige,foritiswrittenaswellasspoken,butdialectalvarietiesaregenerallynotusedinformalwriting,thusisnotcomparablewithmoresociallyvaluablelanguage.
AfamouslinguistBell(1976:
147-57)haslistedsevencriteriathatmaybeusefulindiscussingdifferentkindsoflanguages.AccordingtoBell,thesecriteria,namely,standardization,vitality,historicity,autonomy,reduction,mixtureanddefactonorms,maybeusedtodistinguishcertainlanguagesfromothers.
1)Standardizationreferstotheprocessbywhichalanguagehasbeencodifiedinsomeway.Thatprocessusuallyinvolvesthedevelopmentofsuchthingsasgrammars,dictionariesandpossiblyaliterature,etc.Oncealanguageisstandardizeditbecomespossibletoteachitinadeliberatemanner.Accordingtothesecriteria,bothEnglishandFrencharequiteobviouslystandardized,Italiansomewhatlessso,andthevarietyknownasBlackEnglishnotatall.
2)Vitality,thesecondofBell’ssevencriteria,referstotheexistenceofalivingcommunityofspeakers.Thiscriterioncanbeespeciallyusedtodistinguishlanguagesthatare“alive”fromthosethatare“dead”.Forexample,Latinisdeadinthesensethatnoonespeaksitasnativelanguage;itexistsonlyinawrittenformfrozenintime,pronouncedratherthanspoken,andstudiedratherthanused.
Yetweshouldnotethatalanguagecanremainaconsiderableforceevenafteritisdead,thatis,evenafteritisnolongerspokenasanyone’sfirstlanguageandexistsalmostexclusivelyinoneormorewrittenforms,knowledgeofwhichisacquiredonlythroughformaleducation.ClassicalGreekandLatinstillhaveconsiderableprestigeintheWesternworld,andspeakersofmanymodernlanguagescontinuetodrawontheminavarietyofways.
3)Historicityreferstothefactthataparticulargroupofpeoplefindsasenseofidentitythroughusingaparticularlanguage:
itbelongstothem.Social,political,religious,orethnictiesmayalsobeimportantforthegroup,butthebondprovidedbyacommonlanguagemayprovetobethestrongesttieofall.Historicitycanbelong-standing.Forexample,thespeakersofChinese,thedifferentvarietiesofcolloquialChinesemakemuchofacommonlinguisticancestry.
4)Autonomyisaninterestingconceptbecauseitisreallyoneoffeeling.Alanguagemustbefeltbyitsspeakerstobedifferentfromotherlanguages.However,thisisaverysubjectivecriterion.Forexample,somespeakersofBlackEnglishmaintainthattheirlanguageisnotavarietyofEnglish,butisaseparatelanguageinitsownright.Incontrast,speakersofCantoneseandMandarinarenotautonomouslanguagesbutarejusttwodialectsofChinese.
5)Reductionreferstothefactthataparticularvarietymayberegardedasasub-varietyratherthanasanindependententity.Sometimesthereductionisinthekindsof
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